This may be change, however, if a Google research project in "computer vision" pans out. The search giant Monday presented a paper on landmark recognition at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) conference in Miami. The new technology allows computers to quickly I.D. images of more than 50,000 world landmarks with 80-percent accuracy, Google says.

Google is quick to point out its pattern-recognition technology is still a research project and not a new service. That makes sense, as a search tool that's right just 8 out of 10 tries isn't ready for prime time. Still, the concept is pretty cool and could prove a boon to travelers if Google can someday boost the accuracy rate. The ability to snap a photo of an unidentified landmark and have your smartphone or Net-enabled camera identify it immediately would be popular, I think. Of course, there's also the potential for scientific and consumer applications that no one's thought of yet.