pythonopencvnumpyhistogramearthdistance

How to compute "EMD" for 2 numpy arrays i.e "histogram" using opencv?


Since I'm new to opencv, I don't know how to use the cv.CalcEMD2 function with numpy arrays.
I have two arrays:

a=[1,2,3,4,5]  
b=[1,2,3,4]

How can I transfer numpy array to CVhistogram and from Cvhistogram to the function parameter signature?

I would like anyone who answers the question to explain any used opencv functions through the provided solution.

"EMD" == earth mover's distance.

Update:-
also ,It will be helpful if anyone can tell me how to set the cv.CalcEMD2 parameter i.e"signature" using numpy array!!

Note:-
* For those who may be interested in this question ,This answer needs more testing.


Solution

  • You have to define your arrays in terms of weights and coordinates. If you have two arrays a = [1,1,0,0,1] and b = [0,1,0,1] that represent one dimensional histograms, then the numpy arrays should look like this:

    a = [[1 1]
         [1 2]
         [0 3]
         [0 4]
         [1 5]]
    
    b = [[0 1]
         [1 2]
         [0 3]
         [1 4]]
    

    Notice that the number of rows can be different. The number of columns should be the dimensions + 1. The first column contains the weights, and the second column contains the coordinates.

    The next step is to convert your arrays to a CV_32FC1 Mat before you input the numpy array as a signature to the CalcEMD2 function. The code would look like this:

    from cv2 import *
    import numpy as np
    
    # Initialize a and b numpy arrays with coordinates and weights
    a = np.zeros((5,2))
    
    for i in range(0,5):
        a[i][1] = i+1
    
    a[0][0] = 1
    a[1][0] = 1
    a[2][0] = 0
    a[3][0] = 0
    a[4][0] = 1
    
    b = np.zeros((4,2))
    
    for i in range(0,4):
        b[i][1] = i+1
    
    b[0][0] = 0
    b[1][0] = 1
    b[2][0] = 0
    b[3][0] = 1    
    
    # Convert from numpy array to CV_32FC1 Mat
    a64 = cv.fromarray(a)
    a32 = cv.CreateMat(a64.rows, a64.cols, cv.CV_32FC1)
    cv.Convert(a64, a32)
    
    b64 = cv.fromarray(b)
    b32 = cv.CreateMat(b64.rows, b64.cols, cv.CV_32FC1)
    cv.Convert(b64, b32)
    
    # Calculate Earth Mover's
    print cv.CalcEMD2(a32,b32,cv.CV_DIST_L2)
    
    # Wait for key
    cv.WaitKey(0)
    

    Notice that the third parameter of CalcEMD2 is the Euclidean Distance CV_DIST_L2. Another option for the third parameter is the Manhattan Distance CV_DIST_L1.

    I would also like to mention that I wrote the code to calculate the Earth Mover's distance of two 2D histograms in Python. You can find this code here.