Researchers develop image-based search engine
14 April 2004
At team of researchers in the US has developed a new search engine that can retrieve results based on an image or a sketch.
Experts from Purdue University Research and Education for Information Systems in Engineering (PRECISE) will unveil the project at a conference in Switzerland this week.
The new search engine allows users to draw, for example, a hex nut and the program then searches a database, retrieving all images that match the drawing.
Karthik Ramani, professor of mechanical engineering and director of PRECISE, predicts most internet users will perform image searches in 10 to 15 years. He explained that the new system will be of immediate use to manufacturers, helping them to track components they have bought or designed.
"Just a single commercial airliner has more than a million unique parts," he said. "Such a search method could save millions of dollars annually by making it unnecessary to design parts anew and enabling you to mine for other knowledge, such as past decisions regarding costs and design advice about the part."
He pointed out that designers can spend six weeks each year searching for information on parts and claimed that the new search tool could reduce that time by up to 80 per cent. A series of experiments in which people used the system to find parts showed that it has an accuracy of up to 85 per cent, the researchers claim.
Searching for images on the internet is currently a text-based activity and general search engines, such as Google and AltaVista, do let people sift through millions of images online but searches are largely based on keywords.
Apply for your free web assessment - get a complete health check and optimisation action plan from Weboptimiser, the experts.
Related news
|
|
Leading brand search engine marketing since 1996
Founded in 1996 as an SEO company, Weboptimiser is today one of the Internet marketing sector's best-known and most respected search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) search engine marketing companies.
With a unique portfolio of brand-friendly services, including usability, contextual advertising and web analytics, a pioneering methodology that covers all 4 stages of interaction between a web site and its visitors, we make our clients sites faster, smarter, busier and more profitable.
