OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#1

Post by wcisco17 » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

So we've built an API and trained models that detects fixtures, extracts schedules, and analyzes construction documents. Check us out!

More examples: - https://www.getanchorgrid.com/developer/docs/endpoints/drawi...

Main website: - https://www.getanchorgrid.com/developer

Why we did it: https://www.getanchorgrid.com/developer/docs/changelog/const...

OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it
getanchorgrid.com

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#2

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#3

Post by fithisux » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:48 PM UTC

Of course it is not working. PDF and images are supposed to be tamper resistant. OCR tries to reverse engineer them.

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#4

Post by achillesheels » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 4:57 PM UTC

Love it! Starbucks Vente Machiato sip

Love to give it to an arc client, not sure who the right person to implement this would be? Hmm…

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#5

Post by kube-system » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:01 PM UTC

fithisux wrote: post #3

Of course it is not working. PDF and images are supposed to be tamper resistant. OCR tries to reverse engineer them.

Since when is tamper resistance a part of PDF or any common image format?

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#6

Post by Iulioh » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

When will this be available for 30000x8000px electrical diagrams?

I have to make a BOM and oh boy I hate my job

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#7

Post by jsidney » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:11 PM UTC

Iulioh wrote: post #6

When will this be available for 30000x8000px electrical diagrams? I have to make a BOM and oh boy I hate my job

What do you hate the most?

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#8

Post by oritron » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:11 PM UTC

Iulioh wrote: post #6

When will this be available for 30000x8000px electrical diagrams? I have to make a BOM and oh boy I hate my job

What software made the bitmap? Seems like a step earlier in the pipeline could help generate a BOM more easily.

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#9

Post by pwagland » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #5

fithisux wrote: post #3

Of course it is not working. PDF and images are supposed to be tamper resistant. OCR tries to reverse engineer them.

Since when is tamper resistance a part of PDF or any common image format?

PDF files can be signed, that is tamper resistance. Tamper resistance doesn't have to make any difference to the readability of the document.

Re: OCR for construction documents does not work, we fixed it

#10

Post by kube-system » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:23 PM UTC

pwagland wrote: post #9

kube-system wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when is tamper resistance a part of PDF or any common image format?

PDF files can be signed, that is tamper resistance. Tamper resistance doesn't have to make any difference to the readability of the document.

So can any type of file -- that doesn't have any relevance to the supposed design of every file type in existence. Now, later versions of PDF do have explicit support for signatures, but what does this have to do with preventing OCR? OCR reads a file, it doesn't change the original file.