Semantic coherency: the basis of an image interpretation device-application to the cadastral map interpretation

This paper describes the formal architecture of a device capable of interpreting technical and cartographic documents. Our approach is two-fold, based on a model of the document and on the implementation of a set of "builders", the aim of which is to progressively construct information of as high a semantic level as that provided by the document drawer. The implementation support is the French cadaster. The interpretation process is performed in two stages: the first one consists in constructing the information, through a bottom-up approach. Then, this information is analyzed and the set of objects considered as nonvalid ("inconsistent") with regard to the document model are reexamined through a cycling stage. The whole approach is presented, and the first implementation has enabled us to quantify the interpretation results and to verify the relevance of the cycling stage.