mosaicking

Mosaicking is the process of assembling multiple overlapping images into a single, seamless composite. It is widely used in remote sensing, aerial photography, cartography, medical imaging, astronomy, and virtual globes to create larger views from smaller captures.

Typical mosaicking workflows include data collection, geometric correction, and radiometric normalization to mitigate sensor and illumination differences. Image registration or alignment identifies corresponding points or regions across images and computes a geometric transformation to bring all images into a common coordinate system. Images are then warped and resampled accordingly.

Blending and seam management are used to minimize visible transitions. Techniques include feathering, multi-band or gradient-domain blending, and seam line optimization that avoids overlapping content. Color balancing and radiometric normalization help produce a uniform appearance across the mosaic. Quality assessment may involve visual inspection and automated metrics for alignment accuracy and seam visibility.

Common challenges include parallax due to varying viewpoints, lens distortion, differences in illumination and atmospheric conditions, and moving objects in the scene. Large mosaics may require tile pyramids and compression for efficient storage and display. Applications range from creating high-resolution geospatial basemaps and satellite image archives to stitching panoramas, medical slide mosaics, and astronomical sky surveys.