Clear path detection using edge detection

Question

I want to create an application where a user can detect an unobstructed path using an Android mobile phone. I used a Gaussian filter for smoothing and then used canny edge detection to detect edges.
I thought if I could find the concentration of edges in the video I can direct the user towards an area with a low concentration of edges, hence a clear path.
Is there a way to find the concentration of the edges? I'm new to image processing so any help would be appreciated.
Im using the OpenCV Android library for my implementation.
Thank you.

Answer 1

The edge detection filter will leave you with a grey-scale image showing where edges are, so you could just throw another smoothing/averaging filter on this to get an idea of the concentration of edges in the neighbourhood of each pixel.

This is a pretty big topic though, and there are a lot of better and more complex alternatives. You should probably look up academic papers, textbooks and tutorials which talk about 'image segmentation', 'region detection' and mention texture or edges.

Also, consider the cases where edges are not indicative of clearness of path, such as plain white walls, and brick foot paths.