Geo-SAM Segmentation (QGIS plugin)#

Click the Geo-SAM Segmentation icon to open the interactive segmentation widget. You will be shown a demo raster image with thaw slump and small pond landforms for you to try the tool. With a single click on the map, a segmentation result will be generated.

A user interface will be shown below.

Prompt Tab#

Load Image Features#

The plugin is initialized with features for demo purposes, and you can use the Feature Folder selection button to select the folder that includes the image features you need.

Then, press the Load button to load the selected image features. Remember to add the corresponding raster image to the QGIS project.

SAM Output Features#

The Shapefile used to save the segmentation results. You can specify it from:

the current layers in QGIS project (only support previous saved Shapefile using this plugin)
a file (will be created if not exist).

Add Prompts#

There are 3 types of prompts:

Foreground Point (FG): a point that indicates the foreground of the object (desired area)
Background Point (BG): a point that indicates the background of the object (unwanted area)
Bounding Box (BBox): a bounding box that limits the boundary of the object

Note

You can add multiple prompts for each type and combine them to segment one object.
You can use the Tab button to loop between the 3 prompt types. The cursor will also change to the corresponding types.

Undo/Clear Prompts#

Press Undo button (Shortcut: Z) to undo the last prompt.
Press Clear button (Shortcut: C) to clear all prompts and unsaved segmentation results.

Minimum Pixels#

The minimum pixels for the segmentation result. The object with fewer pixels than the Minimum Pixels value will be removed from the segmentation results. The Minimum Pixels will change to Default Minimum Pixels after saved the segmentation results.

Save Current Results#

You can save the segmentation results by clicking the Save button (Shortcut: S), after adding points and a BBox prompts for segmenting a object.

Preview mode#

To facilitate better labeling, we have developed a preview mode. In this mode, SAM’s execution results are displayed in real-time as you move the mouse, allowing to observe the prompt’s effect instantly. In this mode, users can choose the most suitable prompt without worrying about getting worse by adding new prompt, reducing the frequency of prompt modifications.

Note

The Preview mode is only designed for previewing purposes, and only the pressed prompts will be saved.
You can use the P key to toggle the Preview mode on/off.

Enable/Disable the Tool#

You can uncheck the Enable button to temporally disable the tool and navigate on the map.

Shortcuts#

Tab: loop between 3 prompt types (the cursor will also change to the corresponding types)
P: Toggle to enable/disable executing SAM with Preview mode
C: clear all prompts in canvas [same as Clear button]
Z: undo the last prompt in canvas [same as Undo button]
S: save SAM output features into polygon [same as Save button]
Ctrl+Z or command+Z: undo the last saved segmentation results

Tips for Using the Segmentation Tool#

Deal with only One object each time
Use Background Points to exclude unwanted parts
Use Bounding Box (BBox) to limit the segment polygon boundary
The BBox should cover the entire object
Remember to press the Save button after the segmentation of the chosen object

Settings Tab#

Colors#

Due to the diverse range of colors in remote sensing images, the default color scheme may closely resemble the image colors, making it difficult to differentiate. Therefore, we have added an option to modify colors in the Settings Tab.

There are 3 types of colors for the Prompts:

Foreground Point: the color of the foreground point
Background Point: the color of the background point
Bounding Box(BBox): the color of the bounding box

There are 3 types of colors for the segmentation results:

Shapefile Polygon: the color of the segmentation results saved in the Shapefile. You can change this color by changing the layer color in QGIS directly.
Prompt Polygon: the color of the segmentation results from pressed prompts
Preview Polygon: the color of the segmentation results in the preview mode (results that with mouse moving)

The Boundary color is the color of the Boundary of the image feature.

Load Demo#

enable/disable loading demos when open widget.

Show Boundary#

enable/disable showing the boundary of the image feature in the canvas.

Default Minimum Pixels#

The default minimum pixels for the segmentation result. The object with fewer pixels than the default value will be removed from the segmentation results. The Minimum Pixels will change to Default Minimum Pixels after saved the segmentation results.