One of the new technologies on display in Microsoft’s TechFest is a service which would tell people where they are based on the nearby buildings, reports Reuters. “Lost in Seattle with nothing but a camera phone? Just snap a picture of a nearby building, send off the photo to a database and soon you’ll get back a map and information about where you are.”
Of course, the service required that Microsoft get millions of street-level pictures of buildings and landmarks in Seattle and put them in a database where they were indexed by distinguising features, which I don’t think is a viable way to launch a commercial service. It’s likely MS was showing off its database software rather than cameraphone abilities… a more viable way to do the service would be to get people to take pictures of street signs
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