Re: PDF - Text Extraction File

On 20/10/2025 13:15, info@karlencommunications.com wrote:
> If the PDF could be shared, a lot of speculation could end.

It has been shared!>
> If it is a campus map, it is most likely a scanned graphic that is untagged.

It has not been scanned, it is vector graphics, with text as text, 
created by Adobe Illustrator.  It is possible there are some bitmaps as 
well, but its structure was too complex, and all the object names were 
machine generated serial numbers, such that I was not able to locate 
any. (It is not in a GIS language, so won't contain the information 
necessary to understand it as a map.)

> 1. the map will be tagged as a graphic requiring Alt Text. Alt Text would be difficult to provide as it would require a lot of unstructured text that could crash the screen reader buffer.

Yes, it would take several thousand words to adequately replace it in 
text, assuming it is being used as a general map, rather than as part of 
instructions to reach one particular department.

> 2. Any text on the map could be converted to text which would also be an accessibility barrier because someone would hear a list of names, buildings, streets or other bits of text with no context.

Yes,  that is the problem that I've already pointed out; being able to 
get text from it is not sufficient to tick it off as accessible; a human 
needs to evaluate whether the text conveys the relevant information to 
the target user.

There seems to be a secondary problem that some people are receiving a 
corrupted version, which won't parse in PDF reading tools.  My download 
appears error free.>

Received on Monday, 20 October 2025 13:26:15 UTC