強引なアプローチのようなものですが、配列をラスタライズする代わりに、問題を反転させてピクセルのコレクションにインデックスを付けて領域を見つけることで行われます。
data = """\
000000011111111000000000000000000000000
000000011111111000000000000000000000000
000000011111111000000000000000000000000
000000001111110000000001000000000110000
000000000111110000000011000000001111100
000000000011100000000000100000011111100
000000000000000000000000000000011111100
000000000000000000000000000000011111110
000000000000000000000000000000111111110
000000000000000000000000000000111111110
000000000000000000000000000000011111100
000000000000000000000000000000001000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000000"""
from collections import namedtuple
Point = namedtuple('Point', 'x y')
def points_adjoin(p1, p2):
    # to accept diagonal adjacency, use this form
    #return -1 <= p1.x-p2.x <= 1 and -1 <= p1.y-p2.y <= 1
    return (-1 <= p1.x-p2.x <= 1 and p1.y == p2.y or
             p1.x == p2.x and -1 <= p1.y-p2.y <= 1)
def adjoins(pts, pt):
    return any(points_adjoin(p,pt) for p in pts)
def locate_regions(datastring):
    data = map(list, datastring.splitlines())
    regions = []
    datapts = [Point(x,y) 
                for y,row in enumerate(data) 
                    for x,value in enumerate(row) if value=='1']
    for dp in datapts:
        # find all adjoining regions
        adjregs = [r for r in regions if adjoins(r,dp)]
        if adjregs:
            adjregs[0].add(dp)
            if len(adjregs) > 1:
                # joining more than one reg, merge
                regions[:] = [r for r in regions if r not in adjregs]
                regions.append(reduce(set.union, adjregs))
        else:
            # not adjoining any, start a new region
            regions.append(set([dp]))
    return regions
def region_index(regs, p):
    return next((i for i,reg in enumerate(regs) if p in reg), -1)
def print_regions(regs):
    maxx = max(p.x for r in regs for p in r)
    maxy = max(p.y for r in regs for p in r)
    allregionpts = reduce(set.union, regs)
    for y in range(-1,maxy+2):
        line = []
        for x in range(-1,maxx+2):
            p = Point(x, y)
            if p in allregionpts:
                line.append(str(region_index(regs, p)))
            else:
                line.append('.')
        print ''.join(line)
    print
# test against data set
regs = locate_regions(data)
print len(regs)
print_regions(regs)
プリント:
4
........................................
........00000000........................
........00000000........................
........00000000........................
.........000000.........1.........33....
..........00000........11........33333..
...........000...........2......333333..
................................333333..
................................3333333.
...............................33333333.
...............................33333333.
................................333333..
.................................3......
........................................