Automatically Extracting Text with OCR from Field Captured Images

Route4Me’s OCR (optical character recognition) tool allows you to automatically extract text from uploaded images.

Description

This tool makes the route planning process faster and easier. Let’s say you have a printed sheet of contacts and addresses you need to transfer to Route4Me. If you have a lot of contacts, all that information would take a long time to type up manually.

But with our OCR tool, all you need to do is scan the sheet, and our software does the rest. The information will be transferred automatically. Piece of cake.

This tool is also helpful for when you’re out in the field. For example, when a new prospect hands you a business card, you can use it to quickly record their contact information. A business card is easy to lose – so why chance it?

Overall, you can use our OCR tool to make managing your business data much simpler.

Solution

Create an Optimization

Let’s choose the Single Driver Round Trip option for this use case. Here are the parameters for an optimization problem:

Parameter	Type	Description	HTTP method
api_key	string	API KEY of the user	GET
redirect	integer	if equal to 1, will be redirected, if 0 - not	GET
addresses	array	Valid JSON array of Address objects. Click here to see the JSON Schema	POST
parameters	Route Parameters	Valid JSON string of RouteParameters object. Click here to see the JSON Schema	POST

The addresses on the map will appear as below:

You can create a new optimization for this use case example. From the cUrl example bellow you can see that:

• The endpoint for this task is https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/optimization_problem.php
• input data is stored in the file single_driver_round_trip_data.json

Parameter	Type	Description
api_key	string	API KEY of the user
input data	POST data	Valid JSON object string. Click here to see the JSON Schema

@ECHO OFF
:: Single Driver Round Trip

::See video tutorial here: http://support.route4me.com/route-planning-help.php?id=manual0:tutorial2:chapter1:subchapter1

SET URL=https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/optimization_problem.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111

ECHO ON

curl -o file1.txt -g -X POST -k -d "@single_driver_round_trip_data.json" "%URL%?api_key=%apikey%" 

timeout /t 30

You can expect an Optimization problem (see link), which has generated a route already.

View Optimization Details

The endpoint: https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/optimization_problem.php

HTTP Parameters

Attribute	Type	Description	HTTP method
api_key	string	API KEY of the user	GET
optimization_problem_id	string	Optimization problem ID	GET

@ECHO OFF
SET url=https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/optimization_problem.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111
SET optprobid=44505E6471AB2F0DAA485BCE735EF8DC

ECHO ON
curl -o file1.txt -g -X GET -k "%URL%?api_key=%apikey%&optimization_problem_id=%optprobid%" 

timeout /t 30

See sample RESPONSE JSON data here

The system will send a RESPONSE with an array of the addresses, which belongs to one round-trip route.

Details Of The Optimized Route

Details of your optimized route are available.

The endpoint: https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/route.php

HTTP Parameters

Attribute	Type	Description	HTTP method
api_key	string	API KEY of the user	GET
route_id	string	Route ID	GET
route_path_output	string	If equal to 'Poitns', you'll get an array of the path points to next address	GET

@ECHO OFF
SET url=https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/route.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111
SET routeid=D68AAF9C015D8AA4A138583453CE90EB
SET rpo=Points
SET notes=1

ECHO ON

curl -o file1.txt -g -k -X GET "%url%?route_id=%routeid%&api_key=%apikey%&route_path_output=%rpo%&notes=%notes%"

timeout /t 30

See sample RESPONSE JSON data here

Note

In the RESPONSE you can see the array of the fields path_to_next. Those will be used to draw routes on a map, exactly as they are generated by the Route4Me API.

Upload An Image As A Note To An Address

You can uplod an image to a route destination as a note and Route4Me will automatically extract the text from it.

Let’s add notes to the addresses selected on the map below:

We’ll add this image with addresses on it.

The endpoint: https://www.route4me.com/actions/addRouteNotes.php

HTTP Parameters (see JSON schema here)

Attribute	Type	Description	HTTP method
api_key	string	API KEY of the user	GET
route_id	string	Route ID	GET
address_id	intenger	Address ID	GET
dev_lat	double	Device location latitude	GET
dev_lng	double	Device location longitude	GET
strFilename	string	A file name to be uploaded	POST
device_type	string	Device type. ENUM("web", "iphone", "ipad", "android_phone", "android_tablet")	GET
strUpdateType	string	File type. ENUM("DRIVER_IMG", "VEHICLE_IMG", "ADDRESS_IMG", "CSV_FILE", "XLS_FILE", "ANY_FILE")	GET

@ECHO OFF
:: Add a note to the route using of file uploading

SET url=https://www.route4me.com/actions/addRouteNotes.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111
SET routeid=D68AAF9C015D8AA4A138583453CE90EB
SET addrid=196429349
SET dev_lat=41.003671512008
SET dev_lng=-81.598461046815
SET dev_type=web
SET "filename=scanned_addresses.jpg"

ECHO ON

curl -o file1.txt -g -k -X POST -F "[email protected]%filename%" "%url%?api_key=%apikey%&route_id=%routeid%&address_id=%addrid%&dev_lat=%dev_lat%&dev_lng=%dev_lng%&device_type=%dev_type%&strUpdateType=ANY_FILE"

timeout /t 30

You’ll get this API response:

