Recognize Landmarks with ML Kit on Android

You can use ML Kit to recognize well-known landmarks in an image.

Before you begin

  1. If you haven't already, add Firebase to your Android project.
  2. Add the dependencies for the ML Kit Android libraries to your module (app-level) Gradle file (usually app/build.gradle): 
    apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

dependencies {
  // ...

  implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-ml-vision:24.0.3'
}

  3. If you have not already enabled Cloud-based APIs for your project, do so now:

    1. Open the ML Kit APIs page of the Firebase console.

    2. If you have not already upgraded your project to a Blaze pricing plan, click Upgrade to do so. (You will be prompted to upgrade only if your project isn't on the Blaze plan.)

      Only Blaze-level projects can use Cloud-based APIs.

    3. If Cloud-based APIs aren't already enabled, click Enable Cloud-based APIs.

Configure the landmark detector

By default, the Cloud detector uses the STABLE version of the model and returns up to 10 results. If you want to change either of these settings, specify them with a FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions object.

For example, to change both of the default settings, build a FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions object as in the following example:

Java

FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions options =
        new FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions.Builder()
                .setModelType(FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions.LATEST_MODEL)
                .setMaxResults(15)
                .build();
MainActivity.java

Kotlin+KTX

val options = FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions.Builder()
        .setModelType(FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions.LATEST_MODEL)
        .setMaxResults(15)
        .build()
MainActivity.kt

To use the default settings, you can use FirebaseVisionCloudDetectorOptions.DEFAULT in the next step.

Run the landmark detector

To recognize landmarks in an image, create a FirebaseVisionImage object from either a Bitmap, media.Image, ByteBuffer, byte array, or a file on the device. Then, pass the FirebaseVisionImage object to the FirebaseVisionCloudLandmarkDetector's detectInImage method.

  1. Create a FirebaseVisionImage object from your image.

    • To create a FirebaseVisionImage object from a media.Image object, such as when capturing an image from a device's camera, pass the media.Image object and the image's rotation to FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage().

      If you use the CameraX library, the OnImageCapturedListener and ImageAnalysis.Analyzer classes calculate the rotation value for you, so you just need to convert the rotation to one of ML Kit's ROTATION_ constants before calling FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage():

      Java

      private class YourAnalyzer implements ImageAnalysis.Analyzer {

    private int degreesToFirebaseRotation(int degrees) {
        switch (degrees) {
            case 0:
                return FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_0;
            case 90:
                return FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_90;
            case 180:
                return FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_180;
            case 270:
                return FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_270;
            default:
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                        "Rotation must be 0, 90, 180, or 270.");
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void analyze(ImageProxy imageProxy, int degrees) {
        if (imageProxy == null || imageProxy.getImage() == null) {
            return;
        }
        Image mediaImage = imageProxy.getImage();
        int rotation = degreesToFirebaseRotation(degrees);
        FirebaseVisionImage image =
                FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation);
        // Pass image to an ML Kit Vision API
        // ...
    }
}

      Kotlin+KTX

      private class YourImageAnalyzer : ImageAnalysis.Analyzer {
    private fun degreesToFirebaseRotation(degrees: Int): Int = when(degrees) {
        0 -> FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_0
        90 -> FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_90
        180 -> FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_180
        270 -> FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_270
        else -> throw Exception("Rotation must be 0, 90, 180, or 270.")
    }

    override fun analyze(imageProxy: ImageProxy?, degrees: Int) {
        val mediaImage = imageProxy?.image
        val imageRotation = degreesToFirebaseRotation(degrees)
        if (mediaImage != null) {
            val image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, imageRotation)
            // Pass image to an ML Kit Vision API
            // ...
        }
    }
}

      If you don't use a camera library that gives you the image's rotation, you can calculate it from the device's rotation and the orientation of camera sensor in the device:

      Java

      private static final SparseIntArray ORIENTATIONS = new SparseIntArray();
static {
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 90);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 0);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 270);
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 180);
}

