New search engine aims to Google the real world
A NEW search engine aims to allow web users to search the real world by trawling sounds and video from microphones and cameras.
Developed by a team based at the University of Glasgow with funding from the EU and help from technology industry giants, "Terrier" aims to answer questions about the real world in real time, such as "how busy is the city centre?"
By using information from cameras, microphones and social networks, the system will provide localised, relevant information. A member of the public could ask a question about traffic conditions in the city centre or their friends' favourite bars and receive useful results, something not currently possible via commercial offerings like Google.
"The SMART engine will answer queries by identifying sensors, then synthesising results from distributed sources in an intelligent way," said Dr Iadh Ounis of the University of Glasgow's School of Computing Science.
"This could be helpful for cities hosting big events like the Olympics, showcasing what satellite events are going on, or to help local government respond to traffic accidents or antisocial behaviour," he told The Telegraph.
The nine institutions and companies taking part in the project are receiving around €2m funding from the European Commission.
Dr Ounis added that the project will contribute to the development of "smart cities", offering improved information services based on up-to-the-second data, currently being promoted by firms such as IBM, which is collaborating on the research.
"SMART builds upon the existing concept of ‘smart cities’, physical spaces which are covered in an array of intelligent sensors which communicate with each other and can be searched for information," he said
"The search results sourced from these smart cities can be reused across multiple applications, making the system more effective."
The University has been working on Terrier since 2004, and the team expects it to be tested in a real city by 2014.