We are extremely happy to announce the release version 4.0 of the kooaba image recognition platform. This is a major release. In fact, it is a complete overhaul of the API, and backend management interface. (This is also why it has been a bit quiet on this blog the last couple months.)

The new version of the API runs on a completely separate system, and has been completely restructured. Why this major new release you may wonder? Over the years we have collected significant experience in building visual search applications, and we collected a lot of input from you, our users. We wanted an API that’s the best of its class, that’s simple to use, and comes with increased scalability. Let us tell you what we came up with.

The new APIs

Here are some of the highlights of the new API.

• the new API’s are simpler to use and more flexible: metadata specified in JSON allow you to store and return any kind of meta data
• the new API’s are faster. We removed a number of processing steps at query side, and made some parts of the calls asynchronous. This way, queries reach recognition servers as fast as possible.
• The API’s are more scalable, in particular on the upload side we can handle more throughput
• Authentication is easier and more flexible: we offer now two kinds of authentication. Besides our signature based authentication we also allow simple token authentication via HTTPs. This makes integration easier, especially on upload side.
• API key management: you can create and manage multiple API keys. There are separate keys for query and upload, and you can create fine-grained permissions for each key. This way you can for instance have several applications with different keys etc.
• The old version of our API allows for uploading data to “groups”. On request we would create multiple groups for you. Since this was pretty popular, we extended this concept. You can still organize your data in what we now call “buckets” and you can now create as many buckets as you want. Permissions for accessing buckets can be set on API key level. So you don’t have to pass any parameters about which buckets are searched at query time. You can change these parameters anytime in the backend UI, without touching your (mobile) app.

This is what’s new with the API. But that’s not all. We also have a brand new backend UI waiting for you!

The new management UI and API documentation

The new management user interface has been simplified drastically. An overview is given below: you start with an overview of your recent account activity on a dashboard. You can browse your queries and manage reference data. Finally, you can configure your API keys as described above. The screenshot below gives an overview:

The user interface is complemented with much more extensive documentation, re-written from scratch. There is also more extensive sample code.

Documentation and sample code can be found here: http://docs.kooaba.com.

(The only major thing missing is currently sample code for iOS: this will be updated soon.)

Migrating to the new API from an older version

Since the API v4 runs parallel to the API v1 on a new system, and the API format changed, you need to sign-up again and reimport your reference data, or update your apps. We are happy to assist you with this process.

You can sign-up for the new API here: http://platform.kooaba.com

API v1 will be kept running for the time being. However, we recommend switching to API v4 at your convenience to benefit from the new features and performance. Furthermore, in the coming months, we expect to add additional amazing new features and algorithms to the new image recognition platform v4.

Should you have any questions get in touch with us via support at kooaba dot com.