[wp-hackers] Grouping uploaded media items and bulk ( programmatic ) upload method perhaps

[Haluk Karamete]

Case:

With our current web site ( which we want to move to WP in the near
future), we ended up having 1000's of images which we've uploaded and
categorized over the years. These images were managed thru our
home-made cms which I wrote in ASP.

At the time of each upload, we've used a form asking the uploader what
the image is all about in terms of keywords, what category/folder it
will be stored in etc etc... At the time of upload, our DLL also
calculated the width and height, what's the type of the file ( gif,
jpg) etc as well.

Usually, we found those images thru simple google image search and
uploaded them and used them at the time of creating an article/post.
So on the go type of development... But sometimes, images were
specially created by our graphics deparment guys and were the
certerpieces of the whole article itself.

And from time to time, when we wanted to use any of those images, we
did a search in our database either by category or by keywords, and
then select the URL's of those images found in the search results.
This way we were able to use those images in our posts.

Now we want to move to WordPress.

Obvioulsy, we do not want to re-upload those images one by one using
wp admin route. Any road map ideas? That's challenge #1.

And challenge #2, as far as I see, I cannot group/categorize those
images. images can only be tagged, there is no way on media
upload/gallery sections in the admin interface to see the existing
groups/categories that those uploaded fiels are in. Am I correct? Is
this how it is with WordPress? I appreciate it if you toss some tips
in dealing with this.