using IronOcr; using IronSoftware.Drawing; // We can delve deep into OCR results as an object model of // Pages, Barcodes, Paragraphs, Lines, Words and Characters // This allows us to explore, export and draw OCR content using other APIs/ var ocrTesseract = new IronTesseract(); ocrTesseract.Configuration.ReadBarCodes = true; using var ocrInput = new OcrInput(); var pages = new int[] { 1, 2 }; ocrInput.LoadImageFrames("example.tiff", pages); OcrResult ocrResult = ocrTesseract.Read(ocrInput); foreach (var page in ocrResult.Pages) { // Page object int PageNumber = page.PageNumber; string PageText = page.Text; int PageWordCount = page.WordCount; // null if we dont set Ocr.Configuration.ReadBarCodes = true; OcrResult.Barcode[] Barcodes = page.Barcodes; AnyBitmap PageImage = page.ToBitmap(ocrInput); double PageWidth = page.Width; double PageHeight = page.Height; double PageRotation = page.Rotation; // angular correction in degrees from OcrInput.Deskew() foreach (var paragraph in page.Paragraphs) { // Pages -> Paragraphs int ParagraphNumber = paragraph.ParagraphNumber; string ParagraphText = paragraph.Text; AnyBitmap ParagraphImage = paragraph.ToBitmap(ocrInput); int ParagraphX_location = paragraph.X; int ParagraphY_location = paragraph.Y; int ParagraphWidth = paragraph.Width; int ParagraphHeight = paragraph.Height; double ParagraphOcrAccuracy = paragraph.Confidence; OcrResult.TextFlow paragrapthText_direction = paragraph.TextDirection; foreach (var line in paragraph.Lines) { // Pages -> Paragraphs -> Lines int LineNumber = line.LineNumber; string LineText = line.Text; AnyBitmap LineImage = line.ToBitmap(ocrInput); int LineX_location = line.X; int LineY_location = line.Y; int LineWidth = line.Width; int LineHeight = line.Height; double LineOcrAccuracy = line.Confidence; double LineSkew = line.BaselineAngle; double LineOffset = line.BaselineOffset; foreach (var word in line.Words) { // Pages -> Paragraphs -> Lines -> Words int WordNumber = word.WordNumber; string WordText = word.Text; AnyBitmap WordImage = word.ToBitmap(ocrInput); int WordX_location = word.X; int WordY_location = word.Y; int WordWidth = word.Width; int WordHeight = word.Height; double WordOcrAccuracy = word.Confidence; foreach (var character in word.Characters) { // Pages -> Paragraphs -> Lines -> Words -> Characters int CharacterNumber = character.CharacterNumber; string CharacterText = character.Text; AnyBitmap CharacterImage = character.ToBitmap(ocrInput); int CharacterX_location = character.X; int CharacterY_location = character.Y; int CharacterWidth = character.Width; int CharacterHeight = character.Height; double CharacterOcrAccuracy = character.Confidence; // Output alternative symbols choices and their probability. // Very useful for spellchecking OcrResult.Choice[] Choices = character.Choices; } } } } }

OCR TOOLS

Cloud Based OCR (OCR Features Comparison)

Published April 29, 2024

Introduction

Businesses are faced with a deluge of unstructured data in the digital era that is embedded in papers, photos, and other media. Gaining practical insights from this data is essential for making well-informed decisions and optimizing operations. A key component in converting unstructured data into structured, searchable, and analyzable information is optical character recognition (OCR) technology.

The introduction of online OCR service has completely changed the market by providing scalable, affordable, and easily available OCR capabilities, in contrast to traditional OCR solutions that need a large amount of infrastructure such as data centers, and experience to implement and maintain. This article delves into the realm of cloud-based optical character recognition (OCR), examining its advantages, uses, and optimal methods.

How to Use Cloud-Based OCR

Register for the cloud-based OCR service.
Install the required package from Nuget.
Import the package to the code.
Apply the API key if required.
Perform OCR for the required image files.
Dispose of the object.

