available online 7 December 2008.Discrete geometry constitutes one of the great families of methods dedicated to the automated analysis of shapes in 2D and 3D digital images. Images are generally organized on a regular grid, called discrete data, for which the discrete geometry is a complete geometrical paradigm (discrete objects—points, straight lines, etc.—and associated algorithmic).The main conference on this topic, the International Conference on Discrete Geometry for Computer Imagery (DGCI), was held in Lyon, France, April 16–18, 2008, for the 14th edition. DGCI 2008 attracted researchers from all around the world. Thereby, 76 papers were submitted, from 24 different countries and five continents. Once reviewed, 45 papers were accepted for publication.This special issue includes two contributions which are significantly revised and extended versions of papers selected from the best presented at the 14th DGCI. These papers which were accepted after two extra review cycles, address topics relevant to the Computer Graphics community. Indeed, both papers discuss estimation of properties as applied to digital surfaces. The first, “Normals estimation for digital surfaces based on convolutions” (by Sébastien Fourey and Rémy Malgouyres) approaches normal estimation, while the second, entitled “About the frequencies of some patterns in digital planes. Application to area estimators” (by Alain Daurat, Mohamed Tajine, and Mahdi Zouaoui) focuses on areas.DGCI 2008 was supported by the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), and is the main conference associated with the Technical Committee 18 on Discrete Geometry of the IAPR. We also thank our sponsoring institutions for providing the financial support essential for a successful event. We sincerely want to thank the authors who contributed to this special issue, the referees for their useful reviews in a short period of time and for contributing to improve the paper quality. We are very grateful to the chief editor of Computers and Graphics who gives us the opportunity to publish papers from discrete geometry topics.We enjoyed making the 14th DGCI a success and working on this special issue. We hope you will enjoy reading the selected papers.Guest editors of DGCI 2008 Special Issue in Computers and Graphics.