On Wednesday, Google rolled out a beta version of its Cloud Vision API, a new image processing tool that runs on its cloud development platform. With the API, developers can create apps that understand the content of images. It includes a feature called Entity Detection that identifies the most dominant item in an image and a feature called Landmark Detection, which can identify well-known natural and man-made structures. It also has a Safe Search Detection feature that can block inappropriate images.
For now, developers interested in using the tool can only gain access by filling out a form to request permission from Google.