MATLAB Toolbox for the ImageNet Database

Main Features

• Download the ImageNet structure in XML format
• Download the ImageNet release status in XML format
• Download full resolution images of a given synset and its descendants from ImageNet database
• Resume previously unfinished download tasks before starting a new task
• Obtain the synset definition given a WordNet ID

Download

Download (.zip) the latest version (V0.3) of MATLAB Toolbox

Introduction

The ImageNet Toolbox helps users to download ImageNet data to local storage.

The current version of the toolbox allows users to download the ImageNet structure in XML format and the full resolution images of a given synset and its descendants following the structure.

Please note that ImageNet does not own the copyright of the images. If you are a researcher/educator who wish to have a copy of the original images for non-commercial research and/or educational use, please first go to http://www.image-net.org/download-images to learn about the terms of using ImageNet data and sign up to obatin your accesskey.

For any questions or bug reports about this toolbox, please contact us through

If you have developed tools to process ImageNet data and would like to share it with others, please contact us or post to our mailing list.

Get Started with the ImageNet Toolbox

Download the ImageNet structure and latest release status

You can download the structure of current ImageNet release (the same structure as in Explore page) at

• http://www.image-net.org/api/xml/structure_released.xml

Please note that there are dummy nodes that do not belong to the WordNet V3.0 (e.g. the "Misc" node).

You can download the latest release status of ImageNet at

• http://www.image-net.org/api/xml/ReleaseStatus.xml

These two XML files are the meta data of the released ImageNet.

Download the ImageNet database

The toolbox enables users to download the full resolution images of a given synset and its descandents to your local storage.

1. Go to http://www.image-net.org/download-images and learn about the terms of downloading orignal images from ImageNet. If you sign up and agree to the terms, you will be assgined an accesskey
2. Download the ImageNet Toolbox and add the code path to your MATLAB path
3. Run the following command line in MATLAB to download images of a synset (or a synset and its descendants):

   downloadImages(local_folder, username, accesskey, wnid, recursiveFlag)

   where:
   • local_folder is a folder in your local storage in which you want to store the image packages
   • username and accesskey is your credential information
   • wnid is the "WordNet ID" to uniquely identify a synset (accessible from ImageNet website). (ngproot is the wnid for the ImageNet root node). See API documentation to learn more about the definition of wnid
   • recursiveFlag is a boolean variable indicating if you want to download the descendants of a synset
4. When the download is finished, the ImageNet structure will be saved as “structure.xml”, the latest release status of ImageNet will be saved as “ReleaseStatus.xml”, and image packages will be stored in local_folder

Obtain the synset definition given a WordNet ID

The toolbox enables users to obtain the WordNet definition of a synset. You can run the following function in MATLAB:

definitionStruct = wnidToDefinition( structureXmlPath , wnid)

where:

• structureXmlPath is the path pointing to the structure.xml, which is used to describe the structure of ImageNet. The latest version of this file can be downloaded it at http://www.image-net.org/api/xml/structure_released.xml. It can also be automatically downloaded and upgraded by the downloadImages function
• wnid is the "WordNet ID" to uniquely identify a synset (accessible from ImageNet website). See API documentation to learn more about the definition of wnid
wnid is the WordNet ID that function use to get its definition
• definitionStruct is a struct which contains two members, words and gloss.

For example, run the ToolboxDemo.m in the toolbox.

FAQ

How to download the whole ImageNet database?

Please refer to the subsection Download the ImageNet database in the Get Started with the ImageNet Toolbox section on this page. Please use ngproot as the wnid and set the recursiveFlag to be true.

Can I resume the previous download task if it is interrupted unexpectedly?

Currently, the toolbox allows users to resume a previously unsuccessful download before starting a new one. When you run the program to start a new download, it will ask you whether to resume your incompleted download. Press Y to resume the previous downloads first and then start a new one; or press N to start new ones.

Can I download the images without using the toolbox?

You can always download full resolution images using our web-based API. Please refer to Download Original Images for more details. If you wish to use our toolbox to maintain your downloaded synsets in the future (e.g. image update, feature downloading, and etc), please read the following instructions:

1. Create a DownloadStatus.xml file to record the status of your local copy. The DownloadStatus.xml is used by the toolbox as a local database of your previous download. A typical DownloadStatus.xml can be found at http://www.image-net.org/xml/DownloadStatus.xml

Please keep in mind that each synsetTask must have a unique wnid. Any duplicated wnid in DownloadStatus.xml will cause errors when the downloadImages function is executed.

2. Place the DownloadStatus.xml in a local folder so that it is compatible with the first parameter of downloadImages function