Google seems to have a renewed focus on improving the image search experience. For example, just last month Google Similar Images, which uses image recognition technology for filtering search results, graduated from Google Labs and became a default feature of Google Image search.

In an effort to continue down the better image search path, Google has just released a new Labs feature called Google Image Swirl. The new functionality is the result of computer vision research and clusters images into groups that you can search by way of an experimental new user interface.

With Google Image Swirl, your image search results are coupled together in 12 different groupings. Once you identify a particular group, your results will swirl into view, whereby each selection refocuses and swirls the search results in a circular fashion.  The experience is reminiscent of Google’s Wonder Wheel, and reminds us of Visual Thesaurus.

According to Google, “Image Swirl expands on technologies developed for Similar Images and Picasa Face Recognition to discern how images should be grouped together and build hierarchies out of these groups. Each thumbnail on the initial results page represents an algorithmically-determined representative group of images with similar appearance and meaning. These aren’t just the most relevant images — they are the most relevant groups of images.”

The new Google Lab is already live and works for about 200,000 image queries. Try it out and let us know what you think.