Microsoft's City Art Search gets data cleansing and new artwork

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Good to see that Microsoft's City Art Search (here's my original review) hasn't been abandoned, even if it's really a side project of sorts (see also my interview with its main developer at Microsoft). And, amazingly, it's a Silverlight application still - in mid-2017! Meaning that any Windows 10 branches beyond Redstone 2 won't be compatible, but in the meantime the whole of the Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile world is still compatible, so grab some culture and knock yourself out!

Here's the changelog for the new v3.0.9.4:

  • Minor UX polishing
  • Code optimisation and bug fixes
  • Data cleansing (i.e. cleaning up after itself)
  • Addition of new artwork to the database (now 8614 pieces of art)

Screenshot, City Art SearchScreenshot, City Art Search

All very 'Windows Phone 8.1', but this is a Silverlight app and proud. Here I'm looking at the closest listed gallery and starting to browse the works of art within it...

Screenshot, City Art SearchScreenshot, City Art Search

Switch to the HD versions of each piece and then zoom in and pan around to appreciate the artistry; there's a control - and a menu item - for  the artist on Wikipedia for each piece, too.

As commented before, it's a lot of work (and fairly manual) to both capture and then manipulate and enter details of all this art into the online system, but this is a very worthwhile initiative. And completely free to you, the user. So well done to all concerned.

You can grab City Art Search here in the Store.

Source / Credit: Store