A GAN-Enhanced Deep Learning Framework for Rooftop Detection from Historical Aerial Imagery

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Chen, Pengyu, Wang, Sicheng, Wang, Cuizhen, Wang, Senrong, Huang, Beiao, Huang, Lu, Zang, Zhe
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Chen, Pengyu
Wang, Sicheng
Wang, Cuizhen
Wang, Senrong
Huang, Beiao
Huang, Lu
Zang, Zhe
author_facet Chen, Pengyu
Wang, Sicheng
Wang, Cuizhen
Wang, Senrong
Huang, Beiao
Huang, Lu
Zang, Zhe
contents Precise detection of rooftops from historical aerial imagery is essential for analyzing long-term urban development and human settlement patterns. Nonetheless, black-and-white analog photographs present considerable challenges for modern object detection frameworks due to their limited spatial resolution, absence of color information, and archival degradation. To address these challenges, this research introduces a two-stage image enhancement pipeline based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs): image colorization utilizing DeOldify, followed by super-resolution enhancement with Real-ESRGAN. The enhanced images were subsequently employed to train and evaluate rooftop detection models, including Faster R-CNN, DETReg, and YOLOv11n. The results demonstrate that the combination of colorization with super-resolution significantly enhances detection performance, with YOLOv11n achieving a mean Average Precision (mAP) exceeding 85\%. This signifies an enhancement of approximately 40\% over the original black-and-white images and 20\% over images enhanced solely through colorization. The proposed method effectively bridges the gap between archival imagery and contemporary deep learning techniques, facilitating more reliable extraction of building footprints from historical aerial photographs. Code and resources for reproducing our results are publicly available at \href{https://github.com/Pengyu-gis/Historical-Aerial-Photos}{github.com/Pengyu-gis/Historical-Aerial-Photos}.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_23200
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A GAN-Enhanced Deep Learning Framework for Rooftop Detection from Historical Aerial Imagery
Chen, Pengyu
Wang, Sicheng
Wang, Cuizhen
Wang, Senrong
Huang, Beiao
Huang, Lu
Zang, Zhe
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Precise detection of rooftops from historical aerial imagery is essential for analyzing long-term urban development and human settlement patterns. Nonetheless, black-and-white analog photographs present considerable challenges for modern object detection frameworks due to their limited spatial resolution, absence of color information, and archival degradation. To address these challenges, this research introduces a two-stage image enhancement pipeline based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs): image colorization utilizing DeOldify, followed by super-resolution enhancement with Real-ESRGAN. The enhanced images were subsequently employed to train and evaluate rooftop detection models, including Faster R-CNN, DETReg, and YOLOv11n. The results demonstrate that the combination of colorization with super-resolution significantly enhances detection performance, with YOLOv11n achieving a mean Average Precision (mAP) exceeding 85\%. This signifies an enhancement of approximately 40\% over the original black-and-white images and 20\% over images enhanced solely through colorization. The proposed method effectively bridges the gap between archival imagery and contemporary deep learning techniques, facilitating more reliable extraction of building footprints from historical aerial photographs. Code and resources for reproducing our results are publicly available at \href{https://github.com/Pengyu-gis/Historical-Aerial-Photos}{github.com/Pengyu-gis/Historical-Aerial-Photos}.
title A GAN-Enhanced Deep Learning Framework for Rooftop Detection from Historical Aerial Imagery
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.23200