Network Orientation and Segmentation Refinement Using Machine Learning

Abstract: Network mapping is used to extract the coordinates of a network's components in an image. Furthermore, machine learning algorithms have demonstrated their efficacy in advancing the field of network mapping across various domains, including mapping of road networks and blood vessel networks. However, accurately mapping of road networks still remains a challenge due to difficulties in identification and separation of roads in the presence of occlusion caused by trees, as well as complex environments, such as parking lots and complex intersections. Additionally, the segmentation of blood vessels networks, such as the ones in the retina, is also not trivial due to their complex shape and thin appearance. Therefore, the aim for this thesis was to investigate two deep learning approaches to improve mapping of networks, namely by refining existing road network probability maps, and by estimating road network orientations. Additionally, the thesis explores the possibility of using a machine learning model trained on road network probability maps to refine retina network segmentations. In the first approach, U-Net models with a binary output channel were implemented to refine existing probability maps of networks. In the second approach, ResNet models with a regression output were implemented to estimate the orientation of roads within a network. The models for refining road network probability maps were evaluated using F1-score and MCC-score, while the models for estimating road network orientation were evaluated based on angle loss, angle difference, F1-score, and MCC-score.  The results for refining road segmentations yielded an increase of 0.102 MCC-score compared to the baseline (0.701). However, when applying the segmentation refinement model to retina images, the output from the model achieved merely 0.226 in MCC-score. Nevertheless, the model demonstrated the capability to identify and refine the segmentation of large blood vessels. Additionally, the estimation of road network orientation achieved an average error of 10.50 degrees. It successfully distinguished roads from the background, achieving an MCC-score of 0.805. In conclusion, this thesis shows that a deep learning-based approach for road segmentation refinement is beneficial, especially in cases where occlusions are present. However, the refinement of retina image segmentations using a model trained on roads and tested on retina images produced unsatisfactory results, likely due to differences in scale between road width and vessel size. Further experiments with adjustments in image scales are likely needed to achieve better results. Moreover, the orientation model demonstrated promising results in estimating the orientation of road pixels and effectively differentiating between road and non-road pixels.