Google launches visual search ... and a dictionary

Google launched two new features last week, but they didn't both receive the same welcome.  A new dictionary service went almost unnoticed with a lot more attention directed to the new Goggles visual search service which allows you to access Google using a photo, rather than text.  Let's take a look ...

For the time being, it's only available on Android 1.6 and above, though it should be coming to other platforms soon.  The basic idea is to replace a traditional text-based search term with an image taken with the camera built into your smartphone.  The search engine identifies the various elements in your photo and sends back the corresponding results.

One useful application of this system is being able to search quickly without thinking about how to put your query into words.  Instead of trying to describe an unfamiliar building or asking a nearby stranger, all you have to do is a take a photograph and let Google identify it for you.



Google suggests that you can use the system to recognise famous buildings, books, labels and logos, as well as paintings and photographs.  By taking a photo of an artwork, you should be able to find information about it, a function that reminds use of Shazam, a mobile service that gives information about a track by listening to a snatch of it using the mic in your phone.

A business card scanner is also included, although that's a feature that other apps have already offered.  Augmented reality hasn't been neglected either, and your smartphone can combine GPS, its compass and Google's 'goggles' to give you information about what you're looking at, like a listing of all of the businesses at a certain address when you point your camera at it.  You can be sure of finding the right restaurant, as long, of course, as there is up to date info in Google Maps.

Privacy Concerns?

However, one feature that has been left out is no stranger to science fiction novels: face recognition.  For the time being at least you can't take a discreet snap of somebody in a meeting and be reminded of their name, pull up their CV or dig the dirt on them on social networking sites.

Google decided to impose these limits faced by the enormous controversy that could have ruined the launch go Googles, just as similar concerns marred the arrival of Street View in certain markets.  Being able to identify anybody, anywhere isn't just a privacy risk, but also a security risk: your chances of finding the details of an individual based just on their face and a traditional search engine are very limited, but a tool that compared your photo to the millions of other available online would be a dangerous weapon in the hands of a stalker.

How new?

As we mentioned, Google also discretely unveiled a new dictionary service that provoked very little interest.  A quick look at Google News shows that a few dozen sites mentioned the new dictionary, compared to hundreds that covered the launch of Goggles.

Some have complained that the dictionary is just a combination of Google's powerful search engine and its pre-existing translation tools, but there are plenty of new features including examples, pronunciation guides and detailed definitions, all considered standard for a real dictionary service.

But is Goggles, the other new service, really that new?  Identifying places based on photos is nothing new: it was part of a huge study at Cornell earlier this year.  And identifying an artwork seems to just by a visual version of what Shazam has been doing with audio for a while now.  Extracting data from a business card and saving it to your address book is something that plenty of other apps can do for you.  And finally, augmented reality with extra details overlaid over a real view is something that fighter pillars have been enjoying for decades.

In short, Goggles brings together a series of pre-existing tools.  The attention that has been heaped on it has nothing to with new innovation from Google, but rather the impact that the service might have on the way we search for information in the future, as the seeming banality of the launch of a new online dictionary shows. 

> Google Goggles

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