Google Images gained a major improvement two years ago with the Lens integration on the mobile web, letting users learn more about objects within a photo thanks to Google's Knowledge Graph. Today, the search giant announced another feature for Images that allows users to view more facts about a photo they search on the web.
Search results in Images will begin showing relevant facts about photos under the page title starting this week. These pieces of information come from the Knowledge Graph and can include people, places, or things relevant to that photo. When users tap on a specific topic, a brief description will appear for that along with a carousel of other topics. Angela Wu, Software Engineer for Google Search, explained in a blog post:
"For example, let’s say you’re searching for beautiful state parks to visit nearby. You want to swim during your visit, so you tap on a picture of a park with a river. Beneath the photo you might see related topics, such as the name of the river, or which city the park is in. If you tap a specific topic, it will expand and show you a short description of the person, place or thing it references, along with a link to learn more and other related topics for you to explore."
The goal is to help users understand the image they search for and decide on the relevance of the search results. Google says it uses deep learning to surface these Knowledge Graph facts. For now, the feature is available only to U.S. users who use Images on their mobile devices. In the future, it will expand to more languages and markets.
