About

Geography of Hidden Faces is a project about exploring and questioning what we see versus what we've trained computers to see. By applying facial recognition algorithms to aerial imagery, the project is a prompt to simultaneously get lost in exploring the beauty of the earth and in the (in)ability of the machine learning models to see things (faces) that don't otherwise exist. Learn more at geo.hidden-faces.net

Instructions

• 1. Zoom and pan the map.
• 2. Wait for the face detection to occur.
• 3. A face will be shown if one is found, otherwise, keep looking.


• Search: Use latitude,longitude coordinates to search for a specific place
• Locate Me: Use the "locate me" button to jump to your current location - don't worry this app does not track you!
• Explore Use the "button with the face" to explore faces that people have found.

FAQ

• Sometimes a face is detected, but disappears when I zoom in: The map scale affects what the algorithm sees. By zooming in or out, you change what pixels are fed to the algorithm. As a result, the algorithm may think a feature (or assemblage of features) is a face at one zoom level, but by zooming in or out, the input pixels change, and forces the algorithm to reevaluate.
• I search forever, but nothing comes up: Oops! Either your browser is not compatible with this application—tested in Safari, Firefox and Chrome—OR it could just be that the algorithm doesn't detect any faces in your search area. Adjusting the zoom level sometimes can help.