No Photoshop Skills Required
PhotoSketch is a mind-blowing project from a group of computer science students in China, who have created software that will take your hand drawn sketch, search the web for corresponding images and then stitch them all together into a brand new composite image.
A video demonstration from their paper shows the software in action.
http://www.vimeo.com/6496886While only tangentially related to real estate marketing (though imagine the fun you putting together a listing presentation…) – what I think this technology points to is a rise of alternate input methods that will push us beyond the keyboard. The iPhone has already demonstrated the appeal of multi-touch and I suspect we’ll be seeing even more creative uses of this kind of gesture-based interaction over the next few years.
Text based search has been held back somewhat by a limited vocabulary and clumsy filters. So imagine searching for a home by simply drawing what you were looking for on Surface-like table or a Perceptive Pixel-type wall and have the software return the most relevant results to you.
It won’t be for everyone – but for the more adventurous, the future of real estate search may just be about letting your fingers do the talking.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Make sure to follow Inman News on Twitter too!
Scott Costello | Oct 6, 2009 | Reply
Definitely a cool technology. I’m not really sure I could draw a craftsman house, or if the tech is good enough to even distinguish between different types of houses.
I’m looking to be convinced, but i can’t really see a use for this just yet in real estate.
Joe | Oct 7, 2009 | Reply
Apparently all sorts of folks are excited about PhotoSketch as I visited the link you provided and the page failed to load until about the fourth try!
I’m going to save the link, as I can see the possibilities available.
Cindy Knight | Oct 8, 2009 | Reply
Joel this is so Cool and just another reason I love your posts
realestate leads | Oct 12, 2009 | Reply
I think it’s a great tool also, bit like Scott said… I too can’t see a use for this tool yet in real estate
Paul Caparas | Oct 14, 2009 | Reply
Wow, that is a crazy tool. I would love to mess with it and see what comes up.
TheMasterCylinder | Oct 18, 2009 | Reply
Don’t play guitar, play Guitar Hero.
Don’t get in bed with someone, watch other people do it instead on a flat-screen LCD.
Don’t drink in a sunset, or a majestic mountain scene, just find a picture that someone else took and install it in the background of a photo of yourself. Won’t your friends and family be amazed at all the places you’ve been to!
Yep, there’s no doubt this technology will be
a huge hit.
Alan Myers | Oct 18, 2009 | Reply
Interesting, but… there will be a bunch of copyright and IP problems if they just lift images from the web.
SuiteSusan | Dec 11, 2009 | Reply
Before I watched the video I thought, “Oh, that’s kinda cool” but after watching the video I think it’s pretty freakin awesome! I don’t know what the copyright problems might be but when I’m putting together a brochure I know I could use it for lots of things. I work at Brewer Caldwell which is a real estate company however I’m pretty sure our graphic arts guys would really dig this.