{
 "status": true,
 "note_id": "938657",
 "upload_id": "9ad943b381fe8c46fb278c6e61fdc454",
 "note": {
 "note_id": 938657,
 "route_id": "D68AAF9C015D8AA4A138583453CE90EB",
 "route_destination_id": 196429349,
 "ts_added": 1478595188,
 "activity_type": "",
 "upload_id": "9ad943b381fe8c46fb278c6e61fdc454",
 "upload_extension": "jpg",
 "upload_url": "http:\/\/adb6def9928467589ebb-f540d5a8d53c2e76ad581b6e5c346ad6.r74.cf1.rackcdn.com\/9ad943b381fe8c46fb278c6e61fdc454.jpg",
 "upload_type": "ADDRESS_IMG",
 "contents": "",
 "lat": 41.003672,
 "lng": -81.598461,
 "device_type": "web"
 }
}

Get Extracted Text From A Destination

You can retrieve an uploaded note and see extracted text from the custom field "OCR_Fulltext".

The endpoint: https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/address.php

HTTP Parameters

Attribute	Type	Description	HTTP method
api_key	string	API KEY of the user	GET
route_id	string	Route ID	GET
route_destination_id	intenger	Route destionation ID	GET
notes	intenger	If equal to 1, the notes will be returned in the response	GET

@ECHO OFF

SET url=https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/address.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111
SET routeid=D68AAF9C015D8AA4A138583453CE90EB
SET routedestinationid=196429349

ECHO ON
curl -o file1.txt -g -k -X GET "%url%?api_key=%apikey%&route_id=%routeid%&route_destination_id=%routedestinationid%&notes=1"

timeout /t 30

See sample RESPONSE JSON data here

Pay attention to this parameter:

"custom_fields": {
 "OCR_Fulltext": "address128 Woodland Dr, Stafford, VA 225562232 Aquia Dr, Stafford, VA 2255494 The Vance Way, Fredericksburg, VA 224053 Edgewood Circle, Fredericksburg, VA 2240510700 Heatherwood Dr, Spotsylvania, VA 2255310416 Rolling Ridge Dr, Spotsylvania, VA 2255310609 Mystic Pointe Dr, Fredericksburg, VA 2240710705 Mystic Pointe Dr, Fredericksburg, VA 2240711121 Cloverdale St, Fredericksburg, VA 2240711123 Cloverdale St, Fredericksburg, VA 22407dst latdst ling38.50175476 77.5400848438.46336365 -77.3740234438.34377289 -77.3582153338.35602188 -77.4427642838.24650574 -77.5649108977.572128338.2465667738.25134277 -77.59936523-77.6008377138.2538375938.26173401 -77.6054992738.26176453 -77.60552979is depot11"
 }

Upload Another Image As A Note To An Address

Let’s upload this image to a second address:

The endpoint and parameters for this are the same as they were in the previous topic Upload An Image As A Note To An Address

@ECHO OFF
:: Add a note to the route using of file uploading

SET url=https://www.route4me.com/actions/addRouteNotes.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111
SET routeid=D68AAF9C015D8AA4A138583453CE90EB
SET addrid=196429351
SET dev_lat=41.194505989552
SET dev_lng=-81.443351581693
SET dev_type=web
SET "filename=fedex_sample_shipping_label.jpg"

ECHO ON

curl -o file1.txt -g -k -X POST -F "[email protected]%filename%" "%url%?api_key=%apikey%&route_id=%routeid%&address_id=%addrid%&dev_lat=%dev_lat%&dev_lng=%dev_lng%&device_type=%dev_type%&strUpdateType=ANY_FILE"

timeout /t 30

See sample RESPONSE JSON data here

Pay attention to this parameter:

Get Extracted Text From An Uploaded Image

The endpoint and parameters for this are the same as they were in the previous topic Get Extracted Text From A Destination.

@ECHO OFF
SET url=https://www.route4me.com/api.v4/address.php
SET apikey=11111111111111111111111111111111
SET routeid=D68AAF9C015D8AA4A138583453CE90EB
SET routedestinationid=196429351

ECHO ON
curl -o file1.txt -g -k -X GET "%url%?api_key=%apikey%&route_id=%routeid%&route_destination_id=%routedestinationid%&notes=1"

timeout /t 30

See sample RESPONSE JSON data here

Pay attention to this parameter:

"custom_fields": {
 "OCR_Fulltext": "From: MITCH GREEN (303)413-8001SHIPPER'S FEDEX ACCOUNTFedExNETSCAPE COMMUNICATIONS CORP3256 WRIGHT AVENUEBOULDER, CO, 8030To: Brent Harrison (408)276-6241iPlanet E-Commerce SolutionsSHIP DATE: 02JUL01WEIGHT1 LBSM\/S SCA22-3104220 Network CircleSanta Clara, CA, 95054Ref: 601\/895Mitch GreenDELIVERYADDRESSEARCODE FEDEX-EDRFedEx STANDARD OVERNIGHTTUETRK 7909 4164 46486e01SJCWC RBKADeliver by95054-CA-US03JUL01"
 },