detect-objects

SkillAI & models

Run pre-trained AI models on geospatial imagery. Detect buildings, cars, ships, solar panels, agriculture fields, or use text-prompted segmentation with GroundedSAM. Requires GPU for best performance.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the detect-objects skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by opengeos/geoai-skills in skills/detect-objects/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

You are helping the user run AI object detection on geospatial imagery using geoai.

Input: $@

Follow these steps in order.

Step 1 -- Parse arguments

Extract:

  • $0 as the model name: buildings, cars, ships, solar-panels, parking-lots, agriculture, or grounded-sam
  • $1 as the input raster path
  • --text PROMPT for GroundedSAM text-prompted segmentation (required when model is grounded-sam)
  • --output FILE for the output vector file (default: ./<model>_detections.gpkg)

If the model name is not recognized, list the available models and ask the user to pick one.

Model mapping:

ArgumentGeoAI Class
buildingsgeoai.BuildingFootprintExtractor
carsgeoai.CarDetector
shipsgeoai.ShipDetector
solar-panelsgeoai.SolarPanelDetector
parking-lotsgeoai.ParkingSplotDetector
agriculturegeoai.AgricultureFieldDelineator
grounded-samgeoai.GroundedSAM

Step 2 -- Check GPU availability

python3 -c "
import torch
if torch.cuda.is_available():
    print(f'GPU: {torch.cuda.get_device_name(0)}')
    print(f'CUDA: {torch.version.cuda}')
    print(f'Memory: {torch.cuda.get_device_properties(0).total_mem / 1e9:.1f} GB')
else:
    print('GPU: not available (CPU mode)')
    print('Warning: inference will be significantly slower without a GPU')
"

If no GPU is available, warn the user but continue.

Step 3 -- Resolve the input file

If $1 looks like an absolute path, use it directly. Otherwise:

find "$PWD" -name "$1" -not -path '*/.git/*' 2>/dev/null

If no file specified and state exists, check for recently inspected/downloaded files:

STATE_DIR=""
test -f .geoai-skills/state.json && STATE_DIR=".geoai-skills"
PROJECT_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo "$PWD")"
PROJECT_ID="$(echo "$PROJECT_ROOT" | tr '/' '-')"
test -f "$HOME/.geoai-skills/$PROJECT_ID/state.json" && STATE_DIR="$HOME/.geoai-skills/$PROJECT_ID"

Step 4 -- Run the detector

Pre-trained detectors (buildings, cars, ships, solar-panels, parking-lots, agriculture)

python3 -c "
import geoai

detector = geoai.DETECTOR_CLASS()
gdf = detector.predict(
    'INPUT_PATH',
    output_path='OUTPUT_PATH',
)
print(f'Detections: {len(gdf)}')
print(f'Output: OUTPUT_PATH')
print(f'Columns: {list(gdf.columns)}')
if len(gdf) > 0:
    print('---')
    print('Sample (first 5):')
    print(gdf.head().to_string())
"

Replace DETECTOR_CLASS with the appropriate class from the mapping table (e.g. BuildingFootprintExtractor).

GroundedSAM (text-prompted segmentation)

python3 -c "
import geoai

sam = geoai.GroundedSAM()
gdf = sam.predict(
    'INPUT_PATH',
    text_prompt='TEXT_PROMPT',
    output_path='OUTPUT_PATH',
)
print(f'Segments: {len(gdf)}')
print(f'Output: OUTPUT_PATH')
print(f'Columns: {list(gdf.columns)}')
if len(gdf) > 0:
    print('---')
    print('Sample (first 5):')
    print(gdf.head().to_string())
"

Replace TEXT_PROMPT with the user's text prompt.

Replace INPUT_PATH and OUTPUT_PATH with actual values before running.

Step 5 -- Report results

Summarize:

  • Model used
  • Number of detections/segments
  • Output file path
  • Sample of results

Then suggest: "Use /geoai-skills:inspect-geo to examine the detection output."

Error handling

  • import geoai fails -> delegate to /geoai-skills:install-geoai.
  • import torch fails -> suggest installing PyTorch: pip install torch torchvision.
  • CUDA out of memory -> suggest reducing the tile size or processing a smaller area. If the detector accepts a tile_size parameter, recommend a smaller value.
  • Model download fails -> check network connectivity. Models are downloaded from Hugging Face on first use.
  • Input is not a raster -> suggest using a GeoTIFF file. If the user has a vector file, suggest /geoai-skills:process-raster vector-to-raster first.
  • GroundedSAM without --text -> ask the user for a text prompt describing what to detect.

Signals

GitHub stars
30
Forks
4
Last commit
Jul 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
detect-objects
Source
github.com/opengeos/geoai-skills