Google image search is one of the best things they’ve done in my opinion. When you do a lot of graph making, reporting, presenting and blogging (like me) finding funny/interesting images to go in them is a must.
Sometimes I have very specific ideas about what I want, sometimes I don’t and Google are hell bent on making image search the perfect beast to find them. The introduction of a colour filter is another genius feature which is only going to make our lives easier. Search Cowboys did a nice wee write up and I have to agree that it is a brilliant introduction.
Awesome filter options from Google Image Search
If you’re bored you can still log on to the Image Labeler to keep improving Google’s image offering.For the uninitiated this is brilliant; you get two minutes in which to view and label as many images as you can. You are partnered with a random other person and where your labels agree you get points – genius.
Here’s a classic from Dom’s recent effort:
Two labels eh...
Google’s drive to holistic search and providing the best, most accurate results possible is exemplified the best in the Image Search, both in it’s function and the user driven development. You can get involved and improve your search – it’s like a community improvement program but it’s actually fun!
What I’d love to know though is this;
What filter options you would like to see in the future?
What hilarious Image Labeler sessions have you seen?
Or do you think Google should just leave images alone?
I would expect precise location to be the next big thing in image search. Most newer camera’s these days are location aware, or can easily be equipped with a GPS dongle.
For example, in the not so distant future, a search for “historic buildings Leeds” would lookup all images with the location attribute set to “Leeds”, rather than just reading from the filename or human labels.
Also, facial recognition could be easily integrated into image search. Facebook already has it in it’s Photo Albums, and so does Apple’s iPhoto ’09. Again, rather than relying on ambiguous filenames or descriptions, it would be nice to be able to find every photo of “Megan Fox” based on actual computed facial recognition, not least because she is ridiculously hot. This does raise all kinds of privacy issues, but if you empower the users with the option then that isn’t really a problem at all.
Check out Yahoo’s image search too. I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy, but the interface is a bit nicer in my opinion.
Good call Dom, if Google fulfils it’s threat of proper blended results we might see photos, maps and Street View all becoming one beautiful medly. This has been partially implemented but not to its fullest potential. Didn’t realise cameras were getting location aware, cool but a bit Skynet…
With the addition of facial recognition you could also include filters like ‘beard’, ‘moustache’ or even ‘mullet’ once things got advanced enough – maybe even down to eye colour or hair colour – imagine that! The stalking possibilites would be massively increased as well though but given the way Google deals with privacy (very seriously) I’m sure they will keepo an eye on it.
This is an interesting article, i find the way Google currently lists its images awkward and found it better before listed as pages. Having said that i have always found google images pretty accurate and always found what i am looking for.