How it's done
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Google has launched a visual search application on Android devices that allows users to search for objects using images rather than words. When you take a picture of an object with your camera phone, Google Goggles attempt to recognize the item, and returns relevant search results. Goggles is available in Android Market on devices with Android 1.6+ in US English.
Goggles lets users search for objects using images rather than words. Simply take a picture with the phone's camera, and if Goggles recognizes the item, it returns relevant search results. Right now Goggles identifies landmarks, works of art, and products (among other things) by:
* Sends the user's image to Google's datacentres
* Creates signatures of objects in the image using computer vision algorithms
* Compares signatures against all other known items in Google's image recognition databases; and
* Figures out how many matches exist; and
* Returns one or more search results, based on available meta data and ranking signals.
