Combining textual and visual features for image retrieval

This paper presents the approaches used by the MIRACLE team to image retrieval at ImageCLEF 2005. Text-based and content-based techniques have been tested, along with combination of both types of methods to improve image retrieval. The text-based experiments defined this year try to use semantic information sources, like thesaurus with semantic data or text structure. On the other hand, content-based techniques are not part of the main expertise of the MIRACLE team, but multidisciplinary participation in all aspects of information retrieval has been pursued. We rely on a publicly available image retrieval system (GIFT 4) when needed.