Google Image Swirl launches in Labs

Building on Similar Images and Picasa Face Recognition, new tool makes searching images easier

First, they gave us Image Search, then came Similar Images, and now, Google is adding a new application to Google Labs, called Google Image Swirl.

Announced Tuesday morning on the Google Blog, Image Swirl functions similarly to Google Wonder Wheel, in that it creates an initial grid or cluster, based on an initial search query. Whenever the user clicks on an item in the cluster, a second cluster expands outward, remaining connected to the initial group, but displaying a whole new branch of items more closely related to the clicked item.

Ultimately, the idea is to improve the power of search by helping users find exactly what they seek.

For example, searching for "meteor shower" on the new tool will produce the following page, a 4x3 grid of varying thumbnails of meteor showers:



Some are black-and-white, some are bursting with color, one appears to be from a scientific paper, and one seems to be completely unrelated. Clicking on the black-and-white picture in the upper-right hand corner opens up a whole new cluster of other (mostly) black-and-white photos of meteor showers:



If the user clicks on another image in this new cluster, a third cluster will spawn, and so on.

The technology behind Google Image Swirl is not new, as both Similar Images and Picasa Face Recognition have for some time required the ability to aggregate similar images together.

Google says that right now Image Swirl accepts over 200,000 search queries. When you type in a keyword, Google Suggest will display the available options. Remember that the product is still in its experimental stages, so your favorite image search engine will probably remain so for awhile.