Web catalogs and metadata-need advice for web accessible photo database

[tmozey]

Am I correct in assuming that there is no Web gallery software that will allow you to search using metadata that can be applied in Photoshop CS2?

I work for Dakota County, MN and I am trying to develop a system that will allow multiple users to store and retrieve photographs from a common database. Ideally it would be searchable by keywords and other metadata and accessible via the Web.

What I have to start with is a hard drive full of jpg photos and a variety of color slides and prints. I would like some feedback on my ideas on the best way to do this. I am working in Windows XP, I have Photoshop CS2, and we have a Web cataloging software called Absolute Image Gallery XE. I'm thinking that the best way to do this is to combine all of my existing photographs onto one drive, sort them by date and then batch rename them in groups using the exif data to identify the date the image was created. I could then develop keywords to include things like awards, commissioners, various department names, various building names, etc. and apply them to various groups of images.

However it seems that in order to serve them up on the Web they will need to be organized in galleries and doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of developing metadata for each? The gallery software I have allows me to enter keywords and various fields or descriptions, but that is not metadata and doesn't really ride with the photograph does it? I'm concerned that all the information I enter into this gallery software will just be lost if I switch to a new software and there is no way in this software that I'm aware of to globally apply information like keywords or other descriptive elements. Since I cannot globally apply keywords in this software, adding that time of information will be extremely time consuming and I don't think that other users would readily use the database because of the time investment required.

I'm open to any and all feedback. Feel free to email me directly if you wish at: tim.mozey@co.dakota.mn.us.

 

[peterkrogh]

Tim,
I'm working with a few people trying to get such a solution brought to market.  Extensis has a web module for Portfolio.  There is also a program called Coppermine that may do what you want.  I wish I could give you an easy solution, but I don't know one right now.  I'm interested to hear what else is available.
Peter

[tmozey]

I looked at Coppermine's site. Since I'm not a Web guy, it looks a little intimidating. How do the big stock photo agencies do it? Do they write their own programs? So if I can't reach a point that I can use metadata in the Web searches, perhaps the best bet is to come up with some gallery topics and sort the photos by subject and drop them into the appropriate gallery folders for the Web. If I set up the database with all of the metadata, I can at least use it once the Web tools advance to being able to read IPTC or other metadata. If anyone else has discovered an off the shelf solution for this I'd love it. I don't have the budget to develop anything. Thanks again. Great book, I just wish you would have written it eight years ago.

Tim Mozey

[johnbeardy]

Tim

Maybe ask in the Portfolio forum re its NetPublish package? There are a number of posters who use/implement it, and you'll soon get an idea on whether it's right for your needs.
http://www.portfoliofaq.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=8.

You might also look at Thin Client offerings like Citrix and TerminalServer where the cataloguing application
is hosted centrally and users interact with an image of the remote application. Ask the county's IT if they do such stuff.

John

[peterkrogh]

Tim,
I was not suggesting that you download and install Coppermine, I was suggestions that you find a web host that is running it.  It is a free add-on from my web hosting company. (like this forum software is.)  It looks like it is keyword searchable, but I have not tried it out yet.
Peter

[James Mulford]

Tim,

If you have a budget, I suggest you try Fotoweb from Fotoware http://www.fotoware.com. If you don’t have a budget, there’s also opensource Gallery 2.0 http://gallery.menalto.com. ImageFolio http://www.imagefolio.com is a low-cost, rich-featured HTML product which is very modular.

Be aware that ANY software you use to create a real-time, searchable image site will require sufficient knowledge of webservers, HTML and related skills. The “Big Guys” you mention have expert dedicated IT staffs and many use expensive, high-end systems (Artesia TEAMS, etc.). My suggestion is that you define “what are the minimum features” you need to offer your clients/end-users and look for a product that will fit your budget. My experience is that often, people can get buy by simply offering a preview and full size image sorted into Galleries that visitors can browse. If you can get by with these “static” web pages, just about any DAM software can create them for you inside the user client: iView, Portfolio, FotoStation, idImager, Thumbsplus and even the LightRoom Beta from Adobe (Mac only for now) will work.

Sure, it's great to be able to search by keywords, date, city, etc. but all that comes for a price. Of course, there will be trade offs but, today there are enough offers out there for you to find an adequate, if not perfect answer to your needs.

James Mulford
European University of Rome
www.unier.it

[peterkrogh]

THere are some other options that are becoming available.  Digital Railroad has this kind of capability.  Photoshelter also has this kind of capability.
You should not - at least in the very near future - need to go to an enterprise-level solution to be able to get metadata-searchable capability on the web.
Peter

[AlanDunne]

This is a very interesting thread. I do not have expertise to constructively comment on this material, but I do want to say that James Mulford's icon trailer of

"A picture is worth a thousand words ... if you can find it"

really summarizes what this whole DAM thing is all about. That comment says it all for me. Some people might even add that it is worth a thousand dollars ... if you can find it.

Cheers ... Alan

[mikewren]

Indeed.  My personal fav is Gallery.  It has the support of the open-source software geeks and the project has been around for a while.  IPTC support is somewhat limited, although the developers are supposedly working on full integration with EXIF/IPTC data into the database backend, which would make these fields searchable.

I'm still testing DNG, JPG and Gallery2... my test site is: http://som.mikewren.com

For a quick test, type "Albany" (sans quotes) into the search box at the top left. You can see the keywords field is queried.  These keywords were created in iView, which I then opened back up into Bridge, ACR, then saved out as a JPG file, which was then uploaded to Gallery.  Gallery then applied the watermark, which can be seen on the full-sized images.

My workflow needs a lot of tweaking, but it's a start.  I'll keep the group abreast of my adventures in the world of DAM and web galleries.