back to article This AI is better than you at figuring out where a street pic was taken just by looking at it

A trio of Stanford computer scientists have developed a deep learning model to geolocate Google Street View images, meaning it can figure out generally where a picture was taken just by looking at it. The software is said to work well enough to beat top players in GeoGuessr, a popular online location-guessing game. That's not …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

    weather to follow.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

      Certainly the label "AI" is overly broad and over hyped. However IMO this particular application is actually useful, and the metric chosen is actually objective and the result informative.

      1. that one in the corner Silver badge

        Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

        > Certainly the label "AI" is overly broad and over hyped.

        To quote myself from a couple of days ago:

        AI research is a bit of a weird one: one of the old sayings was "if we've figured out how to do it, it isn't an AI question any more"

        Years ago, we had no idea how to do this and get it to work, Machine Vision most definitely a topic for AI research.

        Now we can see how to do it (well, *one* way to achieve the goal), oh, it is "just pattern matching" so referring to it as anything "AI" is over hyping!

        Do not go into AI research if you ever hope to have people quietly applauding your results.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

        Yes. The Macsyma system which arose out of research on mathematical software in the AI group at MIT in the 60's was heralded as the harbinger of GAI being just around the corner, while simultaneously removing that kind of symbolic algebra from what anyone would consider AI. I think there are strong parallels to the current iteration of AI LLM's.

    2. Chris Miller

      Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

      Google Lens does this pretty well.

      1. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge

        Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

        "Google Lens"

        Not really. When I search for the name of some hot babe in an on-line photo, Lens invariably leads me to the vendor sites for her dress, shoes, handbag, jewelry, etc.

        That's why I have found it more efficient to search on nude images.

        1. Dinanziame Silver badge
          Devil

          Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

          That's not the image recognition problem, that's Google trying to maximize how much money they make from the query.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

            woosh

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: That's why I have found it more efficient to search on nude images.

          So you get ads for plastic surgery and Photoshop?

    3. vekkq

      Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

      If you ask the people who dressed up AI as something exclusively-futuristic about a century ago, their mind would be blown by this pattern recognition ability.

      You can either keep up the chase of making AI always something inherently unachievable, which I think is pointless, or go with the current sense that AI is just a synonym for modern machine learning.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

      Ah, you are the one wth the proof that intelligence doesn't make use of powerful pattern matching.

      So, what did you find is the cause of Pareidolia?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

        Restrain him in a chair, hook him up to a lie detector, and administer a Rorschach test. Then we'll know.

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

      3. Evil Auditor Silver badge

        Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

        Nice attempt at redirection. I'm far, very far from an expert in the field of intelligence but I have no doubt that intelligence does indeed make use of powerful pattern matching - something we humans can observe constantly. "Making use of" and "being" are two entirely different things though...

        1. veti Silver badge

          Re: Once again, powerful pattern matching being dressed up as "AI"

          So you're the one with evidence that intelligence involves something more than pattern matching, then?

          Can you define what "intelligence" is?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Location detection

    This has been in the “law enforcement” hands for years

    Now the public can get hold of it

    It is actually pretty scary, careful what you post on insta ANYONE can now find you

    1. Winkypop Silver badge

      Re: Location detection

      There’s a lesson here….

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Location detection

      'This has been in the “law enforcement” hands for years'

      Got any citations for us?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Location detection

        What, aren't Bones, Castle, CSI and all the other documentaries good enough citations for you?

        Right next to "Enhance that picture" and database searches that show all the rejected entries flashing onto the screen.

        1. heyrick Silver badge

          Re: Location detection

          Still waiting for the AI to be capable of extracting a completely valid, and correct, licence plate from a few fuzzy pixels. I mean, photos are like fractals, right? You just need to zoom in enough, right?

          1. J4

            Re: Location detection

            I chuckled, but then I thought about it. Licence plates are a large but known set; for instance it's unusual to have more than four characters together. So if you start with the set of all combos up to four characters, and then keep degrading the image quality by an amount, and throw in some angles and sunshine, you can create a training set where you 100% already know the correct answers.

            This set could all be procedurally generated too. I know it's a big compute task but for the sort of TLAs that are interested in such things it's a) a one time cost, and b) well inside their budgets.

            You then end up with a CSI "zoom and enhancifier' that can couple with contextual parameters (country of issue format, vehicle colour, etc) to work by pattern matching the indistinct input rather than actually 'enhancing the image'.

            I am not an expert in any way in these topics, as is probably clear.

            1. that one in the corner Silver badge

              Re: Location detection

              Training a neural net to recognise a character set is a perfectly good use: I'm sure I've got more than one textbook on Image Processing that has (a smaller version) of that as one of the worked examples[1].

