How do Sociability's Smart Tagging and Smart Alt-Text work?

Smart Tagging and Smart Alt-Text use AI to turn photos of places into accessibility information.

Smart Tagging spots accessibility features in a photo and suggests tags, which you can then search and filter, whilst Smart Alt-Text writes image descriptions that describe the position of objects inside a space, so that photos are more helpful to our blind and partially sighted users.

Anything created this way is labelled as Smart Tagging or Smart Alt-Text, so you can always see where our information comes from. Only tags checked by a Sociability mapper can become Sociability Verified, and our team regularly reviews Smart Tags to check their accuracy and improve the system.

Importantly, every tag and description starts with a real photo which can be checked against the Smart Tagging and Smart Alt-Text. If something is wrong or missing, this can be flagged using the icon in the top right corner of the image page. Our team will correct it as soon as possible. Our Smart Tools do not replace lived experience or human judgement. Rather, at Sociability, Smart Tagging and Smart Alt-Text help our community, businesses and mappers to contribute more data in more places, quickly and accurately. Together, we're helping even more Disabled people to find accessible places and the confidence to explore and participate in the world around them.