Software That Can Identify Cities By Looking At The Architecture

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and INRIA/Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris have designed software that combs over thousands of Google street view images from Paris, London, New York, and more, then learns to tell the difference based on, say, the number of fire escapes (Hello, NYC). If it picks up on a lot of cast-iron balconies, that’s a good indication of Paris.