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Data is important for businesses to understand competition and market preferences. It is just as
useful for hobbyists, journalists and students. At one time people used to search for information
in libraries, books and journals. Now the web has become the de-facto source of current and
archived data. As such, anyone who needs information first turns to the web because it is easy
and convenient to source data. There are different methods of extracting data from a website.
There are different methods that show how to extract data from a website. A few are examined
below.
Manual method
This is the most primitive form of extracting data from a website. An individual navigates to a
website and then to specific pages, copy-pastes text into a word processor and then spends time
on refining data so extracted. He has to do this for each page and for each website. He can save
pages and then extract useful text. It is the most laborious and time consuming of all methods to
get data from website.
Semi-automatic method
Anyone with familiarity with scripting and programming can create wrappers. This is nothing
but a set of extraction rules that automate the task of data extraction from websites. In this
method users may specify specific strings of text, images, audio or video. This is followed by
classification of data extracted from websites. However, this does require manual intervention in
that a user has to navigate to a specific website to implement the script. The process can be
refined further by implementing web crawlers that navigate to specified pages in a structured
way. Semi-structured methods use top-down extraction and web data extraction languages, too
complex for the uninitiated.
Other methods
Studies and trials have been conducted on using 2D conditional random field methods to mine
data. The model analyzes a page as a 2D grid and the object blocks contained within, extracting
only the specified object blocks. Methods have also been tried to zero in on objects in tag paths
or based on visual features that recognizes blocks of text clusters. Again, these methods are
beyond the grasp of normal computer users.
Automated, intelligent web data extraction
The best method on how to extract web data is a software program specifically developed for the
purpose. It is sophisticated, has a host of advanced features, some measure of intelligence and is
easy to use. It is just as useful for novices as it is for professionals. These are the common
features of such intelligent software:
Easy to use interface allied with command line options to specify precisely the type of
data to be extracted
Automatic scheduling of extraction tasks
Multi-threaded operation of scraping about 20 sites automatically through proxy servers
with rotating IP address for absolute anonymity
Ability to tunnel into password protected sites and sites requiring log in.
Facility to output data into pre-defined format
Save patterns of extractions as themes to apply to other extraction processes.
This is the easiest, smartest and most cost effective as well as productivity method of web data
extraction. Whether one scrapes data regularly or occasionally, use of the software greatly saves
time and labor.
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