The design and evaluation of a Java image analysis tool for componentizing lines from digitial architectural floor plans

Abstract

This research set out to determine the feasibility of using Java to create a tool that could perform paper-to-electronic format conversion by vectorizing the lines in a raster image of an architectural floor plan. The tool aimed to apply a method that was previously used in another field (mechanical engineering) to Architectural floor plans. The method used had to overcome the problems associated with raster drawings that include noise and image disortions in addition to being able to identify lines, the line thickness and the junctions along the lines. The method used was the Global Line Vectorization Algorithm.