Google Cloud Vision API

Google Cloud Platform Vision API is a state-of-the-art tool that offers companies and developers sophisticated image analysis capabilities. The Vision API's potent machine-learning algorithms enable it to identify faces, objects, text, and landmarks in photos, opening up a plethora of uses for a variety of sectors.

To extract useful information from photos, developers can use the Google Cloud Vision API in their apps. The API provides functions like optical character recognition (OCR), which extracts text from images with high accuracy, and image labeling, which recognizes objects and situations in photographs.

The Google Cloud Vision API's capacity to comprehend picture content in context is one of its main advantages. It may be used for activities like visual search, content moderation, and image organizing because it can identify and categorize thousands of objects, animals, and plants.

In addition, the Vision API can identify faces in photos and provide details on landmarks, emotions, and facial expressions. Applications incorporating sentiment analysis, demographic profiling, and image-based authentication can benefit from these capabilities.

Amazon Textract

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a fully managed machine learning solution called Amazon Textract that lets developers process documents, and then extract text and data from PDFs, pictures, and scanned documents. Textract can reliably recognize and extract text, tables, forms, and other structured data from a variety of document formats and layouts by combining cutting-edge OCR engine (Optical Character Recognition) technology with machine learning algorithms.

Developers may expedite document processing workflows and eliminate the need for manual data entry by automating document analysis and data extraction processes using Amazon Textract. With its intelligence analysis of each document's structure and style, Textract preserves the original formatting and layout while extracting important information.

Because of its user-friendly interface and seamless integration with other AWS services, Amazon Textract makes it simple for developers to add document processing capabilities to their workflows and applications. Textract helps businesses make better decisions faster, increase operational efficiency, and realize the value of their unstructured data by utilizing machine learning and optical character recognition (OCR) technologies.

Microsoft Azure Computer Vision

Microsoft Azure Computer Vision is a cloud-based service that makes use of machine learning methods to give advanced picture processing capabilities. It helps developers to derive useful information from photos, such as object detection and identification, Word recognition, facial analysis, and comprehension of visual content.

Developers may automate activities like object detection, picture moderation, and scanned image categorization by using Azure Computer Vision's robust image analysis features in their apps. A variety of pre-trained models are available from the service, which may be quickly deployed and tailored to fit certain use cases and sectors.

Azure Computer Vision analyzes photos and extracts valuable data using cutting-edge deep learning techniques. Developers can leverage its sophisticated APIs to extract insights from cloud-uploaded photos and a wide range of supported image formats.

All things considered, Microsoft Azure Computer Vision enables programmers to create intelligent apps with the ability to comprehend and analyze visual input, opening up a variety of use cases in sectors including media, manufacturing, retail, and healthcare.

ABBYY FineReader Online

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) cloud-based service ABBYY FineReader Online lets users turn scanned images, documents, and PDF files into editable and searchable formats. FineReader Online reliably extracts text, tables, and photos from a wide range of document formats, such as contracts, invoices, receipts, printed text, and academic papers, by utilizing cutting-edge OCR technology.

Users can easily scan documents into digital formats that can be edited and accessed with FineReader Online. The service is appropriate for users from across the world and multilingual documents because it supports many languages and has a high text recognition accuracy rate.

The user-friendly interface of ABBYY FineReader Online is one of its primary benefits; it makes it simple for users to upload, process, and retrieve documents without requiring complicated software installations or configurations. Furthermore, FineReader Online is affordable and accessible to users of different means because of its varied price options, which include pay-per-page and subscription alternatives.

All things considered, ABBYY FineReader Online is a flexible and easy-to-use OCR tool that assists both individuals and companies in processing documents in digitization, enhancing productivity, and realizing the potential of their unstructured data.

IronOCR

With its on-premises OCR capabilities within C# and .NET environments, IronOCR provides a strong substitute for cloud-based OCR services. In contrast to cloud-based OCR solutions, which are dependent on external services and internet connectivity, IronOCR functions locally, protecting private data and doing away with the need for external servers.

The OCR process, including picture pretreatment, text extraction, and data manipulation, is fully controllable by developers using IronOCR. Comparing this to cloud-based options enables faster processing times, lower latency, and improved security.

