Can I read a image?

I have a number of tables for different states containing some statistical data like population etc. in table 1, population = 2 lakh; table 2, population = 3 lakh; table 3, population = 4 lakh; table 4, population = 1 lakh; and so on. but all the tables are in png format. is it possible to make a matlab script to read all the tables and making an array with the data of population.There will be a double in work space namely population which will have first column with table no and second column with no of population for the respective table.

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

No. That is just a picture of some numbers. They are not stored as numbers, but just as pixels, that you happen to understand as numbers. You cannot read it in numeric form.

COULD you do it? Yes, of course. With some effort and skill in image processing and OCR, you could read it in.

Is it worth the effort? I doubt it. You take the risk that some digits will be misread, and since you have no idea how to solve the problem, it will take some significant time for you to learn to solve it. You can probably find that same information elsewhere online in usable form. Spend some time finding it. Or spend the same amount of time (or less!) just keying the information in. Carefully of course.

Answer 2

[Image Analyst]

Just hand type everything in. It would take you less time to type in a table into the MATLAB editor than to write an algorithm that did OCR on a picture of a table.