Image meta search

<h2 id="how-image-search-works">How image search works</h2>

<p>A common misunderstanding when it comes to image search is that the technology is based on detecting information in the image itself. But most image search works as other <a href="/facts/Search_engine/SRntsbz2">search engines</a>. The <a href="/facts/Metadata/qt35z79C">metadata</a> of the image is indexed and stored in a large database and when a search <a href="/facts/Web_search_query/xY17HbzT">query</a> is performed the image search engine looks up the <a href="/facts/Inverted_index/Kyva3prq">index</a>, and queries are matched with the stored information. The results are presented in order of relevancy. The usefulness of an image search engine depends on the relevance of the results it returns, and the ranking algorithms are one of the keys to becoming a big player.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> 
</p><p>Some search engines can automatically identify a limited range of visual content, e.g. faces, trees, sky, buildings, flowers, colours etc. This can be used alone, as in <a href="/facts/Content-based_image_retrieval/AQpmsoGE">content-based image retrieval</a>, or to augment metadata in an image search. 
</p><p>When performing a search the user receives a set of thumbnail images, sorted by relevancy. Each thumbnail is a link back to the original web site where that image is located. Using an advanced search option the user can typically adjust the search criteria to fit their own needs, choosing to search only images or animations, color or black and white, and setting preferences on image size.
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<h2 id="image-search-providers">Image search providers</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/AltaVista/X0C5ts5p">AltaVista</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Branded_Entertainment_Network/5WVfumXa">Corbis</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/GazoPa/Tqjj1r7u">GazoPa</a> (similar image search, has been shut down for consumer, still available for business user)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Google_Image_Search/fRJEAXHj">Google Image Search</a> (also <a href="/facts/Reverse_image_search/PWuVmeP1">reverse image search</a>)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Live_Search/r2pIK5HT">Live Search</a> from <a href="/facts/Microsoft/nGIDDXdx">Microsoft</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Macroglossa_Visual_Search/jxJze3rK">Macroglossa</a> ( visual search engine )</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Picollator/hbN2tzje">Picollator</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Picsearch/CjVvzcAE">Picsearch</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/TinEye/BlrbIyNU">TinEye</a> (only reverse image search)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Yandex_Search/9spQ8EGG">Yandex Search</a> (also reverse image search)</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li>Wikimedia Commons to search <a href="/facts/Wikipedia/KDRNKWnc">Wikipedia</a>'s images.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Lipinski, Klaus. "Visual Search". ITWissen.info (in German). Retrieved 2022-11-03. <a href="https://www.itwissen.info/Visual-Search-visual-search.html" target="_blank">https://www.itwissen.info/Visual-Search-visual-search.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Image meta search open-in-new

Image meta search