14 DAY TRIAL // Some of the lesser known but perhaps most interesting projects at Google are the cultural ones, like the Google Cultural Institute or the Google Art Project. The latter was one of the first big moves in this area and got a big update in April.
Art Project houses high-detail photos of works of art from museums and collections around the world. It's one of the most ambitious art-related projects online.
It's not just the scale that impresses, it's the quality of the data and the site itself. Google is now adding even more works, with the inclusion of photos from 29 new art organizations, from 14 countries.
The 10 percent increase in the number of works brings the number to a total of 35,000 items at this point. The ones that have been online for the past six months have been seen by 15 million people.
Google also wants to do more to get more people to visit the site and find out more about the works there. It's also working on including additional features that make use of the vast inventory and what the web makes possible.
For example, there's now a feature to compare works, perhaps two iterations of the same painting.
“This allows you to examine two pieces of artwork side-by-side to look at how an artist’s style evolved over time, connect trends across cultures or delve deeply into two parts of the same work,” Google explained.
Google is also making it easier to share the stuff you find on the site. A great new tool is the inclusion of Hangouts, which can be started straight from the Art Project site.
“We have also created a Hangout app within the Art Project so that you can share your favorite collections and perhaps give your friends a personal guided tour. If there is a budding museum guide or an art critic within any of you it can finally be unleashed!,” it added.
