Anyone else using Google Goggles – I do here and there – it’s not exactly a go-to app for me but sometimes if I’m looking for something to mess around with I’ll use it. This happened to my boss the other day. Using Google Goggles he made a search using the Freestyle Interactive business card:
Running that through Google Goggles brings up search queries for some of the following:
- Andrew Gaukrodger
- And rand gau
- Hard house
- Harwood house
- Hsaandrewasa
- @freestyleinteractive.c
There seems to be some massive problems with Goggles OCR software if they can’t pick out a name, email address and website from clearly labelled information. Maybe I’ll under estimating the computer programming skill that goes into this app but I think even I could tell the software to understand the ‘@’ symbol meant an email address and ‘www.’ is the start of a website.
Goggles might ‘see’ all the text in an image, but they aren’t reading/disseminating that text. So problem one is the software isn’t ‘reading’ text on a plain white page. What about problem two?
Problem two is actually more damaging. Turn the business card over and only show Google Goggles a single piece of text they will suggest that as a search query for you.
The search query they suggest is ‘freestyle interactive’, BINGO!
But wait…
When I make a search I get results from google.com not google.co.uk, but I’m using my mobile phone and I’m logged in to my email address. Why is Google Goggles only giving search results from google.com – this means that all the individuals in the UK that might be Goggle-ing the freestyle interactive business card aren’t getting to the freestyle interactive website. Of course this is a problem for us because we might be losing prospects but it’s also a problem for Google. If they aren’t giving the right results users will stop using them to search.
Rubbing further salt in the wound even when Google see the freestyle interactive as a logo (an image)
and they return search results showing similar images – the freestyle logo,
even then Google aren’t displaying the knowledge to give us the right result, which is www.freestyleinteractive.co.uk.