Message-Id: <199901252205.PAA21950@dns.ccit.arizona.edu> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:23:12 -0700 From: Eileen Mathias <mailto:mathias@SAY.ACNATSCI.ORG> Subject: Image databases To: mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Last week I sent out a request asking about commercial databases that are being used successfully for image databases, and was asked to summarize the responses. Several people mentioned MS Access and FileMaker Pro, although these require quite a bit of work upfront. Other products mentioned were MediaSphere, from a company called Cascade; Re:Discovery at www.rediscov.com; PhotoImpact; Cumulus; and ImageAXS Pro. Here are some comments:Cascade web page on MediaSphere: http://www.cascadenet.com/products/mediasphere.html This product is geared to the media, and most of its users seem to be newspapers and other news media. It allows "keywords and filter searches as well as free text searching. We have 250,000 images on it..."
Review of PhotoImpact: http://www.winmag.com/library/1998/0401/other082.htm PhotoImpact home page: http://www.ulead.com/pi/runme.htm This is Windows only, no Mac version. It is an "image editing solution". The person who uses it says it seems to have "more than enough search/find/sort options."
Cumulus, by Canto, web page: http://www.canto-software.com I have used this minimally and read the manual. It seems fine for image houses, but has limitations in size and search capabilities. Web use involves programming.
ImageAXS Pro, by Digital Arts & Sciences, web page: http://www.dascorp.com/products/iaxspro/ I have used this minimally as well. One user said the the web export feature on ImageAXS Pro permits searching, but only on keywords, not on other fields such as artist, title, or location.
EmbARK, also produced by Digital Arts & Sciences, web page: http://www.dascorp.com/products/embark/ This one is more powerful and costly then ImageAXS, and is used principally by art museums and slide libraries. Nice package, but expensive.
Re:discovery home page: www.rediscov.com Used by cultural institutions, including the National Park Service. Comments were that the package is expensive and inflexible. At least one person is happy with it, stating that it "works, and has great support".
I have come across another one, by Gallery Systems, called the "Museum System". For use by museums for their collections. Very expensive. Their web page is http://gallerysystems.com
I hope this is useful to some of you, and a special thanks to all who replied.
Eileen Mathias
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Eileen Mathias, Reference Librarian / Image Center Coordinator Academy of Natural Sciences Ewell Sale Stewart Library 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia PA 19103 (215) 299-1140 (215) 299-1144 FAX mailto:mathias@say.acnatsci.org