Google Books -> eBook.

rrm3 · 08-04-2007, 11:38 PM

Hello there, I have not posted here before. I wanted to start documenting a good process to download a book from Google Books (which is scanned images) and prepare it for submission to pgdp.net using netpbm, imagemagick, tesseract, and abiword (all of which I believe can be made to run on most platforms).

The idea is for the professionals who are already doing this with free software to share how to do it quicker and better.

# first, convert the PDF into images files (one image per page).
$ pdftoppm Book.pdf Book

# next, remove any extraneous border from each image file.
$ for i in Book-*.ppm; do pnmcrop $i > `basename $i .ppm`-crop.pnm; done

# convert each image file into a format the ocr software likes.
$ for i in Book-*-crop.pnm; do pnmtotiff $i > `basename $i -crop.pnm`.tiff; done
$ for i in Book-*.tiff; do convert $i -colorspace GRAY -depth 8 `basename $i .tiff`-ocr.tiff; done

# run each image file through the ocr software.
$ for i in Book-*-ocr.tiff; do tesseract $i `basename $i -ocr.tiff`; done

# covert page images to png files.
$ for i in Book-*-ocr.tiff; do convert $i `basename $i -ocr.tiff`.png; done

# make directories for Guiprep.
$ mkdir text pngs
$ mv *.png pngs/
$ mv *.txt text/

This is as far as I've gotten so far. Nice to meet you.

kovidgoyal · 08-05-2007, 01:37 AM

Does tesseract preserve text formating (bold, italic). Does it extract images (regions it cannot interpret as text) and if it does, does it preserve the position of the image on the page?

rrm3 · 08-05-2007, 02:01 AM

no, tesseract does not. I think that is/will be implemented in ocropus (also hosted on google code). I have not tried it yet though.

kovidgoyal · 08-05-2007, 02:03 AM

then you're better off using pdftohtml, atleast for text based pdfs. Though I guess this is still useful for scan based PDFs like the google books. I'm surprised google doesn't offer an OCRed version.

rrm3 · 08-05-2007, 02:30 AM

err... right. It would sure be nice if they did. They were the whole reason I ordered this thing a few days ago. It was so frustrating to find out that I couldn't view them on my little reader.

SpiderMatt · 07-24-2009, 11:11 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the only books you can download as PDFs from Google are public domain books, which are offered as free ePub files in Sony's store. If that's the case, why would you even want to bother with the PDFs?

Lady Blue · 07-24-2009, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the only books you can download as PDFs from Google are public domain books, which are offered as free ePub files in Sony's store. If that's the case, why would you even want to bother with the PDFs?

Forgive me if I'm my understanding of all of this is wrong, but the previous posts about Google PDFs were made over a year ago. I don't think Google's public domain ePub books through Sony's eBook Store even existed back then.

SpiderMatt · 07-26-2009, 09:34 AM

Ah, I didn't notice that. I have no idea how I came across this thread. Even so, it seems like it would make more sense just to get the books from Project Gutenberg.

Lady Blue · 07-26-2009, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

Ah, I didn't notice that. I have no idea how I came across this thread. Even so, it seems like it would make more sense just to get the books from Project Gutenberg.

Good point.

Sparrow · 07-26-2009, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

... it seems like it would make more sense just to get the books from Project Gutenberg.

But, not all the books on Google Books (or Internet Archive) are available on Project Gutenberg.

Lady Blue · 07-27-2009, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

But, not all the books on Google Books (or Internet Archive) are available on Project Gutenberg.

. . . and vice versa.

It goes without saying that not all books are available from all sources (free or not.)

Sparrow · 07-27-2009, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Blue

. . . and vice versa.
It goes without saying that not all books are available from all sources (free or not.)

Yes, but the OP wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrm3

I wanted to start documenting a good process to download a book from Google Books...

and then SpiderMatt wrote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

..it seems like it would make more sense just to get the books from Project Gutenberg.

