Semi-blind Robust and Quality Assured Watermarking Method for Copyright Protection of Images on Maps System Used in Geographic Information Systems

Images in map systems of geographic information systems are easy to access and share, raising significant concerns about copyright protection. One of the most commonly used approaches to protecting copyright is robust watermarking techniques. This paper presents a semi-blind, robust, and quality-assured watermarking method designed to protect the copyrights of images in map systems. Watermark embedding parameters of the proposed method are determined using an optimization algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is assessed using images from various levels of the map system. All images watermarked with the proposed method achieved PSNR values exceeding 40 dB, which is the quality threshold set by the optimization algorithm. Furthermore, the robustness of the method against various attacks, including compression, filtering, and noise addition, was evaluated. The Level 19 image achieved an average NC value of 0.9729, demonstrating the effectiveness of the method against these attacks.