GeoTagging Photographs | Sanjay Rana

Contents Introduction Current Streams of Research Cartography of Tag Clouds Topology of Tag Clouds Future Directions

Introduction

Current Streams of Research

Cartography of Tag Clouds

Topology of Tag Clouds

Future Directions

“ A picture is worth thousand words.” Fred Barnard, An advertising manager in the early 1920s

“ A picture is worth thousand words.”

Fred Barnard,

An advertising manager in the early 1920s

Introduction GeoTagging is the process of assigning geographical information metadata, called geo - tags , to various media e.g. photographs, video, websites etc. A tag is a term/label/keyword that describes some property of an object. It probably - a) originated from a Scandinavian/German word meaning point/prong/spike/prickle/thorn, b) is a cognate of tack (Source: etymonline.com).

GeoTagging is the process of assigning geographical information metadata, called geo - tags , to various media e.g. photographs, video, websites etc.

A tag is a term/label/keyword that describes some property of an object. It probably - a) originated from a Scandinavian/German word meaning point/prong/spike/prickle/thorn, b) is a cognate of tack (Source: etymonline.com).

Introduction… Tags lyon france 2005 night october geotagged Machine tags (2) geo:lat=45.75 geo:lon=4.82 Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain/57506095/ GeoTags

Tags

lyon

france

2005

night

october

geotagged

Machine tags (2)

geo:lat=45.75

geo:lon=4.82

Introduction… Some observations: The primary purpose of GeoTagging is to assign suitable identifiers to a photograph so that searching in a large catalogue of photographs can produce relevant results quickly . Therefore as a concept, it is basically same as the focus of large body of research on Geographical Metadata e.g. FGDC in the last 40 years, and that of broader Archival Science of over several hundreds of years and perhaps even thousands of years. So, what's different about GeoTagging?

Some observations:

The primary purpose of GeoTagging is to assign suitable identifiers to a photograph so that searching in a large catalogue of photographs can produce relevant results quickly .

Therefore as a concept, it is basically same as the focus of large body of research on Geographical Metadata e.g. FGDC in the last 40 years, and that of broader Archival Science of over several hundreds of years and perhaps even thousands of years.

So, what's different about GeoTagging?

Introduction… GeoTagging is different because: Crowd-sourced / Volunteered Geographical Information Strongly linked to online community (NeoGeography) Free-form text with very nominal formatting structure except for the geographical coordinates Inconsistent quality

GeoTagging is different because:

Crowd-sourced / Volunteered Geographical Information

Strongly linked to online community (NeoGeography)

Free-form text with very nominal formatting structure except for the geographical coordinates

Inconsistent quality

Introduction… Tags are valuable because they : Help to generate User-Oriented and User-Relevant indexing of information in databases i.e. Ego-Centric Design & Mental Map. Reveal fascinating insights into the sociological behaviour & semantics of participants – Vernacular Geography, Folksonomy , Narrative Geography , Storytelling , Locative Media.

Tags are valuable because they :

Help to generate User-Oriented and User-Relevant indexing of information in databases i.e. Ego-Centric Design & Mental Map.

Introduction… Aim of this presentation is to propose: Cartographical Approach set in a Graph-Theoretic Framework that can be used primarily by : System Designers & Exploratory Users for displaying and analysing relationships between all Tags i.e. not only geo-tags. Disclaimer: In progress ideas..

Aim of this presentation is to propose:

Cartographical Approach set in a

Graph-Theoretic Framework

that can be used primarily by :

System Designers &

Exploratory Users

for displaying and analysing relationships between all Tags i.e. not only geo-tags.

Disclaimer: In progress ideas..

Contents… Introduction Current Streams of Research Cartography of Tag Clouds Topology of Tag Clouds Future Directions

Introduction

Current Streams of Research

Cartography of Tag Clouds

Topology of Tag Clouds

Future Directions

Current Streams of Research Broadly three streams of research Creation of Tags Visualisation of Tags Analysis of Tags

Broadly three streams of research

Creation of Tags

Visualisation of Tags

Analysis of Tags

Current Streams of Research… Creation of Tags Largely technological Topics: Hardware related research: Robust integration of GPS adapters, cameras, handheld devices, desktop devices etc to create a seamless approach. Software related research: Automated association of tags using geographical and image parameters, cool mash-ups, storage standards (EXIF, ICBM, RDF, GeoBloggers, GeoHash, FlickrFly…).

