Image Retrieval - Data Scope

Data Scope

It is crucial to understand the scope and nature of image data in order to determine the complexity of image search system design. The design is also largely influenced by factors such as the diversity of user-base and expected user traffic for a search system. Along this dimension, search data can be classified into the following categories:

• Archives - usually contain large volumes of structured or semi-structured homogeneous data pertaining to specific topics.
• Domain-Specific Collection - this is a homogeneous collection providing access to controlled users with very specific objectives. Examples of such a collection are biomedical and satellite image databases.
• Enterprise Collection - a heterogeneous collection of images that is accessible to users within an organization’s intranet. Pictures may be stored in many different locations.
• Personal Collection - usually consists of a largely homogeneous collection and is generally small in size, accessible primarily to its owner, and usually stored on a local storage media.
• Web - World Wide Web images are accessible to everyone with an Internet connection. These image collections are semi-structured, non-homogeneous and massive in volume, and are usually stored in large disk arrays.