Ariana is a joint project of INRIA, CNRS, and the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis, via the Computer Science, Signals and Systems Laboratory (I3S) in Sophia Antipolis (UMR 6070). It has been created in 1998, following the activity of former PASTIS Research Group.

The Ariana project aims to provide image processing tools to aid in the solution of problems arising in a wide range of concrete applications in Earth observation and cartography, for example cartographic updating, land management, and agriculture, while at the same time advancing the state of the art in the image processing methods used to construct those tools.