# Complex Layout Classification in the Wild: A Low-Resource Approach with Layout-Preserving Augmentations

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17355 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.17355/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 20 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Jun 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [A ConvNet for the 2020s](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.03545/) (2022)
- [PubLayNet: largest dataset ever for document layout analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.07836/) (2019)
- [DocLayNet: A Large Human-Annotated Dataset for Document-Layout Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.01062/) (2022)
- [Learning to Extract Semantic Structure from Documents Using Multimodal Fully Convolutional Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.02337/) (2017)
- [M6Doc: A Large-Scale Multi-Format, Multi-Type, Multi-Layout, Multi-Language, Multi-Annotation Category Dataset for Modern Document Layout Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.08719/) (2023)
- [A Large Dataset of Historical Japanese Documents with Complex Layouts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.08686/) (2020)
- [Graphical Object Detection in Document Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.10843/) (2020)
- [U-DIADS-Bib: a full and few-shot pixel-precise dataset for document layout analysis of ancient manuscripts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08425/) (2024)
- [ICDAR 2025 Competition on FEw-Shot Text line segmentation of ancient handwritten documents (FEST)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.12965/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Many digitized corpora suffer from low resources because annotations may be scarce, page scans are noisy and of poor resolution, or layouts are structurally complex in ways that negatively affect the quality of automatic transcription. Developing robust classification models for low-resource languages is inhibited by the lack of large-scale annotated data and by the frequent semantic complexity of page layouts. To this end, we have curated a complex-layout dataset, manually classified into eight distinct layout types based on their separator regions. To overcome data scarcity, we propose a novel training strategy in the form of a CNN-based classifier that employs strong, domain-aware augmentations to improve generalization. We utilize narrow anisotropic Gaussian masking to suppress incidental textual details while preserving essential separations, compelling the model to learn global geometric arrangements. Additionally, we implement reflection-induced label transformations to enrich the training distribution while maintaining label consistency across asymmetric categories. The results demonstrate that layout-specific augmentations can substantially improve page-level layout classification under severe annotation scarcity.