Welcome to DataThief
What is DataThief III
DataThief III is a program to extract (reverse engineer) data points from a graph.
Typically, you scan a graph from a publication, load it into DataThief, and save the resulting coordinates, so you can use them in calculations or graphs that include your own data.
What is new in DataThief III?
- It is written in Java, it runs on Windows, Unix, Macos...
- It is capable of tracing any more or less continuous line, even when the line crosses itself.
- It can convert data from numeric format to any other format, for instance dates.
- It is shareware. If you use DataThief,
please buy the shareware registration key from
.
Changes in DataThief III version 1.2
There was a serious bug in the previous versions of DataThief.
Under certain circumstances negative numbers in scientific notation were respresented as positive (ouch)!
This has been repaired in version 1.2. (Thanks to Meritt Reynolds).
What is new in DataThief III version 1.1?
It is now impossible to move point to the top or the left out of the screen.
If you have lost your reference locators, you can use the reset menu item to move all locators to their default positions.
Screenshots
Download and installation
Installation is slightly different for various platforms (and for various browsers):
But on all platforms you will need a Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
FireFox and Mozilla users
To download Datathief.jar, point to the Datathief.jar link in the section for your operating system, use the right mouse button and select "Save link as..."
MacOS 8 and MacOS 9
The only JRE for MacOS 8 and MacOS 9 I know of is MRJ, which can be downloaded from
If you are using MRJ, you need to download
It contains an application that calls MRJ.
If you are using another JRE, download
and use whatever method your JRE requires to start a jar file
Windows
You can download a JRE from http://java.sun.com
The current version is JRE 6.0
Once you have a JRE, you download
Datahief.jar, but
take care that the file is saved as Datathief.jar; my windows (XP) offers to save the file as Datathief.zip.
You can start DataThief by double clicking Datathief.jar
MacOS X
MacOS X users, please note the known problems. I hope to find a solution for this problem, but right now You will have to use the work around (sorry for that).
As far as I know, MacOS X comes with a JRE preinstalled. If not, you can download it from the Apple site
Download
You can start DataThief by double clicking Datathief.jar
Linux, Unix
Linux and Unix users, download a JRE from the Java site or from any other suitable location.
Download
and
Take care they are both in the same directory and
chmod +x Datathief
The manual
Even though the aim has been to create an easy to use tool, DataThief III has many possibilities that are hard to understand without the manual. So we urge you to download it.
Examples
The graphs that are used as examples in the manual are
The first example
Translators example with sunrise
sunrise.png
There is a small problem with the sunrise example.
The
toDate() and
fromDate() functions use the Locale setting of your Java installation.
In plain English: the names of the months will be used according to your (Java) system's language settings.
This means that if you follow the sunrise example in the manual, you will have to give the abbreviated month names accordingly. For example, in a German system you have to give the Ref3 x-coordinate a value of
31-dez in stead of
31-dec.
Error bars
The date translator code
Known problems
Out of memory
I you get an error message explaining that the program quits due to a "OutOfMemoryError", this usually means that the image you are using is too big. Try reducing the dimensions of the image.
Problem with MacOS X image load
There is one known problem which I have as yet been unable to solve: On (some versions of) MacOS X, when you load an image, it is not automatiaclly displayed. Zooming in and out, or any other way to refresh the screen will do the trick. I shall try to solve the problem, but it seems a tricky little item of what my software does with how Java is implemented for MacOS X.
Problem with Windows download
Some Windows installations offer to save the Datathief.jar file as Datathief.zip. Do not accept this; java requires the file to have the 'jar' extension.
Trouble shooting
If you have problems starting Datathief.jar, the following might help:
The jar file contains a MANIFEST. The class that contains the main method is Datathief. So a basic command would be
java -classpath Datathief.jar Datathief
Older versions of DataThief
The latest (and last) version of DataThief II (version 1.2.1) written for only the Macintosh platform is
here (not compressed 600 kByte)
Citation
If you want to cite DataThief you can use:
B. Tummers, DataThief III. 2006 <http://datathief.org/>
