Retrieval effectiveness of image search engines
| Date | 04 February 2019 |
| Pages | 173-184 |
| Published date | 04 February 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-07-2018-0142 |
| Author | Aabid Hussain,Sumeer Gul,Tariq Ahmad Shah,Sheikh Shueb |
Retrieval effectiveness of
image search engines
Aabid Hussain
Department of Information, Government of J&K,
Jammu and Kashmir, India
Sumeer Gul
Department of Library and Information Science,
University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Tariq Ahmad Shah
Central Library, Central University of Kashmir,
Srinagar, India, and
Sheikh Shueb
Central Library, Islamic University of Science and Technology, Pulwama,
Jammu and Kashmir, India
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to explorethe retrieval effectiveness of three image search engines
(ISE) –Google Images,Yahoo Image Search and Picsearch in terms of their image retrieval capability.It is an
effort to carry out a Cranfieldexperiment to know how efficient the commercial giants in the image search are
and how efficientan image specificsearch engine is.
Design/methodology/approach –The keyword search feature of three ISEs –Google images, Yahoo
Image Search and Picsearch–was exploited to make search with keyword captions of photos as query terms.
Selected top ten images were used to act as a testbed for the study, as imageswere searched in accordance
with featuresof the test bed. Features to be looked for includedsize (1200 800), format of images (JPEG/JPG)
and the rank of the originalimage retrieved by ISEs under study. To gauge the overall retrievaleffectiveness
in terms of set standards, only first 50 result hits were checked. Retrieval efficiency of select ISEs were
examinedwith respect to their precision and relative recall.
Findings –Yahoo Image Search outscores Google Images and Picsearch both in terms of precision and
relative recall. Regardingother criteria –image size, image format and image rank in search results,Google
Images is ahead of others.
Research limitations/implications –The study only takes into consideration basic image search
feature,i.e. text-based search.
Practical implications –The study implies that image search engines should focus on relevant
descriptions. The studyevaluated text-based image retrieval facilities and thereby offersa choice to users to
select bestamong the available ISEs for their use.
Originality/value –The study provides an insightinto the effectiveness of the three ISEs. The study is
one of the few studies to gauge retrieval effectiveness of ISEs. Study also produced key findings that are
important for all ISE users and researchers and the Web image searchindustry. Findings of the study will
also prove usefulfor search engine companies to improve their services.
Keywords Information retrieval, Image retrieval, Image search engines, Retrieval effectiveness,
Text-based image retrieval
Paper type Research paper
Effectiveness
of image
search engines
173
Received23 July 2018
Revised19 November 2018
8 January2019
Accepted24 January 2019
TheElectronic Library
Vol.37 No. 1, 2019
pp. 173-184
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-07-2018-0142
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