Flickr users have collectively uploaded and shared billions of photos. Exploring such a huge photo collection can be an overwhelming task. How can you find what you want? Where do you start?

TagExplorer allows you to browse Flickr photos using tags. Tags are words or descriptions commonly associated with photos to make them easier to find later. A tag cloud is a visual representation of a set of words that are grouped into a cluster in which the importance of each word is indicated by its font size. It is one of the most common methods of navigating tag spaces. TagExplorer dynamically generates tag clouds for a given query and groups the words together that have similar meanings – making tag clouds more functional.

For example, a user wants to find photos of London. TagExplorer generates the most relevant photos of London but will also generate clouds of tags related to the query of “London” that the user can then browse through – subjects like “Big Ben” or “London Eye” will enable the user to find more specific photos, thereby refining their search. More generic locations – such as “UK” or “England” can also be conducted, depending on the user’s preference.

TagExplorer was created by the Search Technologies group.