Does Google search use ANPR?

[Charlie D]

 

Hello All,

Every so often, when I’m bored, I do a Google search for cars I have owned.
Today I wondered if there was any mention anywhere of RUE350F, which was the first Burlington prototype I produced.
Just looking for “RUE350F” found nothing.
So I tried “Triumph RUE350F” (My cars were based on the Herald)
Again nothing,

Then I tried it using the “Images” tag.
Amazing !! Using “Triumph RUE350F” there was a photo of my car, outside my railway arch in 1980.
The really odd thing was that there was no mention of “RUE” anywhere in the text on the page that the picture came from (Neither did the .jpg mention it in the name).

I tried it with another of my demonstrators. “525KV”. Again no mention in the text search, but if I did an “Image search” looking for “Triumph 525KV” a picture of my car taken at a kit car show came up. Again, no mention of “KV” was found in the text.

I tried it with a totally random picture of any car I found on the net. I looked for pictures of Hillman Imps, picked one with a decent view of the front number plate “LAH758E”.
I then typed in “Imp LAH758E” and, using image search, up it came!!!

I tried it with several other random car pictures and about 50% of the time it worked.

I have to say I was totally amazed by this. However it does not take much to amaze me, so maybe this is a well-known thing and it’s just that I have never spotted it before.

Anyone else noticed it?

Charlie.

[barkerwilliams]

Charlie,

Thanks for that I have had a try with some of mine and yes a few of them are picked up. I suppose the next test is to upload a photograph and see if it matches those with facial recognition.

Alan

[SuzanneH]

This is what I got whilst looking for Rogers 1965 TR4A which he owned in 1973-1975. FGE888C

Edited December 9, 2020 by SuzanneH

[RobH]

So that's what he's up to out in the garage!

[Charlie D]

15 hours ago, SuzanneH said:

This is what I got whilst looking for Rogers 1965 TR4A which he owned in 1973-1975. FGE888C

Sue,

Maybe your version of Google is in "Automatic Bra Recognition" mod.

EMail Google and ask them to switch it off.

Charlie.

[Harbottle]

When I searched mine , I got a load of washing machines! And a picture of my car.
 

Paul

[Nigel A]

Very pleased to find a picture of mine on the shore at Lake Como

Nigel

[Steves_TR6]

I just tried and up came a few shots of my car, including a couple of interesting ones showing previous body works underway that i had not seen before.

no bras though

[stillp]

Just tried for my TR4A (FDA220C) and found someone had photographed it at the Lincoln International, plus one I'd taken myself from the Sideways site, and one of me winning a prize at a local car show. 

Now I need to remember all my previous cars' registrations!

Pete

[Nigel Triumph]

I tried search for my GT6 and TR6 in Google images.

Both appeared as small cutouts on magazine covers and Google found them. I find the technology simultaneously impressive and scary.

Nigel

[Harbottle]

16 minutes ago, Nigel Triumph said:

I find the technology simultaneously impressive and scary.

Your not kidding Nigel. Remember the Boomtown Rats-"Someone's looking at yer"

[Charlie D]

29 minutes ago, Nigel Triumph said:

...I find the technology simultaneously impressive and scary...

Nigel,

Don’t worry too much.

I don’t think they have quite perfected the facial recognition bit just yet.

If you open the “Google images” search page and drop a picture in it will search and display “Similar” pictures.

I used your TR profile picture, and these are the results:

 

[Nigel Triumph]

9 minutes ago, Charlie D said:

Nigel,

Don’t worry too much.

I don’t think they have quite perfected the facial recognition bit just yet.

If you open the “Google images” search page and drop a picture in it will search and display “Similar” pictures.

I used your TR profile picture, and these are the results:

 

Haha, does Google know all my aliases!

Nigel

[PaulAnderson]

I tried mine and only found two shots, one of which was on the Forum, suggesting that any ANPR is not great.   I was aware that it had been photographed by other people before so went looking for one I liked.  Hopefully this pasted link works

https://goo.gl/maps/SXCUYi1FHLmCDC2k6

Taken when we were visiting a nice tea room near to Belsay Hall which we visit often.

Paul

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by PaulAnderson

[Lebro]

Just tried this, my TR appears many times, but if I put in my old Herald No. it shows a photo I took (many years ago) of the Herald next to my Scimitar GTE.

If I type in the Scimitars No. no photos of it appear, even though the number is clear to read in the same photo. 

So maybe ANPR is not how this works.

[Charlie D]

Interesting Bob.

I’ve noticed that the cars I checked (and got a hit) were all “White letters on Black background “ plates.

Your Herald had that. The Reliant did not.

 

Maybe the contrast is better with white on black plate in a photo.

Has anyone had success with “Black on White” plates?

 

Charlie.

Edit: Scrap that thought. Just tried it with a few Black on White plates and it worked !

Edited December 11, 2020 by Charlie D

[Lebro]

I wonder if it uses the DVLA database, the Herald is still taxed, whereas the GTE has not been taxed since 1997 (& is now red !)

Bob.

[Charlie D]

Bob,

Yes, I thought that as well, but one of the cars I looked for, “Triumph 525KV” was destroyed in a fire in the 1980’s  and, although the chassis was saved, it’s not been on the DVLA database since then, but appears in the search.

However…

I’ve now come to the conclusion that it’s not ANPR as such, more a general OCR system.

I tried        Hereford cinema Oliver      . Up came an image of a cinema in Hereford with a billboard announcing it was showing “Oliver”. Very ornate writing in the picture, but not mentioned in the text.

I then tried        Hereford bus 428      . Again no mention in the text, but a picture of the 428 bus on it.

I guess that what is happening then.

Charlie.

[Bleednipple]

7 hours ago, Charlie D said:

I’ve now come to the conclusion that it’s not ANPR as such, more a general OCR system.

If by ANPR you mean a system purposefully designed to capture and identify vehicle reg numbers, no. The Google system captures any alpha-numeric data that it can find on a photo and indexes it with that image record. Facebook does the same thing.

Nigel

Edited December 11, 2020 by Bleednipple

[Charlie D]

1 hour ago, Bleednipple said:

If by ANPR you mean a system purposefully designed to capture and identify vehicle reg numbers, no. The Google system captures any alpha-numeric data that it can find on a photo and indexes it with that image record. Facebook does the same thing.

Thank you Nigel.

We now have the answer.

Charlie.

Edited December 11, 2020 by Charlie D