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So That's Who You Are

 Something for the genealogists
  (+15)(+15)
(+15) 		  [vote for,
against]

Almost every family has someone in the living part of the family tree trying to track down who was who in the tree. Inevitably they come across a box of photos or negatives with no names attached and no one who can remember who's in the picture.

This new product would be for them. It would combine the current facial recognition programs that have already been developed with the age progression/regression programs used by police departments to come up with a new program for genealogists. First you'd scan in pictures of people you can identify. Then you'd scan in the pictures of people no one can identify. Using facial recognition and age progression/regression logic, the program would then try to figure out who was who. It probably wouldn't be able to figure out who every unidentified person was but it would be able to figure out enough of them to make the program something genealogists would love to buy.

—longshot9999, Jul 09 2005

My mother's ancestors http://angel.nomuta...emy.co.uk/anon1.jpg
[angel, Jul 10 2005]

My father's ancestor http://angel.nomuta...emy.co.uk/anon2.jpg
[angel, Jul 10 2005]

Just a few generations earlier... http://gwiezdne-woj...2004/lip/wookie.jpg
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 10 2005]

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       <drops DNA swabs> Great Idea!
—reensure, Jul 09 2005
   

       First time I read that as gynecologists.
Had a little beer come out of my nose.		   

       This would extrapolate say from pics of mom and dad to ID mystery kid as probably their progeny? Would it do this by overlapping their faces?
—bungston, Jul 09 2005
   

       Of course the tricky bit is that you're using this inside a family, where people look similar by definition... Great idea though +
"According to this thing, my Grandad is actually my brother."
—moomintroll, Jul 10 2005
   

       I doubt the ability of this - if you compare photographs of myself, my brother and my father between about 10-16, it's almost impossible to differentiate between us.
—Detly, Jul 10 2005
   

       this one is a long shot. but even with a high error rate people will want it because of what it could possibly reveal. Good one.
—nomadic_wonderer, Jul 10 2005
   

       Detly - It might be hard to know who was who when you looked at photos of you, yourself, and your father that were taken between the ages of 10-16, but it would also be hard for you to spot any obvious differences between your fingerprints. Visual recognition systems have much greater discrimination abilities when it comes to measuring things like the exact distance between facial features. They'd probably find it pretty easy to figure out who was who.
—longshot9999, Jul 10 2005
   

       If only! I wonder how it would cope with really old photographs (linky).
—angel, Jul 10 2005
   

       Your ancestors look a jolly bunch.
—hippo, Jul 10 2005
   

       I'm not sure visual discrimination systems are really all that smart. Photos are difficult to extract information from, too - focal length, angle, lighting, all these things which we automatically filter out can completely baffle software. The ageing/de-ageing thing is also pretty subjective and fiddicult to judge objectively. I've already bunned this, but I suspect current tech is not up to the job.
nice photos. [angel] - I can see where you get your Protestant work ethic from ;)
—moomintroll, Jul 10 2005
   

       // fiddicult //
May I use that?		   

       Be my guest - it was a genuine typo. That's what you get for letting your fingers do your typing for you. (huh?)
—moomintroll, Jul 10 2005
   

       <wondering how angel's mother's great...grandmother wound up with that scar on her forehead.
—RayfordSteele, Jul 11 2005
   

       //from pics of mom and dad to ID mystery kid as probably their progeny//   

       Especially if you also find a photo of a milkman, in the box.   

       Cripoes, [angel], your father's grandma? was a stern looking old biddy.
—UnaBubba, Jul 11 2005
   

       longshot - excellent (+)
—neilp, Jul 13 2005
   

       I like it very much. In fact, I may start trying to write it if someone doesn't save me from my stupidity posthaste.
I have got a lot of very nice old b&w pics - contact prints from 4x6 negs shot with a very small aperature, detail is extraordinary - and I'm the only one left who remembers who would have remembered who was in the picture.
—lurch, Jul 13 2005
   

       lurch - If you write it let me know. I'll buy a copy of the program from you.
—longshot9999, Jul 13 2005
   


 

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