Preferred image retrieval

1. A system, comprising:

a computer processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a module stored on the memory and that is configured, when executed, to:

receive an identifier of a location of a property;

receive a plurality of image preference criteria for each of a plurality of attributes, each image preference criteria includes a weighting factor that corresponds to a potential attribute value;

identify one or more image sources, each image source containing a plurality of images of the location of the property, each corresponding image having image data and image metadata, the image metadata having an attribute value for each of the plurality of attributes for the corresponding image;

retrieve the image metadata for each of the plurality of images of the property from the one or more image sources;

for each image of the plurality of images:

for each attribute of the plurality of attributes for an image:

select one of the plurality of image preference criteria based on a comparison of the attribute value for an attribute and the potential attribute value for each of the plurality of image preference criteria for the attribute; and

determine an attribute score for the attribute by selecting the weighting factor that corresponds to the selected image preference criteria; and

calculate an image score for the image by combining the attribute score for each of the plurality of attributes for the image;

select a set of high-score images for the property based on the calculated image score for each of the plurality of images of the property;

retrieve the image data for the set of high-score images for the property; and

output the image data and at least some of the image metadata for the set of high-score images for the property to the system.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein select a set of high-score images for the property comprises:

select a set of high-score images for the property based on the calculated image score for each of the plurality of images of the property being above a threshold value.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein receive the plurality of image preference criteria comprises:

receive the plurality of image preference criteria from an image preference criteria database containing the plurality of image preference criteria.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of image preference criteria is customized for a customer.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of image preference criteria is customized for an expected use of the images.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image metadata includes at least one of the following attributes: vendor, image view, heading, description, viewpoint, date, timestamp, image provider, spectral content, polygon, clip, zoom level, resolution, and cost.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the module stored on the memory is further configured to:

wherein retrieve the image metadata for the plurality of images of the property from the one or more image sources further comprises:

retrieve the image data for the plurality of images of the property from the one or more image sources; and

perform computer-based visual processing analysis on the image data for the plurality of images of the property to update the image score for the plurality of images of the property.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving an identifier of a location of a property;

receiving a plurality of image preference criteria for each of a plurality of attributes, each image preference criteria includes a potential attribute value and has a corresponding weighting factor value;

identifying one or more image sources, each image source containing a plurality of images of the location of the property, each corresponding image having image data and image metadata, the image metadata having an attribute value for each of the plurality of attributes for the corresponding image;

retrieving the metadata for each of the plurality of images of the property from the one or more image sources;

calculating an image score for each corresponding image of the plurality of images of the property by combining an attribute score for each of the plurality of attributes of the corresponding image, the attribute score of each corresponding attribute is selected based on a comparison of the attribute value for the corresponding attribute with the potential attribute value for each of the plurality of image preference criteria for the corresponding attribute, the attribute score is the weighting factor value that corresponds to the potential attribute value of the image preference criteria that maps to the attribute value of the corresponding attribute;

selecting a set of high-score images for the property based on the image score for each of the plurality of images of the property;

retrieving the image data for the set of high-score images for the property; and

outputting the image data and at least some of the image metadata for the set of high-score images for the property to the system.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of selecting a set of high-score images for the property based on the image score for each of the plurality of images of the property comprises:

selecting a set of high-score images for the property based the image score for each of the plurality of images of the property being above a threshold value.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of receiving the plurality of image preference criteria further comprises:

receiving the plurality of image preference criteria from an image preference criteria database containing the plurality of image preference criteria.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metadata includes at least one of the following attributes: vendor, image view, heading, description, viewpoint, date, timestamp, image provider, spectral content, polygon, clip, zoom level, resolution, and cost.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

wherein retrieving the metadata for the plurality of images of the property from the one or more image sources further comprises, retrieving image data for the plurality of images of the property from the one or more image sources; and

performing computer-based visual processing analysis on the image data for the plurality of images of the property to update the image score for the plurality of images of the property.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, cause the following to be performed:

receiving, from each of a plurality of customers, a plurality of image preference criteria for each of a plurality of attributes, wherein each image preference criteria includes a potential attribute value that is customized for each of the plurality of customers;

receiving a request for images of a property from a customer of the plurality of customers;

identifying one or more image sources that meet selected image preference criteria for the customer, each image source containing a plurality of images of the property, each image having image data and image metadata, the image metadata having an attribute value for each of the plurality of attributes;

retrieving the metadata for the plurality of images of the property;

determining an attribute score for each corresponding attribute of the plurality of attributes for each of the plurality of images based on a comparison of the attribute value of the retrieved metadata for the corresponding attribute with the potential attribute value of each of the plurality of image preference criteria of the customer for the corresponding attribute;

combining the attribute scores to determine an image score for each of the plurality of images of the property;

selecting a set of high-score images for the property for the customer based on the image score for each of the plurality of images of the property;

retrieving the image data for the set of high-score images for the property; and

outputting the image data and at least some of the image metadata for the set of high-score images for the property.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein selecting a set of high-score images for the property comprises:

selecting a set of high-score images for the property as each of the plurality of images of the property that has an image score above a threshold value.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein receiving image preference criteria further comprises:

receiving image preference criteria from an image preference criteria database containing a plurality of image preference criteria.