This pull request introduces a comprehensive camera label type system to the NCore data API, including new data types, protocols, and component integration for handling camera-associated image labels. The changes enable structured access to camera label metadata, schemas, and data, and provide a foundation for future extensibility in label handling.

The most important changes are:

1. New Camera Label Type System

• Introduced new data types for camera labels, including LabelCategory, LabelUnit, LabelEncoding, LabelType, QuantizationParams, LabelSchema, and CameraLabelDescriptor in ncore.impl.data.types to provide structured representation of label metadata, encoding, and quantization. Well-known label types are now exposed as class-level constants for convenience. [1] [2] [3]

2. Protocols and Interfaces for Camera Labels

• Added CameraLabelsProtocol to define a standard interface for accessing camera-associated image labels, including methods for querying, retrieving, and describing labels. This protocol is exposed in the public API and integrated into the compatibility layer. [1] [2] [3] [4]

3. Integration into Data API and Components

• Updated ncore.data and ncore.data.v4 public APIs to expose the new label types and protocols, and added CameraLabelsComponent for component-based access to camera labels. The v4 compatibility layer now wraps CameraLabelsComponent.Reader to implement the new protocol. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

4. API Consistency and Documentation

• Improved docstrings and method/property naming for clarity and consistency, especially for new label-related APIs and data types. Added detailed documentation for new classes and their properties. [1] [2] [3]

5. Minor Typing and Import Improvements

• Refactored imports and typing annotations to support the new label types and protocols, including the use of ClassVar and additional typing improvements.

These changes lay the groundwork for advanced camera label handling and make the NCore data API more extensible and robust for future label-related features.

Example of panoptic segmentation in waymo datasets visualized with ncore_viz