What is Object Recognition API?
First of all, Object Recognition API is an image processing tool that allows you to obtain information about an object by processing its image.
So to be clearer, Object Recognition API is the ability of software to identify objects, places, people, writing and actions in images. Computers can use machine vision technologies in combination with a camera and artificial intelligence software to achieve image recognition.
It is as simple as taking a photo or video of the object and uploading it to the API and it will take care of categorizing it accordingly.
Image Recognition is used to perform many machine-based visual tasks, such as labeling the content of images with meta-tags, performing image content search and guiding autonomous robots, self-driving cars and accident-avoidance systems.
While human and animal brains recognize objects with ease, computers have difficulty with the task. Software for image recognition requires deep learning.
What kind of media can I recognize with this API?
This Object Recognition API is not only limited to still images but also allows you to work on videos.
This greatly expands the possibilities of image recognition because it can be used to count objects in a scene and determine and track their precise locations.
What are the most common uses cases of this Object Recognition API?
Object Recognition APIs are vastly used in different places such as:
Crowd counting
Crowd counting is another valuable application of object detection. For densely populated areas like theme parks, malls, and city squares, object detection can help businesses and municipalities more effectively measure different kinds of traffic—whether on foot, in vehicles, or otherwise.
This ability to localize and track people as they manoeuvre through various spaces could help businesses optimize anything from logistics pipelines and inventory management, to store hours, to shift scheduling, and more. Similarly, Object Detection could help cities plan events, dedicate municipal resources, etc.
This option is really useful, for example, to make a count of the real amount (not the one given by the organizers) of the public in a stadium, either for a sporting event or for a music festival. With just a couple of video shots of the place in question, the Object Recognition API can make an exact and real count of the people who attended the place.
Imagine the possibility of segmenting the public of a massive event by age. This information is very important when it comes to selling or promoting an event or even to analyze the type of people who attend a particular place to make a marketing plan aimed at a specific segment.
But these are just a few examples of what you can do with Object Recognition API, the possibilities are limitless.
Are there any limitations with your plans?
Besides the number of API calls per month, there are no other limitations. The no-charge version of this Object Recognition API is able to make 100 requests per month.
It also has a pro-plus version that allows you to make up to 500,000 requests per month. obviously, it has two other intermediate plans that adjust to the needs of each user.
Also published on Medium.