Import a COCO project

Create a project using a dataset and annotations stored in COCO format from your local file system

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Note

Make sure you have installed Encord Active with the coco extras.

If you have an existing project on your local machine in the COCO data format, you can import it using the following command:

encord-active import project --coco -i ./images -a ./annotations.json

This command will create a new Encord Active project within a fresh folder in the current working directory. The project will include the specified images and annotations.

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Note

The input of the command above assumes the following structure but it is not limited to it:

coco-project-foo
├── images
│   ├── 00000001.jpeg
│   ├── 00000002.jpeg
│   ├── ...
└── annotations.json

You have the flexibility to provide any path for each of the arguments, as long as the first argument represents a directory containing images, and the second argument is an annotations file that adheres to the COCO data format.

Running the importer will do the following things.

1. Create a local Encord Active project.
2. Compute all the metrics.

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Note

Step 1 will by default make a hard copy of the images used in your dataset.
Optionally, you can add the --symlinks argument

Shell

encord-active import project --coco -i ./images -a ./annotations.json --symlinks

to tell Encord Active to use symlinks instead of copying files. But be aware that if you later move or delete your original image files, Encord Active will stop working!

The whole flow might take a while depending on the size of the original dataset. When the process is done, follow the printed instructions to launch the app with the start CLI command.