But that wouldn't necessarily solve the problem - if the text is in Google Books, but not Project Gutenberg.

Or am I totally misunderstanding?

kazbates · 07-27-2009, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Yes, but the OP wrote:

and then SpiderMatt wrote:

But that wouldn't necessarily solve the problem - if the text is in Google Books, but not Project Gutenberg.

Or am I totally misunderstanding?

Yes! You're missing that the original post is almost 2 years old and the original poster has probably moved on!!

Sparrow · 07-27-2009, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kazbates

Yes! You're missing that the original post is almost 2 years old and the original poster has probably moved on!!

- We should have different background colours for elderly posts - I never check the dates.

kazbates · 07-27-2009, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

- We should have different background colours for elderly posts - I never check the dates.

I started to type a welcome message and for some reason happened to look at the posting date.

I guess my MR guardian angel was looking over my shoulder!

It's actually the second post like that that I've run across since I started welcoming new members. Now I check the date every time!

08-04-2007, 11:38 PM	#1
rrm3 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Eugene, Oregon Device: Sony PRS-500	Google Books -> eBook. Hello there, I have not posted here before. I wanted to start documenting a good process to download a book from Google Books (which is scanned images) and prepare it for submission to pgdp.net using netpbm, imagemagick, tesseract, and abiword (all of which I believe can be made to run on most platforms). The idea is for the professionals who are already doing this with free software to share how to do it quicker and better. # first, convert the PDF into images files (one image per page). $ pdftoppm Book.pdf Book # next, remove any extraneous border from each image file. $ for i in Book-.ppm; do pnmcrop $i > `basename $i .ppm`-crop.pnm; done # convert each image file into a format the ocr software likes. $ for i in Book--crop.pnm; do pnmtotiff $i > `basename $i -crop.pnm`.tiff; done $ for i in Book-.tiff; do convert $i -colorspace GRAY -depth 8 `basename $i .tiff`-ocr.tiff; done # run each image file through the ocr software. $ for i in Book--ocr.tiff; do tesseract $i `basename $i -ocr.tiff`; done # covert page images to png files. $ for i in Book--ocr.tiff; do convert $i `basename $i -ocr.tiff`.png; done # make directories for Guiprep. $ mkdir text pngs $ mv .png pngs/ $ mv *.txt text/ This is as far as I've gotten so far. Nice to meet you.

08-05-2007, 02:03 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,856 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	then you're better off using pdftohtml, atleast for text based pdfs. Though I guess this is still useful for scan based PDFs like the google books. I'm surprised google doesn't offer an OCRed version. Last edited by kovidgoyal; 08-05-2007 at 02:18 AM.

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08-05-2007, 01:37 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,856 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Does tesseract preserve text formating (bold, italic). Does it extract images (regions it cannot interpret as text) and if it does, does it preserve the position of the image on the page?

08-05-2007, 02:01 AM	#3
rrm3 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Eugene, Oregon Device: Sony PRS-500	no, tesseract does not. I think that is/will be implemented in ocropus (also hosted on google code). I have not tried it yet though.

08-05-2007, 02:30 AM	#5
rrm3 Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Eugene, Oregon Device: Sony PRS-500	err... right. It would sure be nice if they did. They were the whole reason I ordered this thing a few days ago. It was so frustrating to find out that I couldn't view them on my little reader.

07-24-2009, 11:11 AM	#6
SpiderMatt Grand Arbiter Posts: 447 Karma: 1574837 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Arizona Device: iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Motorola Droid	Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the only books you can download as PDFs from Google are public domain books, which are offered as free ePub files in Sony's store. If that's the case, why would you even want to bother with the PDFs?

07-26-2009, 09:34 AM	#8
SpiderMatt Grand Arbiter Posts: 447 Karma: 1574837 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Arizona Device: iPod Touch, Amazon Kindle, Motorola Droid	Ah, I didn't notice that. I have no idea how I came across this thread. Even so, it seems like it would make more sense just to get the books from Project Gutenberg.

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