XML Again

December 18th, 2006

idat204

A bit of explanation that is probably well overdue for my XML project. The main concept behind this piece is the idea that where other forms of information have become XML orientated, XHTML, XCSS etc, a new JPEG format will follow.

This new format will take the existing compression technology of the Joint Photographic Experts Group and add more than just metadata, but rather a whole section of the file in a compatible XML/text form. Inside this there can be a standardised method of defining the contents of the image (similar to the way in which RSS is based on XML), which will require new programs or tools within existing programs to save to this format.

The image can be broken up into any number of rectangles containing a portion of the image, and also a title and description of the contents of the rectangle. The rectangles are not within a fixed grid but rather have a starting XY coordinate and finishing XY coordinate. There is nothing to say that rectangles cannot overlap, and of course this should be the way, since pictures and photos will rarely be clearly broken into sections.

Tools could be developed to auto-tag sections of photos, for example detecting sections of an image and creating rectangles ready to be written about, or even adding generic information about them itself.