Tag Based Browsing of Assets

AEM Assets supports

• browsing through folders and
• form-based searching for tags

Other DAM systems offer a third alternative: 

• tag-based browsing

In these systems the tag hierarchy would be rendered as if it was a folder and users can naturally browse through the folders. Whenever you'd "browse" to the next tag, the UI would display the assets tagged with these current tag. 

Yes - in principle AEM supports that case already: You can 

a) Open the filter

b) Click on a tag filter

c) Browse to the tag you want to search for

d) Select that tag

e) Submit the search form.

"Real" tag based browsing is a one-step interaction, only. You would "open" a tag from the "hierarchy" side rail - and AEM would implicitly display all assets with that tag. Imagine it as implicit search-as-you browse:

product (select * where tag ~ /product/*)
  - food (select * where tag ~ /product/food/*)
    - regional (select * where tag ~ /product/food/regional/*)
      - apple (select * where tag ~ /product/food/regional/apple/*)

It should be made an option if the browsing has taxonomy or directory semantics. 

Taxonomy semantics means — narrowing down the search results to more specific categories as we walk down the branch in the tree. Imagine it like select * where tag ~/product/food*

Directory semantics means displaying what is exactly associated with the tag (not with sub-tags). (select * where tag = /product/food)

Many DAM systems on the market support tag-based browsing, which can be used to create multi-homed virtual directories and reduce the necessity to create live copied in DAM repos. 

This is a feature that would reduce a lot of headaches when migrating from a legacy DAM system to AEM Assets,   

See a more elaborate explanation, why this is a must-have here:

https://medium.com/@achimkoch/how-not-to-migrate-asset-taxonomies-to-aem-a2f74fa203dd 

Display tags as if they were a multi-homed folder hierarchy and update the result set as you browse 

Sketch how a tag based browser could look like.