Canon has introduced a new cloud-based image management platform. Quirkily entitled Project 1709, it is in a beta phase, and the company is currently encouraging people to register their interest. It aims to store “a lifetime of images”, allows for image tagging, EXIF viewing and has deep integration with Facebook. Accepted file formats, costs and the actual rollout schedule are still to be announced.

Your lifetime of images, on demand: Canon unveils new image management platform.

United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 17 September 2012 – Canon today announces the beta launch of a new image management platform under the working title Project 1709. Designed to seamlessly bring your entire photography collection together, the new cloud-based service makes it easy to store and access images, regardless of where they’ve been saved. With unique indexing and tagging functionality, you can easily find any image stored on the cloud, or share your collection of photographs with friends, family and social networks thanks to integration with services such as Facebook.

“Since the advent of digital photography, people are taking more photos on a range of devices, and it’s become more challenging to effectively manage and enjoy these images,” said Rainer Fuehres, Head of Consumer Imaging, Canon Europe. “In Project 1709 we’ve developed a unique solution that makes it easier to manage photo collections across different platforms – whether stored on a hard drive, a social network, or in the cloud. This platform is designed for the modern photographer, providing instant access to their entire collections whenever and wherever they want it. We’re excited at the prospect of working with photographers during the beta program, and evolving the platform in the months and years ahead.”

Easily store, find, access, improve and enjoy:

Totally cloud-based, the platform has been designed to offer a central location to organize, access and view all digital image collections. Unlike any other service, it integrates disparate image collections – regardless of how they’ve been captured and where they are stored – into one easy-to-use platform that provides access to all images.

The platform’s clean, tiled design gives a fresh and enjoyable new way to view images, with a customizable timeline ribbon and tag-based filtering options that make it easier to find images using important dates, location, user-added tags, and much more.

The platform has been created around five core principles designed the make it easier for photographers to manage their images:

Store: Allowing you to store a lifetime of images, all on one platform. You can upload images from any device using either the dedicated desktop uploader or directly from the web page. Even if the same image is stored in multiple locations, advanced image matching technology identifies duplicate images and enables users to easily remove them from their library

Find: The intuitive search functionality allows you to quickly filter through photos to locate the image needed. Meaningful tags added by you, as well as EXIF data, device information, dates, and geo-tags, can all be searched within the interface – making images easily findable, whichever way you search. With the advanced search functionality you can enjoy a timeline of images providing the perfect way to document a child growing through the years

Improve: As well as storing a library of pictures, a concise overview of EXIF data – including the camera’s model, exposure time, aperture and ISO speed – is also displayed to help you understand camera settings on your favorite shots. Using advanced indexing technology, you can build up a lifetime of images with an extensive collection of contextual data that can be used to theme images, organize collections and make special photos easy to find

Enjoy: The platform makes it easy to enjoy and make the most of digital photography, as well as share your favorite images. With Facebook integration you can publish images, pull in and store comments and manage Facebook photos as part of your collection – making photography and social interactions easily accessible from within the interface.

Access: Instantly access any image, at any point in time quickly and easily using a web browser. This ensures you will never be caught without an image to share with friends and family

Designed around users:

The Project 1709 beta opens today with versions in English and German available. During the beta phase, users will be able to enjoy the ability to store and access images, and use the intuitive tagging and search functionality to manage image collections. Facebook integration is also available from today, with additional third party services to be added as the beta program develops. Canon will also invite participating users to share their thoughts and feedback, as well as suggest ideas for new features.

Project 1709 is scheduled for a full public launch in 2013, when the platform identity and additional features will be unveiled. The public launch will also include enhanced search and tagging functionality, as well as integration with a wider range of third party services, including content upload and sharing platforms.

Consumers interested in the beta can register their interest on the Project 1709 website.

Project 1709 - key features:

• Store a lifetime of your images.
• Find any image when you need it.
• Access all your photos anytime, everywhere.
• Enjoy and make the most of your photos.
• Improve your photos to make them the best they can be.