Technology startup Imprezzeo has launched a beta version of its new image-to-image search. The company has offices in London, New York and Sydney and is funded by large Dublin-based newspaper and communications group Independent News and Media.
Imprezzeo’s Web site reads: “We use text to find text; why not use images to find images?” If this sounds familiar, it is because Canada-based Idée used the same reasoning to develop its own image-to-image search engine TinEye, available since earlier this year. Both products use digital images, as opposed to textual keywords, as a starting point of an image search. Initial images can be located online or uploaded by users.
While it may not be the first to market, Imprezzeo says its proprietary search software is more sophisticated than currently available similar products, because it combines content-based image retrieval with facial recognition technologies.
According to Imprezzeo chief executive officer Dermot Corrigan, many image searches are abandoned at the first set of results, because these results do not match what the user is looking for. Corrigan says the company’s search technology will change this.
Imprezzeo sees numerous applications for the product. Stock-photo libraries and news agencies are at the top of the list of companies who can use the technology to provide more relevant search results to image buyers and news-photo junkies. The company says similar potential exists in integrating the technology into search engines and photo-sharing Web sites. There are also possible retail applications, where the technology can be used to find images of products visually similar to a customer’s initial search result.
Corrigan’s experience includes posts at Frost & Sullivan, PR Newsire and LexisNexis. He is joined by previous KAZ chief technology officer Peter Chin as Imprezzeo’s CTO and former Gannet Media, Quark and Vio executive Kurt Dressel as the company’s vice president of sales.