An SL(2) Invariant Shape Median

Median averaging is a powerful averaging concept on sets of vector data in finite dimensions. A generalization of the median for shapes in the plane is introduced. The underlying distance measure for shapes takes into account the area of the symmetric difference of shapes, where shapes are considered to be invariant with respect to different classes of affine transformations. To obtain a well-posed problem the perimeter is introduced as a geometric prior. Based on this model, an existence result can be established in the class of sets of finite perimeter. As alternative invariance classes other classical transformation groups such as pure translation, rotation, scaling, and shear are investigated. The numerical approximation of median shapes uses a level set approach to describe the shape contour. The level set function and the parameter sets of the group action on every given shape are incorporated in a joint variational functional, which is minimized based on step size controlled, regularized gradient descent. Various applications show in detail the qualitative properties of the median.