Creation of Tags

Largely technological Topics:

Hardware related research:

Robust integration of GPS adapters, cameras, handheld devices, desktop devices etc to create a seamless approach.

Software related research:

Automated association of tags using geographical and image parameters, cool mash-ups, storage standards (EXIF, ICBM, RDF, GeoBloggers, GeoHash, FlickrFly…).

Current Streams of Research… Visualisation of Tags Ever increasing ways to display the tags and relationships between tags. Active interest from researchers from various disciplines including Information Visualisation, HCI, Graphic Arts, Social Sciences,… ManyEyes Project by IBM. Most basic approach involves a static 2D plot where tag’s font size is proportional to its count/frequency in the database. Example Advanced visualisations are animated and interactive and generally display more complex relationships between tags. Example . Seen as an viable alternative to navigation of large databases. However, no widely accepted guidelines or approach to generate a tag cloud. For example,

Visualisation of Tags

Ever increasing ways to display the tags and relationships between tags.

Active interest from researchers from various disciplines including Information Visualisation, HCI, Graphic Arts, Social Sciences,…

ManyEyes Project by IBM.

Most basic approach involves a static 2D plot where tag’s font size is proportional to its count/frequency in the database. Example

Advanced visualisations are animated and interactive and generally display more complex relationships between tags. Example .

Seen as an viable alternative to navigation of large databases.

However, no widely accepted guidelines or approach to generate a tag cloud. For example,

Current Streams of Research… Which of the following colour classification is more informative?

Which of the following colour classification is more informative?

Current Streams of Research… Which of the following label styles is more informative?

Which of the following label styles is more informative?

Current Streams of Research… Analysis of Tags Implicit ways of organising the tags into meaningful clusters i.e. unlike the explicit ways, which involve user-led exploratory visualisation Ordinary frequency distributions. Semantic Similarity and Semantic Relatedness measures Various statistical, probability etc. type measures for measuring relationships between tags - kind of like Google’s ranking. For example, Showing only few representative photos of a city from millions of photos. Recognising that “Lift” and “Elevator” are similar Understanding social networking and sociological profiling of users.

Analysis of Tags

Implicit ways of organising the tags into meaningful clusters i.e. unlike the explicit ways, which involve user-led exploratory visualisation

Ordinary frequency distributions.

Semantic Similarity and Semantic Relatedness measures

Various statistical, probability etc. type measures for measuring relationships between tags - kind of like Google’s ranking. For example,

Showing only few representative photos of a city from millions of photos.

Recognising that “Lift” and “Elevator” are similar

Understanding social networking and sociological profiling of users.

Contents… Introduction Current Streams of Research Cartography of Tag Clouds Topology of Tag Clouds Future Directions

Introduction

Current Streams of Research

Cartography of Tag Clouds

Topology of Tag Clouds

Future Directions

Cartography of Tag Clouds Hypothesis: Tag Clouds are essentially a sort of Topological Cartograms. Example Tag’s text label is analogous to the geographical feature or symbol. Implications of the hypothesis: Availability of vast bank of design guidelines and usability studies in Cartography to represent Tag Clouds. For example,

Hypothesis:

Tag Clouds are essentially a sort of Topological Cartograms. Example

Tag’s text label is analogous to the geographical feature or symbol.

Implications of the hypothesis:

Availability of vast bank of design guidelines and usability studies in Cartography to represent Tag Clouds. For example,

Cartography of Tag Clouds… The optimal number of thematic classes in a map was found to be 7 + 2 (Miller) Application of Cartographic Principles

The optimal number of thematic classes in a map was found to be 7 + 2 (Miller)

Cartography of Tag Clouds… Other (but not all) useful Cartography Concepts: Techniques of Cartographic Abstraction and Generalisation. Visual Variables for both Static and Dynamic Maps e.g.: Choice of Colour Classification Choice of Font Face/Size/Weight or using Symbols Brushing to show relationships between two representations. Reducing Clutter and Redundancy Multi-modal e.g. Haptic visualisation, sounds, etc.

