Have you labeled a few objects?

Before downloading the dataset, we ask that you label some images using the online annotation tool. It only takes a few minutes to label several objects. In return, you will receive thousands of annotated images. Also, the new annotations that you just provided will be immediately included in the downloaded dataset.

Option 1: Customizable download using the LabelMe Matlab toolbox

This is the most flexible way of downloading the dataset. It requires using the Matlab toolbox. Follow the next steps:

Step 1

Download the LabelMe Matlab toolbox and add the toolbox to the Matlab path.

Step 2

The function LMinstall will download the database. There are three ways to use this function:

To download the entire dataset, type the following into Matlab:

HOMEIMAGES = '/desired/path/to/Images';
HOMEANNOTATIONS = '/desired/path/to/Annotations';
LMinstall (HOMEIMAGES, HOMEANNOTATIONS);

where "/desired/path/to/" is the desired location where the annotations and images will be stored. This process will create the following directory structure under "/desired/path/to/":

./Annotations
./Annotations/folder1
...
./Annotations/folderN

./Images
./Images/folder1
...
./Images/folderN


where folder1 through folderN are directories containing the images and annotations.

If you only want to download a list of specific folders, then run:

HOMEIMAGES = '/desired/path/to/Images';
HOMEANNOTATIONS = '/desired/path/to/Annotations';
folderlist = {'05june05_static_street_porter'};
LMinstall (folderlist, HOMEIMAGES, HOMEANNOTATIONS);

This will download only one folder from the collection. You can see the complete list of folders here.

If you already have the dataset but want to update the annotations, then use LMinstall with four arguments:

LMinstall (folders, images, HOMEIMAGES, HOMEANNOTATIONS);

Option 2: TAR files

Before downloading the dataset, we only ask you to label some images using the annotation tool online. Any new labels that you will add, will be inmediately ready for download.

Step 1

Download the annotations into a local folder:

Annotations (<5MB) updated dynamically; this may take a minute to load

Step 2

Uncompress the annotation tarball. This process will create the following directory structure:

./Annotations
./Annotations/folder1
...
./Annotations/folderN


The annotations are stored as XML files and are extremely easy to parse. Note that the annotatiions tarball is dynamically created, so you will get an updated version with each download.

Step 3

Download the desired sets of images into a local folder. Create a directory called Images and untar the image tar files into this folder. Your directory structure should look like the following:

./Images
./Images/folder1
...
./Images/folderN


Set 1 (Contents, 915MB) updated 26 Jul 2005

Set 2 (Contents, 966MB) updated 20 Jul 2005

Set 3 (Contents, 961MB) updated 20 Jul 2005

Set 4 (Contents, 948MB) updated 3 Oct 2005

Set 5 (Contents, 906MB) updated 23 Sep 2005

Set 6 (Contents, 849MB) updated 23 Sep 2005

Set 7 (Contents, 901MB) updated 23 Sep 2005

Set 8 (Contents, 1.1GB) updated 23 Sep 2005

Set 9 (Contents, 1.1GB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 10 (Contents, 785MB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 11 (Contents, 987MB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 12 (Contents, 953MB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 13 (Contents, 1.1GB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 14 (Contents, 2.2GB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 15 (Contents, 1.5GB) updated 26 Apr 2006

Set 16 (Contents, 34MB) updated 27 Apr 2006

Step 4

Download the LabelMe Matlab toolbox.

Option 3: Access the online database directly with the LabelMe Matlab toolbox

Before downloading the dataset, we only ask you to label some images using the annotation tool online. Any new labels that you will add, will be inmediately ready for download.

If you use the LabelMe Matlab toolbox, it is not necesary to download the database. You can use the online images and annotations in the same way as if they were on your local hard drive. This might be slow, but it will let you explore the database before downloading it. If you plan to use the database extensively, it is better to download a local copy for yourself.

Here are a few Matlab commands that show how to use the online database:

HOMEIMAGES = 'http://people.csail.mit.edu/brussell/research/LabelMe/Images';
HOMEANNOTATIONS = 'http://people.csail.mit.edu/brussell/research/LabelMe/Annotations';

D = LMdatabase(HOMEANNOTATIONS); % This will build an index, which will take few minutes.

% Now you can visualize the images
LMplot(D, 1, HOMEIMAGES);

% Or read an image
[annotation, img] = LMread(D, 1, HOMEIMAGES);

You can query the database to select the images you want and install only those ones. For instance, if you are interested only in images containing cars, you can run the following:

% First create the list of images that you want:
[Q,j] = LMquery(D, 'object.name', 'car');
clear folderlist filelist
for i = 1:length(Q);
      folderlist{i} = Q(i).annotation.folder;
      filelist{i} = Q(i).annotation.filename;
end

% Install the selected images:
HOMEIMAGES = '/desired/path/to/Images';
HOMEANNOTATIONS = '/desired/path/to/Annotations';
LMinstall (folderlist, filelist, HOMEIMAGES, HOMEANNOTATIONS);