Image Data Labeling and Annotation — Everything you need to know

Human intelligence lies at the heart of computers and machines, like a genetic code. Computers rely on metainformation as human beings gather information about their surroundings to function.

Image data labeling and annotation is the major building block for computer intelligence. It is a technique of giving life to data. It allows computers to “see” and “understand” visual information. You can say data labeling is a sense-making tool for computers. Data labeling and annotation services are merging as top-ranked services in the modern world.

Technically speaking, a layer of metadata is added to an image in data labeling and annotation. Data annotation is a process to help the viewer describe an image with greater clarity. As specification enhances, the data labeling information can serve many business and strategic purposes. Labeling objects in an image provides enhanced clarity of the context. Hence, giving meanings and connections to the images. Data labeling adds labels or tags to raw data such as text, images, audio, videos, and 3D Point Cloud. These tags serve as representative of class nomination for the objects. It helps a machine learning model to identify that particular class of objects when met in data without a tag. This data is then used for training ML algorithms. Accuracy and specification are the ultimate hallmarks of Image data labeling and annotation.

Data annotation outsourcing has become a common trend in the modern-day corporate and strategic world. So, let’s have a quick look at the basics of data annotation.

How does it all work?

Let’s now discuss how it all works. Data labeling and annotation follow basic steps in chronological order. Firstly, Raw data is collected at the Data collection step. This data will be used to train the model. The data is then cleaned and collected in the form of a database.  It will be the input training data for the model. Next comes data tagging. In this step, various data labeling methods are used to tag the data. This tagging makes the foundation for ground truth, used by machines. either automated data annotation or manual annotations can be done. The last step is quality assurance: The quality is dependent upon the precision of the tags and the accuracy of coordinate points for key point annotations and bounding boxes. Various QA algorithms are applied to judge the accuracy of annotations. Cronbach’s alpha test and Consensus algorithm are two of the commonly used accuracy determination tools for these annotations.

Manual data Annotation

Data labeling and annotation make use of computer vision or NLP algorithms. The purpose is to provide a recognizable and understandable form of data. Image annotation is the subcategory of data annotation. Here machine learning algorithms are used, and objects in the images are annotated. It makes the images recognizable to machines.

Manual data annotation needs software or tool to annotate the images and data. Manual data labeling doesn’t compromise quality and accuracy in any form, rather it is considered a more accurate data annotation method. In manual data annotation, the raw images are uploaded to the server. Then the annotators apply various tools to label or annotate the data. The machine learning algorithms are followed. After the annotation process, a manual rechecking and validation process is performed.

The chances of inaccuracy are minimized as the data is cross-checked. The manual data annotation services are provided by high-experienced annotators who can give life to data and images.

Data labeling is the need of the hour. Every segment in the modern world relies on data from the automotive industry to retail and agriculture. For a competitive advantage, image annotation outsourcing is a must. The annotation experts will assign appropriate attributes to a region of the image. The particular annotation type depends on the use case. Before you choose the annotation services, deeply understand the specific data. Once rightly chosen, a competent data annotator can help you raise the greater heights of triumph within no time.