Other (but not all) useful Cartography Concepts:

Techniques of Cartographic Abstraction and Generalisation.

Visual Variables for both Static and Dynamic Maps e.g.:

Choice of Colour Classification

Choice of Font Face/Size/Weight or using Symbols

Brushing to show relationships between two representations.

Reducing Clutter and Redundancy

Multi-modal e.g. Haptic visualisation, sounds, etc.

Cartography Cube - A benchmark to evaluate a Tag Cloud representation? Cartography of Tag Clouds… User Audience Interaction Data Relations Public Private Low High Unknown Known Explore Analyse Synthesise Present

Cartography Cube - A benchmark to evaluate a Tag Cloud representation?

Contents… Introduction Current Streams of Research Cartography of Tag Clouds Topology of Tag Clouds Future Directions

Introduction

Current Streams of Research

Cartography of Tag Clouds

Topology of Tag Clouds

Future Directions

Topology of Tag Clouds A Tag Cloud can be represented as an: Undirected Non-Planar Graph G=(V,E) where V = {Tag 1 , Tag 2 , Tag 3 ,…}; E = Some connectivity basis e.g. co-occurrence, semantic relatedness etc. Several interesting graph-theoretic measures can be derived to visualise and analyse the structure of the tag clouds. For example,

A Tag Cloud can be represented as an:

Undirected

Non-Planar

Graph G=(V,E) where V = {Tag 1 , Tag 2 , Tag 3 ,…}; E = Some connectivity basis e.g. co-occurrence, semantic relatedness etc.

Several interesting graph-theoretic measures can be derived to visualise and analyse the structure of the tag clouds.

For example,

Topology of Tag Clouds… What is the least number of tags and photos that will represent the contents of all the photographs in the database? Is the Tag Cloud graph a Scale-Free Network i.e. are there any patterns in the database of photographs? Sand (60%) Aquarium (22%) Beach (40%) Palm Tree (2%) Yacht (25%) 0 60 0 0 20 60 0 90 Frequency Co-occurrence 10 0

What is the least number of tags and photos that will represent the contents of all the photographs in the database?

Is the Tag Cloud graph a Scale-Free Network i.e. are there any patterns in the database of photographs?

Contents… Introduction Current Streams of Research Cartography of Tag Clouds Topology of Tag Clouds Future Directions

Introduction

Current Streams of Research

Cartography of Tag Clouds

Topology of Tag Clouds

Future Directions

Future Directions… Technological Instrument accuracy/portability/affordability, data formats, System scalability (massive information). Metadata Standards. Conceptual Exploration and Application of Geo-Tags Risks to the Netizens Misinformation - Queen storming out or walking in . Google search collapse by incorrect tagging of all links to be bad. Privacy - Revelation of personal preferences.

Technological

Instrument accuracy/portability/affordability, data formats, System scalability (massive information).

Metadata Standards.

Conceptual

Exploration and Application of Geo-Tags

Risks to the Netizens

Misinformation - Queen storming out or walking in .

Google search collapse by incorrect tagging of all links to be bad.

Privacy - Revelation of personal preferences.

In summary, it is proposed that the visualisation and analysis of Tag Clouds can be formalised by using the principles of Cartography and Graph Theory. Thank you!

In summary, it is proposed that the visualisation and analysis of Tag Clouds can be formalised by using the principles of Cartography and Graph Theory.

Thank you!

Simple Tag Cloud Source: ManyEyes Project Keywords For Photographs Of Dubai

Advanced Tag Cloud Elastic Tag Maps by Moritz Stefaner Source: well-formed-data.net

Cartogram Number of Internet Users in 2002 Source: WorldMapper.Org

Visual Variables Source: How Maps Work (MacEachren, 2004)

Dynamic Maps Source: GeoVista, University of Pennsylvania

Scale-Free Network Is it the case that there are a few tags that exist in a lot of photographs while most photographs have dissimilar tags – Scale Free Network and Small-World Networks ?

Misinformation How to Lie with Maps (Monmonier 1996) = How to lie with Photographs or How to lie with geo-tags…?