January 1, 2005
Tsunami. Photo-matching service online
This is not directly related to picture phones, but I'm passing it along.
A website which will allow families to identify loved ones in the Thai resort of Phuket went online yesterday, reports the Associated Press
Photographs of the dead and injured taken by volunteers in hospitals and emergency centres have been loaded on to the site. Internet users worldwide who have missing relatives can now upload pictures of them which will be automatically scanned against the database of photographs using a hi-tech facial mapping system.
Close matches will then be emailed back for relatives to see if it is their loved one.
The site, http://peoplematch.rc.tv/peoplematch/ was set up by RC Group, a specialist biometric company from Hong Kong. It is free to use and updated every hour.
Volunteers from the company are taking photographs of victims in Phuket and the project may be expanded to cover other devastated areas.
A spokesman said: "We hope it will offer hope to families searching for missing relatives or at least provide confirmation of their worst fears."
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