Picture Research Solutions

  Picture Research Solutions is a premier supplier of aerial, commercial and industrial photography.
  Renowned for the quality of their images, they regularly supply photographs to daily newspapers,
  architects, town planners, calendars, books, magazines, utility services and many more besides.

  The company approached eCentric Media for much more than just an eCommerce system. With a
  complete library of over 28,000 images – each weighing in at nearly 5mb, it was clear that some
  consideration not normally applicable to a basic off-the-shelf store was necessary. eCentric was
  awarded the contract on the basis of a proven history of systems integration and eCommerce skills.
  The key requirements of the solution were:
 

• To automatically produce images at a variety of resolutions, in a variety of formats, including self-service download.
 
• To protect all images displayed on screen bigger than a thumbnail.
 
• To extract the IPTC encoded information that describes and catalogues the images from within the images themselves as a basis for the store’s product database.
 
• To provide complete cross-referencing and search facilities.
 
• To promote and highlight images matching current newspaper stories.
 
• To allow secure payment by credit card or purchase order.
 
• To build the complete solution in 3 months and on a limited budget.

  eCentric selected osCommerce to provide the basic shopping cart functionality. This open source solution
  proved as close-fit out of the box as possible, providing all the usual eCommerce features such as shopping
  cart, secure payment, order processing and so on. The team selected the GD image manipulation API to
  handle the site’s re-imaging requirements and MySql as the database to power the store. The site is built in
  PHP and runs on a hosted Linux server.

  A team of 4 people extended and modified the osCommerce framework to incorporate the additional
  functionality required by the store. Such work included the provision of RSS news feeds, the addition
  of the purchase order module and the modification of the database schema and product pages to support
  the unique display and cross-referencing requirements of the site.

  Batch process scripts were crafted which cycle through any newly uploaded high-resolution images and
  automatically create the 5 additional sizes required (2 additional download resolutions and 3 additional site
  display resolutions) transferring the IPTC encoded information from the source image as required.

  In addition to resizing, a script was also created which automatically watermarks any new display images
  with a transparent copyright symbol.

  A final batch process automatically extracts the image’s title, description, keywords, categories and much
  more from the source image’s IPTC information before building and inserting the new product into the store’s
  database.

  eCentric also provided initial drafts of all site copy and undertook the search engine optimisation and
  submission.

  Finally, eCentric recommended IXWebHosting as the host for the site and negotiated an unlimited disk space
  plan on behalf of the client.

  The solution, which can be viewed at www.pictureresearchsolutions.com, was delivered on time and on
  budget

  “eCentric Media were technically brilliant. They delivered a system that met our requirements precisely.
  What impressed me most was the way they got ‘inside’ my business, going to great lengths to understand
  just how my company operates and the needs of the varied types of customers we serve from news
  corporations to national tourist boards to the general public. We now have an automated and virtually
  maintenance free system that is unrivalled in our field for ease of use.”
  Ken Whitcombe, Picture Research Solutions

More Client Projects

  For further information regarding recent projects utilising eCentric Media's expert developer resources,
  please select from the client list below.

Technologies

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  list below.

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