Google lens partner Wescover to extract & feed the work of local artists

06-Jul-2019

Google Lens, the image recognition technology developed by Google is designed to bring up relevant details associated with objects it identifies using visual analysis based on a neural network, will now identify the work from local artists. Wescover announced it’s teaming up with Google to provide Google Lens with information about art and design installations.

Wescover is a San-Francisco based startup that connects the people, places, and stories behind design objects. Here, every item has context like you’d find in a gallery—from who the original creator is, to what the story was behind it, to where you can see their work in the real world.

From this week, Google Lens can match designs and artwork in Wescover’s database with artists and stories in places like hotels, restaurants and city streets. The database presently has more than 50,000 images of art and design, with 6,000 local brands and artists using the site to gain exposure for their work and get discovered.

Earlier Google Lens could only identify or read barcodes, QR codes, labels and text, and show relevant search results and information.  It was also integrated with the Google Photos and Google Assistant apps.  Lately, the app has gained the ability to copy text, make calls to recognized phone numbers, read handwriting, identify objects, plants, animals, books, movies and landmarks.

During Google I/O 2019, Google announced four new features that included recognizing and recommending items on a menu, ability to calculate tips and split bills, showing how to prepare dishes from a recipe and using text-to-speech.And now the latest edition to this list is identifying work of local artists.

Google and Wescover have joined forces to create an initial map of San Francisco that is compatible with the Google Lens app. If you see a piece of art in San Francisco that you’re curious about, all you have to do is open Google Lens and point your smartphone’s camera toward the art to instantly get more details about the art and other works by the artist. The feature provides artists the credit they deserve and promote their work without splashing out for their own retail space in the city. At this moment, the feature is only available in San-Francisco but Wescover plan to make it reach globally in coming time.

Speaking about the collaboration Wescover co-founder and CEO Rachely Esman expressed “We’re excited to see the difference our content is making. Each exact match gives creators the credit they deserve and enables consumers with trust to find what they’re looking for”

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