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TinEye is a very cool search engine for images which makes it a snap to find similar or identical images around the web. Upload an image file or give the service a URL of an image and within seconds it will find similar or identical images. I have to say it’s one of the most impressive vertical search services I’ve seen in a long while, and despite the fact that it obviously has limitations with some images, it works surprisingly well with many choices (examples). The real kicker is the fact that you can embed it in your web browser via a plugin, which makes finding an image a simple right mouse click affair.
The key to its accuracy comes from a specialised ‘fingerprinting’ technology which also lets you search for images which have been altered or doctored or even locate higher resolution versions. It’s a lovely bit of code all round and a definite keeper.
TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks.
About the Author:
Nigel is the managing editor of the Red Ferret, as well as a freelance columnist for the Sunday Times newspaper in London. Loves tech and fancies himself as a bit of a futurist, but then don't we all?
Nigel – who has written 5164 posts on The Red Ferret Journal.
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