Another way to get barcodes in--an idea (feature suggestion)

[dstewart]

I don't have an iSight, and I'm not going to buy one, nor a barcode scanner. What I do have is a digital camera and it has a macro mode.

Which means I can take photos of barcodes.

Maybe this is very naive of me... but it seems to me that it would be possible to do programming that would enable the 'Pedias to read photographs of barcodes.

So I could take photos of 30 books, and then either via iPhoto or by a reader built into the 'Pedias, or however... the program could then scan the barcode information from the photograph.

An iSight is a camera; a photo can show a barcode. Scan the photo for the barcode.

Is this possible? Can it be done? If so... oughtn't it be?

[dstewart]

Update:
In fact, such programs already exist, for Windows, anyway. I found several on Google. Okay, that functionality should be integrated into this app. Wow, that would rock and make this program much more powerful!

[Conor]

Thank you for the suggetion, will add it to the list of posabilities. Although it sounds like a lot of work to take pictures of books and then import them to your computer to look them up, using the title or the barcode is much simpler.

[dstewart]

Conor, I think it would be faster than typing, and here's why. Scenario: My library (or my DVD collection, or my CD collection--actually that's in the basement) is on the first floor of my house. In the manual, type-it-in case, I have to transport what I want to enter into the program upstairs to have them to read the UPCs and then type them in. There's a lot of work (read: Stack maybe 10 to 20 books in my arms and carry them upstairs).

But I have to take the books off the shelves anyway; now if I can photograph the codes off the back of the book/CD/DVD in place, I've eliminated carrying them upstairs in dozens of batches; I've eliminated shuffling books on my desk; I've eliminated typing. The other work I'd have to do is the same--pull them out of the shelves, look at them. I can take a book/DVD/CD off the shelf and take a picture faster than I can shuffle a stack of books/DVDs/CDs around on my desk and individually type in each UPC/ISBN/etc.

I've added shooting a photograph. But then I've eliminated carrying books and typing in the codes.

So now I've got an SD card with 50 photos of book barcodes, let's say. I put the card in my computer. I choose the new Bookpedia menu item that says (essentially) "Scan a folder of images with barcodes," and it pops up the file dialog; I choose the disk of image files; Bookpedia goes to work reading each file's barcode. (Or maybe it's scan a roll in iPhoto, but that seems a longer way around.) I need to do nothing more than approve the items, which have all been scanned, read, looked up, and entered into Bookpedia.


This strikes me as far faster (less labor, less prone to error--assuming the software is accurate in reading the barcodes ) than the manual method of entry.

And the technology exists; there are several applications and code libraries already extant that specifically read barcodes contained in jpg/tif/png and other image formats--photo files, that is.

For Windows:
http://www.bardecode.com/windows.html

For OS X:
http://www.componentsource.com/features ... dex15.html

[Conor]

Thank you for all the information, it's a good idea I would implement right away if it didn't require a lot of work. The hurdle is in the code to read the barcode; our open source code is optimised for the iSight (it uses the fact that there are several frames to its advantage and an assumed width of 640 pixels). Now the code could be improved to handle all image files and this would be exciting not only to our users but to a lot of other Mac developers that might use our code for scanning barcodes for other purposes. So the idea is definitely on the table, just not with a high priority. Unfortunately in the meantime there is no Mac software out there that would do this for you, as you can take a list of UPC/EANs/ISBNs and paste them into the add multiple window, after they have been translated from an image by a program. EvoBarcode is one of the few Mac applications out there that might do this, but I think it's also centred around the iSight.

[druid]

I've added shooting a photograph. But then I've eliminated carrying books and typing in the codes.

Just a practical suggestion: hand-write the ISBNs or titles in list form, and then back at your Mac, type them into BookPedia. That is far less costly in time and effort than taking photos and converting them.

I had exactly your problem until I acquired a laptop. Maybe you could find a cheap older Mac or PC laptop to use when roving the house? Then you type a digital list of numbers & titles, bring them to the upstairs Mac (via flash drive or e-mail attachment), and copy-paste them into Bookpedia.

This has probably occurred to you, but I find the "Location" field is very handy for specifying *where* the books are in the house!