In a nutshell, Goggles allows the user to take a picture of something and then receive search results relating to that item, without requiring any additional input.

In a video posted by Google that describes the technology and its potential, the examples cited include taking a picture of a book’s cover and receiving a variety of information about the author, publishing house, purchase information, etc., without providing any other input other than the photo itself.

Another example Google cited in its demo video has tremendous business-to-business marketing benefits; taking a photo of a business card gives you the option of adding that person’s information to your phone’s contact database, and click-to-call support. This would be of enormous benefit in many circumstances, and during industry trade events, in particular. Rather than scribbling notes on the back of a business card by hand, you can simply open up Goggles, take a picture of the card, import the contact information, and you have accomplished in moments, right there at the show, what you would normally do at your desk, post-show.