/**
 * Get the angle by which an image must be rotated given the device's current
 * orientation.
 */
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
private int getRotationCompensation(String cameraId, Activity activity, Context context)
        throws CameraAccessException {
    // Get the device's current rotation relative to its "native" orientation.
    // Then, from the ORIENTATIONS table, look up the angle the image must be
    // rotated to compensate for the device's rotation.
    int deviceRotation = activity.getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getRotation();
    int rotationCompensation = ORIENTATIONS.get(deviceRotation);

    // On most devices, the sensor orientation is 90 degrees, but for some
    // devices it is 270 degrees. For devices with a sensor orientation of
    // 270, rotate the image an additional 180 ((270 + 270) % 360) degrees.
    CameraManager cameraManager = (CameraManager) context.getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE);
    int sensorOrientation = cameraManager
            .getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId)
            .get(CameraCharacteristics.SENSOR_ORIENTATION);
    rotationCompensation = (rotationCompensation + sensorOrientation + 270) % 360;

    // Return the corresponding FirebaseVisionImageMetadata rotation value.
    int result;
    switch (rotationCompensation) {
        case 0:
            result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_0;
            break;
        case 90:
            result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_90;
            break;
        case 180:
            result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_180;
            break;
        case 270:
            result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_270;
            break;
        default:
            result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_0;
            Log.e(TAG, "Bad rotation value: " + rotationCompensation);
    }
    return result;
}
      VisionImage.java

      Kotlin+KTX

      private val ORIENTATIONS = SparseIntArray()

init {
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_0, 90)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_90, 0)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_180, 270)
    ORIENTATIONS.append(Surface.ROTATION_270, 180)
}
/**
 * Get the angle by which an image must be rotated given the device's current
 * orientation.
 */
@RequiresApi(api = Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
@Throws(CameraAccessException::class)
private fun getRotationCompensation(cameraId: String, activity: Activity, context: Context): Int {
    // Get the device's current rotation relative to its "native" orientation.
    // Then, from the ORIENTATIONS table, look up the angle the image must be
    // rotated to compensate for the device's rotation.
    val deviceRotation = activity.windowManager.defaultDisplay.rotation
    var rotationCompensation = ORIENTATIONS.get(deviceRotation)

    // On most devices, the sensor orientation is 90 degrees, but for some
    // devices it is 270 degrees. For devices with a sensor orientation of
    // 270, rotate the image an additional 180 ((270 + 270) % 360) degrees.
    val cameraManager = context.getSystemService(CAMERA_SERVICE) as CameraManager
    val sensorOrientation = cameraManager
            .getCameraCharacteristics(cameraId)
            .get(CameraCharacteristics.SENSOR_ORIENTATION)!!
    rotationCompensation = (rotationCompensation + sensorOrientation + 270) % 360

    // Return the corresponding FirebaseVisionImageMetadata rotation value.
    val result: Int
    when (rotationCompensation) {
        0 -> result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_0
        90 -> result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_90
        180 -> result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_180
        270 -> result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_270
        else -> {
            result = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.ROTATION_0
            Log.e(TAG, "Bad rotation value: $rotationCompensation")
        }
    }
    return result
}
      VisionImage.kt

      Then, pass the media.Image object and the rotation value to FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage():

      Java

      FirebaseVisionImage image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation);
      VisionImage.java

      Kotlin+KTX

      val image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromMediaImage(mediaImage, rotation)
      VisionImage.kt
    • To create a FirebaseVisionImage object from a file URI, pass the app context and file URI to FirebaseVisionImage.fromFilePath(). This is useful when you use an ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent to prompt the user to select an image from their gallery app.

      Java

      FirebaseVisionImage image;
try {
    image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromFilePath(context, uri);
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}
      VisionImage.java

      Kotlin+KTX

      val image: FirebaseVisionImage
try {
    image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromFilePath(context, uri)
} catch (e: IOException) {
    e.printStackTrace()
}
      VisionImage.kt
    • To create a FirebaseVisionImage object from a ByteBuffer or a byte array, first calculate the image rotation as described above for media.Image input.

