Google has announced a a new web tool called Image Swirl. It allows a user to search for similar images with the functionalities of Wonder Wheel. We had reviewed Wonder Wheel over two months ago and found it quite useful especially if while searching for something, one search leads to another and you want to backtrack to what you were originally looking up.
With Image Swirl I think Google is making their image search look cooler and also has raised the bar for their competition which is Bing’s image search.
Google’s Image Swirl
- As you can see in the image above, I searched for ‘Taj Mahal‘. First it pulled up a host of images for the monument. I liked a sketch of the Taj Mahal and clicked on it.
- This opened another circle which had more sketches. I clicked on another one which shows similar yet different types of sketches.
- Image Swirl is useful for looking up similar images the same way users might look for similar information or links while using search features like Wonder Wheel. A simple click to the previous circle means I am back to where I began in the first place.
The Bing Effect
I used Bing’s image search and it also has a option to look for similar images (see image above). If I needed to compare these two, I would say Bing search was far more complete and comprehensive when it came to looking for similar images. But then Google’s Image Swirl is still quite new and it should be much improved over the days.
Try out Google Image Swirl and let me know your opinions through your comments. 🙂