              The only bit of your idea that I'd caution over is the procedurally generated bit: you run the very real risk of training the thing to look for odd characteristics that come from the generation code.

              The nice[2] thing about ANPR is that you can't lose: so long as the photo is taken of a vehicle on the public highway (hint: choose where to site the camera) any failure to spot a reg number means you've got someone you wag a finger at. Maybe just needs a squirt of water on the plate, or you've caught one of those twats who think using a "fun" font goes well with their personalised plate (or even worse, uses bad spacing and cut-up letter shapes to pretend he got the personalised plate of his dreams).

              [1] I'd give a citation but I need something that will read all of the textbooks in my library and then let me ask a question without being able to remember a specific phrase or term used. Oh, and only give accurate answers or "dunno", so cuts out the 'obvious' candidates for that task.

              [2] from the p.o.v. of the student using the text book, of course that is all I meant.

          2. Nifty

            Re: Location detection

            There was a paper a few years ago where it was shown to be possible to decipher obfuscated characters - and I think number plates may have been used as a case in point - based on only a few pixels per character. The reason was simple: Common photo blurring algorithms, where you select an area on an image with sensitive info and blur it, tend to resolve the same letters to the same set of pixels arranged the same way, every time. You only needed to build a look up table.

            Elsewhere I believe there are techniques to accurately de-blur faces in videos by taking advantage of time interpolation to produce a sharper still image.

            1. veti Silver badge

              Re: Location detection

              Which is why I always obfuscate images using a hand-directed smudge function, not a blur. The hand movement introduces an element of randomness.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Location detection

          I claim prior art, aka 'Blade Runner'...

    3. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Location detection

      It is actually pretty scary, careful what you post on insta ANYONE can now find you

      Since most people never think to remove metadata from photos they post online, it's usually much easier just to use that.

      1. Nifty

        Re: Location detection

        I've checked this a number of times and by the time the image gets online all original metadata is gone. Though the platform's admins may be able to access it, actually I doubt even that.

        1. veti Silver badge

          Re: Location detection

          I'm pretty sure that depends where you post it. I can believe that Facebook removes that data, but I shouldn't think everyone does.

  3. Jamie Jones Silver badge

    "PIGEON: Predicting Image Geolocations,"

    No, that would be "PIG".

    1. b0llchit Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: "PIGEON: Predicting Image Geolocations,"

      PIGs flying... fits.

  4. Lil Endian
    Angel

    ...and make a good guess, within 15 miles of the correct location, a lot of the time...

    Still way ahead of my sainted mother, who was once helping navigate from the passenger's seat and described the next POI as "going under the Blue Road". Figure out where you are with that input ya clever so-and-so!

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      In the UK that would be going under a motorway. Which is probably sufficient from the context of the road you were on at the time and direction you were driving in.

      However, this contextual information is really difficult, decades back working on an voice assistant (precursor to Siri) it was working out the context which those working on semantic analysis found most challenging, because it often required cross matching with other data streams.

      1. Snapper

        Or a river!

    2. The commentard formerly known as Mister_C Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Near to an aqueduct?

      1. Sean o' bhaile na gleann

        One that always made me chuckle was reading a map and giving directions to the driver, saying something like "turn right in about an inch..."

        1. Norman Nescio

          On the OS Seventh Series, that's be in about a mile.

          Couldn't beat one of those printed on linen. My father had a fair number.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'll work on hacking this AI mode, I can make a lot of money selling pictures with "evidence" of Boris, Starmer, Biden, and Trump drinking beer in Russia and China. Will people think that it's "true" ... sure, hacking is the most "accurate" truth these days. If you disagree then I'll post a picture of me in the El Reg, UK offices - this will be a joke until I post it on Facebook.

  5. Howard Sway Silver badge

    it can figure out generally where a picture was taken just by looking at it

    Funny, I can figure out generally where Google Street View images have been taken 100% of the time, just by reading the location description on the web page, and looking at the accompanying map.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: it can figure out generally where a picture was taken just by looking at it

      Good to meet a GeoGuessr top ranker.

      1. Joe W Silver badge

        Re: it can figure out generally where a picture was taken just by looking at it

        I enjoy the game - but I hate the rankings. Too often the top 50 or so are the creator and his mates, and people I am pretty sure are cheating. A nondescript brown road, pinpointed exactly? Yeah, right.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: it can figure out generally where a picture was taken just by looking at it

          First, you learn to spot the species of the roadkill.

    2. Nifty

      Re: it can figure out generally where a picture was taken just by looking at it

      Are you sure there wasn't a ruler in the corner?

  6. Tron Silver badge

    Sigh.