      Then, create a FirebaseVisionImageMetadata object that contains the image's height, width, color encoding format, and rotation:

      Java

      FirebaseVisionImageMetadata metadata = new FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.Builder()
        .setWidth(480)   // 480x360 is typically sufficient for
        .setHeight(360)  // image recognition
        .setFormat(FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21)
        .setRotation(rotation)
        .build();
      VisionImage.java

      Kotlin+KTX

      val metadata = FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.Builder()
        .setWidth(480) // 480x360 is typically sufficient for
        .setHeight(360) // image recognition
        .setFormat(FirebaseVisionImageMetadata.IMAGE_FORMAT_NV21)
        .setRotation(rotation)
        .build()
      VisionImage.kt

      Use the buffer or array, and the metadata object, to create a FirebaseVisionImage object:

      Java

      FirebaseVisionImage image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromByteBuffer(buffer, metadata);
// Or: FirebaseVisionImage image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromByteArray(byteArray, metadata);
      VisionImage.java

      Kotlin+KTX

      val image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromByteBuffer(buffer, metadata)
// Or: val image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromByteArray(byteArray, metadata)
      VisionImage.kt
    • To create a FirebaseVisionImage object from a Bitmap object:

      Java

      FirebaseVisionImage image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromBitmap(bitmap);
      VisionImage.java

      Kotlin+KTX

      val image = FirebaseVisionImage.fromBitmap(bitmap)
      VisionImage.kt
      The image represented by the Bitmap object must be upright, with no additional rotation required.

  2. Get an instance of FirebaseVisionCloudLandmarkDetector:

    Java 

    FirebaseVisionCloudLandmarkDetector detector = FirebaseVision.getInstance()
        .getVisionCloudLandmarkDetector();
// Or, to change the default settings:
// FirebaseVisionCloudLandmarkDetector detector = FirebaseVision.getInstance()
//         .getVisionCloudLandmarkDetector(options);

    Kotlin+KTX 

    val detector = FirebaseVision.getInstance()
        .visionCloudLandmarkDetector
// Or, to change the default settings:
// val detector = FirebaseVision.getInstance()
//         .getVisionCloudLandmarkDetector(options)

  3. Finally, pass the image to the detectInImage method:

    Java 

    Task<List<FirebaseVisionCloudLandmark>> result = detector.detectInImage(image)
        .addOnSuccessListener(new OnSuccessListener<List<FirebaseVisionCloudLandmark>>() {
            @Override
            public void onSuccess(List<FirebaseVisionCloudLandmark> firebaseVisionCloudLandmarks) {
                // Task completed successfully
                // ...
            }
        })
        .addOnFailureListener(new OnFailureListener() {
            @Override
            public void onFailure(@NonNull Exception e) {
                // Task failed with an exception
                // ...
            }
        });

    Kotlin+KTX 

    val result = detector.detectInImage(image)
        .addOnSuccessListener { firebaseVisionCloudLandmarks ->
            // Task completed successfully
            // ...
        }
        .addOnFailureListener { e ->
            // Task failed with an exception
            // ...
        }

Get information about the recognized landmarks

If the landmark recognition operation succeeds, a list of FirebaseVisionCloudLandmark objects will be passed to the success listener. Each FirebaseVisionCloudLandmark object represents a landmark that was recognized in the image. For each landmark, you can get its bounding coordinates in the input image, the landmark's name, its latitude and longitude, its Knowledge Graph entity ID (if available), and the confidence score of the match. For example:

Java 

for (FirebaseVisionCloudLandmark landmark: firebaseVisionCloudLandmarks) {

    Rect bounds = landmark.getBoundingBox();
    String landmarkName = landmark.getLandmark();
    String entityId = landmark.getEntityId();
    float confidence = landmark.getConfidence();

    // Multiple locations are possible, e.g., the location of the depicted
    // landmark and the location the picture was taken.
    for (FirebaseVisionLatLng loc: landmark.getLocations()) {
        double latitude = loc.getLatitude();
        double longitude = loc.getLongitude();
    }
}

Kotlin+KTX 

for (landmark in firebaseVisionCloudLandmarks) {

    val bounds = landmark.boundingBox
    val landmarkName = landmark.landmark
    val entityId = landmark.entityId
    val confidence = landmark.confidence

    // Multiple locations are possible, e.g., the location of the depicted
    // landmark and the location the picture was taken.
    for (loc in landmark.locations) {
        val latitude = loc.latitude
        val longitude = loc.longitude
    }
}

Next steps