IronOCR is a cost-effective option for long-term projects and applications with high OCR usage because of its one-time license model, which also offers cost advantages over subscription-based cloud OCR services.

IronOCR gives developers the ability to create dependable, effective, and private OCR solutions that are customized to meet their unique requirements by providing a robust OCR library that works smoothly with C# and .NET apps.

Advantages of IronOCR

On-Premises OCR: IronOCR works locally in C# and .NET settings, doing away with the requirement for external services and internet access. Because it guarantees data security and privacy, it can be used with sensitive applications.
Total Control: With IronOCR, developers have total control over all aspects of the OCR process, including data manipulation, text extraction, and picture preprocessing. This makes it possible to optimize and customize for certain application needs.
Faster Processing: Compared to cloud-based OCR systems, IronOCR provides faster processing times and lower latency because it operates locally. Performance and responsiveness are enhanced as a result, particularly for applications that need real-time or almost real-time OCR.
Smooth Integration: IronOCR offers simple APIs for easy integration into current workflows and interacts effortlessly with C# and .NET apps. This makes it easier to design and implement, enabling developers to take advantage of OCR features without requiring a lot of setup or configuration.

Below is the sample code to extract data from an image.

var Ocr = new IronTesseract(); // nothing to configure            
Ocr.Language = OcrLanguage.EnglishBest;                                     
Ocr.Configuration.TesseractVersion = TesseractVersion.Tesseract5;            
using (var Input = new OcrInput())      
{          
    Input.AddImage(@"Demo.png");         
    var Result = Ocr.Read(Input);       
    Console.WriteLine(Result.Text);        
    Console.ReadKey();          
}

var Ocr = new IronTesseract(); // nothing to configure            
Ocr.Language = OcrLanguage.EnglishBest;                                     
Ocr.Configuration.TesseractVersion = TesseractVersion.Tesseract5;            
using (var Input = new OcrInput())      
{          
    Input.AddImage(@"Demo.png");         
    var Result = Ocr.Read(Input);       
    Console.WriteLine(Result.Text);        
    Console.ReadKey();          
}

Dim Ocr = New IronTesseract() ' nothing to configure
Ocr.Language = OcrLanguage.EnglishBest
Ocr.Configuration.TesseractVersion = TesseractVersion.Tesseract5
Using Input = New OcrInput()
	Input.AddImage("Demo.png")
	Dim Result = Ocr.Read(Input)
	Console.WriteLine(Result.Text)
	Console.ReadKey()
End Using

VB C#

Using the previously given code, we can extract data from the image with the highest OCR accuracy. first, we are creating an object for the IronTesseract. then we assign the version of the tesseract to the the created object. Again we are creating another object for the OCRInput which allows us to add the image and read the text available inside the image. It makes it easier to convert text that has been retrieved from handwritten documents into editable file formats, such as Word. We may also convert the scanned document into a searchable PDF. The result can be saved in many OCR output formats using IronOCR. Check here to find out more about the ironOCR code.

Input image:

Cloud Based OCR (OCR Features Comparison): Figure 1 - Input Image

Result:

Cloud Based OCR (OCR Features Comparison): Figure 2 - Console Output

Conclusion

IronOCR is the best option available for cloud-based OCR software, based on thorough analysis and comparison. Excellent accuracy, wide language compatibility, and strong performance are just a few of the cutting-edge characteristics that set it apart from the competition. Developers and enterprises looking for dependable OCR technology in the cloud choose IronOCR because of its easy-to-use UI and seamless integration features.

Also, its dedication to innovation and ongoing development guarantees that customers will receive state-of-the-art equipment and first-rate support. Thus, among cloud OCR processing software options, IronOCR is the best choice due to its exceptional performance, adaptability, and customer satisfaction ratings.

A lifetime license is granted upon purchasing the IronOCR package, and a free trial of the affordable development edition of IronOCR is offered. The IronOCR bundle has a starting price of $749. For more details about the charge, please visit the IronOCR website. Alternatively, go here to learn more about Iron Software's products.

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