Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for object detection in an image. The apparatus for this invention includes a preprocessor, a detector, a segmentor, a classifier, a classifier systems integrator, a system output and a post processor. The method for object detection allows the user to identify an object by using three approaches: (1) a segmentation detector, (2) a pixel-based detector, and (3) a grid-cell and mesotexture based detector. All three of the aforementioned approaches allows the user to use a pseudo-English programming language in the processing system for object detection. This invention allows the user to use an expert's knowledge and convert it to object based content retrieval algorithms. The user can preserve the segmented scenes of the original data and perform a raster-to-vector conversion which preserves the size and shape of the original objects.