    The depressing aspect of this, is that it could lead to blocks on StreetView on privacy grounds. So these academics make a name for themselves at the expense of the rest of us, who lose one of the most useful free resources on the internet.

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Sigh.

      I think if people were worried, they'd have already applied for their properties to be obscured.

      Of course, you can still be located as the geography, terrain, flora, and your neighbour's house probably have enough similarities that anybody looking will be three hundred metres out rather than two hundred...

      1. Jamie Jones Silver badge
        Big Brother

        Re: Sigh.

        A mate of mine had his house obscured on Street-view.

        It's like standing in the middle of a busy shopping centre and shouting "DON'T LOOK AT ME!"

        1. Roj Blake Silver badge

          Re: Sigh.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2WVu6A-Fvw

          1. Jamie Jones Silver badge
            Happy

            Re: Sigh.

            Nice. He looks just like that too!

        2. heyrick Silver badge

          Re: Sigh.

          I was wandering around the place where I grew up on street view over the weekend. Some of the blurring must be automatic as I came across a weird one where a tree was blurred on one side of a little village green, but perfectly visible on the other side. Perhaps the AI decided that a tree looked too much like an advert for a competitor when seen from that angle?

  7. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    Geoguess - play for free

    Free? Really?

    Not even an anonymous free trial of a couple goes? nah, not interested enough to sacrifice another free email addy ;-)

    Handing over an email address that will be spammed is not "free" in my book, even if I can create new ones at will and then block or dispose of them. Even that takes time and so is a "cost" to me of my free time over and above the time I'm prepared to spend to see if it's of any interest.

    1. Dinanziame Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: Geoguess - play for free

      You mean, the only free game is the one that is over immediately so you don't have to spend any of your precious time to play it?

      1. heyrick Silver badge

        Re: Geoguess - play for free

        Nah, man. You want instant gratification plus instant results and no need to create dumb accounts and such...

        ...https://www.kittenwar.com/

        It's fun, it's free, it doesn't need a sign in, and it has kittens. I mean, what's not to like if you have a few minutes spare and nothing to do (or want to "look busy")?

        1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

          Re: Geoguess - play for free

          Oh dammit, not that website!

          Noooooooooooooooooooo!

          It's like trying to choose your favourite son / daughter!

          I refuse to be a part of such evilness!

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Thumb Up

        Re: Geoguess - play for free

        Nah, I thought I was clear on that point when I said "over and above the time I'm prepared to spend to see if it's of any interest." :-)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Geoguess - play for free

      Try https://geoguessmaster.net/

  8. Binraider Silver badge

    Credit to the researchers. Image recognition in bulk - given just HOW many images are generated and no doubt collated for data mining, this is a useful capability.

    I can actually think of some practical uses within my own organisation for this. Engineers working in the field? Point camera at equipment and get a report back on the history of work done to said equipment and/or add to that history.

    Creepy uses are what they are, but TLAs have probably had equivalent capability for some time...

  9. Anonymous Anti-ANC South African Coward Bronze badge

    I googled for it, and all I could find was this boring site :

    https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.05845

    Anybody have the link for PIGEON (or PIG) so that us plebs can give it a go?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    meanwhile, bellingcat, on the same subject...

    bellingcat.com/resources/2023/07/14/can-ai-chatbots-be-used-for-geolocation/

  11. Spansh

    A little far fetched

    I watched the videos on this a while ago, and they admitted that their AI was often not recognising the areas, it was recognising the camera artefacts used to take the photos.

    For instance bugs or scratches on the lens, broken pixels, specific aberrations, pieces of the street view car which get captured in each image in some countries. On top of that often the pictures were taken at a similar time in a particular area (because they're taken in series by car) it can also key on sky tones. It might get some things from foliage colour, but it's likely not recognising a leaf shape or tree shape.

    It's still quite impressive, but you wouldn't be able to randomly take a photo with your phone and have it geolocated to within 15miles in general, this is very specific to the Street View dataset.

    1. that one in the corner Silver badge

      Re: A little far fetched

      A perfect example of the way this sort of pattern recognition system works (how any neural net works): in ways that make a mortal man scratch his head and day "huh, didn't spot that".

      And also a nice illustration of how these weirdities can be a Good Thing: all the people scared of geolocating their house from a random photo can relax.

      An image lookup from a StreetView picture (presumably removed from context and with metadata stripped - does StreetView put metadata into saved images?) back into StreetView could well be a useful feature (maybe not to me or you right now, but...).

  12. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

    A feel this is a challenge for GeoWizard!

  13. jollyboyspecial

    Nothing this specific could ever be considered intelligence, artificial or otherwise. That is all.

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