Who Wears What? A smarter tartan tool

[Calgacus]

I think the OP is wondering if there is an 'automatic tartan recognition' app, whereby one would simply have to take a photo of a piece of tartan and the app would recognise it and provide appropriate information about the tartan and associated clan, if any.

It would be terrific if it existed, but I suspect it doesn't (yet).

[Leatherneck Donald]

My wife has an app that "listens" to a few seconds of a song on the radio or a tv show and then automatically searches to find the artist and where to buy it. With Google images, you can put in a photo and Google finds matching or similar photos.

It does seem like you could take a photo of a tartan and then an app would search the STA and SRT for a match so you would then know what tartan it is, what mill makes it, where to get a kilt made in it, and then what family names are associated with it. Maybe even different, related tartans or other patterns... ancient, hunting, etc... or Leatherneck, Dress Blue, desert MARPAT

[OC Richard]

Yes it would be great! You could hold your smartphone up to somebody's kilt (they might wonder what you're up to) and the app would link you to the STA page(s) which is/are the best match.

It's like the tune recognition app: you hold your phone up to music playing, and the app tells you the name of the piece, composer (if known), and provides sheet music if you wish. It's quite amazing. TunePal??

[Calgacus]

TunePal??

SoundHound, at least that's the Android version.

[California Highlander]

No Tartan ID app....yet! But there is a Tartan app for iPhone from XMarks advertiser Houston Kiltmakers.

My Tartan: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-t...471273016?mt=8
XMarks Reviews: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...tan-app-84937/

A tartan finder that works similarly to SoundHound would be cool. Any kilt-weary app developers on XMarks?

[ScottishStuart]

I was actually up seeing the team that developed our Apps last week, and a Tartan Identification app came up in discussion. We thought the easiest way to achieve it would be to perhaps key in the colours in the tartan to narrow it down to tartans that use those specified colours. You could still have hundreds of entries to choose from once you have done this, but it would give you a better idea.

Using a system where you take an image and it identify's a thread count would be a little more difficult. Different sett sizes and slightly different shades of dyes used by various Mills might throw this off.

I will keep you updated if they look to develop any of these ideas!

No Tartan ID app....yet! But there is a Tartan app for iPhone from XMarks advertiser Houston Kiltmakers.

My Tartan: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-t...471273016?mt=8
XMarks Reviews: http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...tan-app-84937/

As well as our App to make your own tartan, we also have a free Tartan Finder iPhone App.

Tartan Finder App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-tartan-finder/id541909354?mt=8

This app is a little dated, and the database isn't 100% accurate, but if you search for a colour i.e. Green in the appropriate section it will bring up many tartan's with Green used in them.

Looking through the app a few colours work when you search (Red/Green/Blue/Grey/White etc.).

You can also search through tartans by tartan names/surname/keyword.

[OC Richard]

We thought the easiest way to achieve it would be to perhaps key in the colours in the tartan

I think the drawback to that is, for example, things like Camel Stewart and Grey Stewart and Royal Stewart, all having the same structure and easily recognised by the human brain as being the same pattern but with different colourings, but which a colour-based program would perceive as being entirely different. And likewise there are probably a large number of tartans with utterly different structure which happen to share the same colours. It's why I think there has to be a non-colour component which recognises structure alone (perceiving the pattern of lighter and darker, but not caring whether something is lighter or darker). This structure-recognition component wouldn't know the difference between Black Watch and Gordon, which is where the colour-recognition component would have to weigh in.

[creagdhubh]

There is a Scottish Clans and Tartans app that lists numerous Highland Clan and Lowland family surnames with their respected tartans (if they have one, as some don't) and a brief history/description. It's actually a handy, wee app. I've used it on numerous occasions when discussing clans and tartans with friends and family. Having a quick, visual reference is quite convenient in certain social situations.

[TerryPea]

In most cases, you are correct. For example; my clan has a burgundy background with four medium width green bars, and two narrow white pinstripes between each set of green, easily recognized as Crawford. A LOT of clans have red and green, but I can change the white to black pinstripes, make the green dark brown, on a field of tan, and it would still be recognized as Crawford (camo) regardless of color. Then there are Chisms and Camerons that have 4 green bars and 1 pinstripe; white for Chism and yellow for Cameron. After the b/w narrowing it down, the colors would be used as secondary.
I like it. Thank you Richard.

[HootinHoller]

No Tartan ID app....
Any kilt-weary app developers on XMarks?

Um, I'm not weary of the kilt ;) but I am a developer who wears kilts. I'll have a look around and see if the heavy lifting has been done already.

I was thinking about an app that would take the tartan thread info and weave an image of the tartan. Once I had that then on to teaching it to pleat in various patterns.