

What Color should do to silence the mockery - kirillzubovsky
http://www.geekatsea.com/saving-color-one-photo-at-a-time

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bmack
"all they need is a system that would detect bib numbers on the runner's
shirt, and then auto-sort it for easy reference." ...uhhh

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wallflower
The current system (the $40 photos) is almost certainly using a person to
identify bib numbers, since I remember running a race (and about 48 hours
later - the time to post-process the images and identify the runner's bib
numbers) and seeing an 'unknown' section where bib numbers were pretty much
not visible.

License plate identification is easy because it is reflective and flat. Bibs
made out of Tyvek or similar material can be crumpled up.

The scary part is where you composite forms of recognition - that might be the
secret sauce - partial photo recognition + partial historical race performance
(e.g. a 4-hr marathoner would not be passing the 20-mile mark at the 2:30
mark)) + partial body type recognition + etc.

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kirillzubovsky
Very good points! I mean, we know that Google Image Search can find similar
images online (and sometimes they are really good!), so it's definitely
feasible. If the system was in place, I'd send them a few sample photos of
myself just so they could have a reference point. Of course it's not easy,
it's not just the matter of building websites, but c'mon, with so much money
they should be able to hire a couple people who would figure it out. Right?

