1. A method of identifying linear objects in an image comprising: receiving a first image with a first resolution, the first image containing data representing physical linear objects; generating a filtered image from the first image, the filtered image identifying potential objects which have a smaller radius than the size of a filter and a different brightness than pixels surrounding the potential objects; receiving a second image identifying regions in the first image with the first resolution which are not to be processed; generating a third image by removing regions in the filtered image which are identified in the second image as regions in the first image which are not to be processed; identifying lines in the third image; generating a fourth image by removing lines identified in the third image which do not meet predetermined criteria; and identifying linear objects in the first image using the remaining lines in the fourth image.