Range image segmentation: the user's dilemma

A methodology for evaluating range image segmentation algorithms is proposed. This methodology involves (a) a common set of images that have manually specified ground truth and (b) a set of defined performance metrics for instances of correctly segmented, missed and noise regions, over- and under-segmentation, and accuracy of the recovered geometry. A tool is used to objectively compare a machine generated segmentation against the specified ground truth. Three research groups have contributed to evaluate their own algorithm for segmenting a range image into planar patches.