Editing Image analysis (section)

{{short description|Extraction of information from images via digital image processing techniques}}
{{distinguish|Image processing}}
{{no footnotes|article|date=September 2013}}

'''Image analysis''' or '''imagery analysis''' is the extraction of meaningful information from [[image]]s; mainly from [[digital image]]s by means of [[digital image processing]] techniques.<ref name="solomonbreckon10fundamentals">{{cite book| author=Solomon, C.J., Breckon, T.P.| title=Fundamentals of Digital Image Processing: A Practical Approach with Examples in Matlab| year=2010| publisher=Wiley-Blackwell| doi=10.1002/9780470689776| isbn=978-0470844731}}</ref> Image analysis tasks can be as simple as reading [[barcode|bar code]]d tags or as sophisticated as [[facial recognition system|identifying a person from their face]].

[[Computer]]s are indispensable for the analysis of large amounts of data, for tasks that require complex computation, or for the extraction of quantitative information.  On the other hand, the human [[visual cortex]] is an excellent image analysis apparatus, especially for extracting higher-level information, and for many applications &mdash; including medicine, security, and remote sensing &mdash; human analysts still cannot be replaced by computers.  For this reason, many important image analysis tools such as [[edge detection|edge detectors]] and [[Artificial neural network|neural networks]] are inspired by human [[visual perception]] models.