New search tool uses ‘images to search for images’
- Added:
- Dec 04, 2008
Technology company Imprezzeo has launched an image search engine that lets the user search using one image to find similar ones, rather than using text-based keywords.
The site, at www.imprezzeo.com, is backed by Independent News and Media PLC.
The Images can be scenes; landmarks; objects; graphics; people or personalities. The proprietary search software combines content-based image retrieval (CBIR) and facial recognition technologies.
The tool generates image search results that closely match a sample image either chosen by the user from an initial set of search results that can then be refined, or from an image uploaded by the user.
Consumers can organise their personal photo collections by content and person rather than by date and even retailers can recommend similar products for purchase. For example, if a consumer is searching for a ‘red handbag’, Imprezzeo could be used to find all similar products.
Dermot Corrigan, CEO of Imprezzeo, said: “This will fundamentally change the way users and consumers expect to search for images, whether that’s in a photo stock library, the desktop or the web. We know that currently many image searches are abandoned at the first set of results, because the returned results are not what the user is looking for. This technology changes that.”