How Online Image Annotation Services Work

Have you seen in movies and television shows that cops and detectives can keep their eyes on one person through images and videos? They can be looking at various CCTV footage and the computer will automatically zoom in on the target person. This is a technology that is possible because of image annotation. This is just one of the scenarios wherein image annotation services are needed by people.

You can still find a lot of times when image annotation proved to be useful. People who normally shop from online stores can be given suggestions on what their next purchases should be. Some will even come with apps where they can try on the clothes that they want to buy virtually. They just need to input their stats to make the try-on more accurate. Just imagine if the image and video annotation techniques do not exist – these things will not be possible.

Process of Doing Image Annotation

You want to know how image annotation can help computers learn. Getting an image annotation service from a trusted company means that the image annotator will help the computer understand the various images that will be shown to it. The process will be like this:

  1. The data annotators will look for high-quality raw and uncategorized data.
  2. Once the data has been prepared, it will start to be labeled with text.
  3. Some data annotators will use data annotation tools to create annotated images.
  4. The test dataset will become ready.
  5. The computer is supposed to recognize the same objects the next time that it is within the computer’s line of sight.

Image annotation is not only used for security purposes. This is being used in different types of industries. Video annotation is somewhat similar to image annotation but the labeling will be done per frame. A professional that can work with a video annotation tool can complete the task faster.

Where is Image Annotation Used?

Image annotation is supposed to get rid of data that is considered to be “trash” by different businesses. You can check online and realize that not all of the information that you see is helpful. Have you ever wondered why there is so much fake news? It’s because of the “trashy” data that we see.

Data annotators are not simply going to know where to mine the right data. They will be looking at raw and uncategorized data and properly annotating them for more accurate machines. Video annotation is somewhat similar to image annotation. The video labeler must make an effort to place labels on the objects shown on each frame. It’s more complicated but as long as they have the right skills, it will not be an issue.

Healthcare

It’s already a known fact that healthcare is going to benefit a lot from the use of image annotation. Medical professionals will look at different images when they want to make an accurate diagnosis of their patients. Clear medical imaging will allow medical practitioners to see if there are things that they have missed. The more accurate they are at reading the visual images, the better they can diagnose their patients. This is also the same for videos. Video labeling can help machines see some similarities when they see similar videos. Patients can begin treatments immediately and they can be on the road to getting better.

Using annotation images can also help computers see if the diagnosis created by human doctors is accurate. There may be some suggestions available depending on what they think doctors may have missed. This is still being improved right now but it can make things more effective later on.

Agriculture

Some find agriculture as one of the industries that still need a lot of hard work and labor. All industries require hard work because businesses will not be able to thrive if they do not work. Those who are working in the industry of agriculture have realized how effective the use of an annotated image can be.

Some businesses in agriculture are using robots to properly harvest crops. Some can sort the crops if they are still good for selling or if they can be used for something else. They can create manuals that can improve the productivity of various plants.

Social Media

People get turned off whenever they see that a website is not fixed to look appealing to customers. They assume that the business is a scam and they wouldn’t want to purchase anything from the business soon. Some people will also feel this way when they see that the website or web page contains a lot of bad words or bad images. Image moderation is required so that people will not get turned off.

Imagine if people are going to check your business’ website and see some inappropriate images there. You need to work on doing moderation images to stop this from happening. Annotate image algorithm properly to avoid this issue.

image annotation services

Tasks that Require Annotated Data

The annotated image is required when doing different computer vision tasks. Some of the tasks are the following:

  • Image Classification – This is a process where a label or a tag is assigned to an image. The image classifications can be simple text labels. They can also come in the form of numbers.
  • Object Detection – Some refer to this as object recognition and it basically means that the computer should be able to recognize the object. The annotations will be done here by creating bounding boxes in 2D and 3D. It will depend on the project being worked on. The next time that the machine detects similar objects, it will automatically label and classify the same items depending on how it’s taught.
  • Image Segmentation – This is the process wherein an image is segmented into different parts so that the different regions can be labeled properly. Some refer to this as a more advanced form of object detection. Image segmentation will only work if the data annotators will use the best algorithms. This type of algorithm can only be achieved by using high-quality data.
  • Semantic Segmentation – Some people assume that image segmentation and semantic segmentation are the same. This is under image segmentation and the process involves cutting the image into different pixel regions. The cut parts of the images will be labeled into different categories.
  • Instance Segmentation – This is the type of segmentation wherein the instance based on the image will be separated from the rest of the image. This means that similar objects will be grouped.
  • Panoptic Segmentation – This is a mixture of semantic and instance segmentation but it will again heavily rely on the algorithm being used by the machine.

How Much Do Image Annotation Services Cost?

Businesses know how important image annotation services are at this point. Most of them would like to try the services. There is just one problem – the costs can be a bit steep, especially for small businesses. Some consider these things to make image recognition service more cost-efficient without changing the quality of the work that they will get.

  • Consider Outsourcing – Getting data annotators from other countries is going to be less expensive. The cost of living in other countries is far lower and their fees to annotate images will also be lower.
  • Internal Labeling – This is going to be more expensive as compared to outsourcing but you can control the process of annotating the images. The team will be responsible for acquiring the high-quality data that they will tag and label. You can keep track of their progress because you can always remind them of your goals and the usual requirements.
  • Find internal data providers – You can hire a third-party company that will work on the internal labeling project. The pro of this is that you do not have to worry about providing their team with benefits. You will pay them for the services of doing the task for you.

You need to find image annotators who are good at using image annotation software. This is going to make the process a lot faster than expected. The faster that you can train AI or the machine, the faster that you can improve what your business can offer.

Pros of Hiring Professionals for Image Annotation Services

Companies know that getting image annotation online is going to be more beneficial for them in the long run. Business owners can try to do it on their own but without proper training and guidance, it’s going to be complicated. Some of the benefits of getting data annotators are the following:

  • Machines will become better trained because they are only as good as the people who teach them. Professionals have the right skills and knowledge to make machines more accurate. The more accurate machines are, the better the outcome.
  • Getting more accurate data also means getting better algorithms. This means that it will be able to recognize the objects that it will see within its line of vision precisely.
  • The better that the machines are trained, the fewer interventions that they will need from humans. This can help improve the workflow of the different processes available.

Using proper image annotation can help improve the costs that businesses have to pay eventually.

Where to Find Image Annotators?

online image annotation

Most people will try to find professionals who can annotate image online from various websites. It can be overwhelming when you do not know where to begin. These are some ideas on where you can find the right data annotators:

  • Look for a third-party company that already has a list of annotators that specialize in providing different types of services. Some of them can be good at providing training datasets for medical annotation. Some of them will be good at doing video annotations. 
  • You can check some social media platforms. Do you know that some people look for jobs while browsing through Facebook and even Twitter? They can find job postings and will apply from there.
  • Look for image annotators from job search websites. Create the right job title and specify the skills that you are searching for. You are going to find some worthy candidates in no time.
  • You can also try hiring a professional from a BPO company. BPO companies usually have data labelers that can work on specific tasks. The great thing about this is you can hire the data labeler for a certain project and you do not have to renew anymore when the project is finished. You can renew if you were satisfied with the work that you received.

Get in Touch with Us for High-Quality Image Annotation Services

You do not have to be overwhelmed by the selections that you will see online. You need high-quality image annotation services and we can provide that for you. Whether you are searching for people who can provide moderator image or you are searching for something more specific, all that you have to do is to contact us. Talk to our sales manager and ask for a quote today.

Svitlana Orlenko
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