Data Crawling
Search
Path: toolset/crawl/search/search.sh
Description: This script uses the YouTube API to search for 360-degree videos based on a predefined list of keywords and suffix terms. Note that the retrieved videos are confirmed as 360-degree videos but do not guarantee support for Spatial Audio. To filter videos that support Spatial Audio, use a downloader (e.g., yt-dlp with an audio channel count filter).
Usage Instructions:
- Prepare a keyword list file (one keyword per line).
- Modify the parameters in
search.sh, such askeyword_file,postfix(i.e. the qualifying term), andoutput_dir. Refer to the code comments for detailed parameter descriptions. - Run
bash search.shto execute the search. Results are saved in CSV format under theoutput_dirdirectory, organized by keyword.
Channel-Based Crawling
Analyze channels based on search results
Path: toolset/crawl/channel/channel_analyzer.py
Description: Analyzes frequently appearing channels based on search results from the search module. Outputs in CSV format.
Usage Instructions:
python channel_analyzer.py -i [input-dir] -o [output-file]
Get Video IDs for channels
Path: toolset/crawl/channel/get_channel_vids.py
Description: Retrieves all 360-degree video IDs from the most promising channels (those containing the most search results). The output directory contains CSV files named by Channel ID, each containing all 360-degree video IDs for the corresponding channel.
Usage Instructions:
python get_channel_vids.py -i [input-csv] -o [out-dir] -t [threshold]
Where threshold specifies the minimum number of times a channel must appear in search results to be retained.
Get test video metadata
Path: toolset/crawl/channel/get_test_list.py
Description: For each channel, randomly samples several video segments from the Channel ID's video ID information, and outputs in CSV format recognizable by download scripts.
Usage Instructions:
python get_test_list.py -i [in-dir] -o [out-dir] [-n [sample-size]]
Here in-dir contains the CSV files named by Channel ID obtained from the previous module, and out-dir will contain CSV files named by each Channel ID, with each file containing up to 10 Video IDs for the corresponding channel.
Download test videos & Check
Use your preferred downloader or scripts from the Download section to download test segments, then perform manual verification or use the cleaning pipeline from the Data Cleaning section to verify channel quality, filtering out usable and unusable Channel IDs (both can be included in the Channel Black List).
Get Video IDs based on Channel IDs
Path: toolset/crawl/channel/get_channels_vids.py
Description: Retrieves video IDs to be downloaded based on a list of available Channel IDs. All resulting Video IDs are guaranteed to be 360-degree videos. Due to API limitations, Spatial Audio support is verified during the download phase rather than this stage.
Usage Instructions:
python get_channels_vids.py -i [input-csv] -o [output-csv]
Download
Use your preferred downloader or scripts from the Download section for video downloading.
Video-Based Crawling
Filter by Blacklist
Path: toolset/crawl/filter/filter_exist.py
Description:
Utilizes the established video and channel blacklists from Channel-Based Crawling to filter out confirmed unnecessary video entries from search results, generating a smaller-scale list for manual review.
Usage Instructions:
- Prepare the Video ID blacklist database and Channel ID blacklist database (including all manually verified usable/unusable video or channel IDs). Modify
video_db_pathandchannel_db_pathin the script. - Update the search results path
folder_path(output from theSearchmodule) and output file pathoutput_csvin the script. - Run
python filter_exist.pyto execute the filtering.
Download Test Videos & Verification & Full Download
Use a downloader of choice to fetch video clips for screening. After verification, proceed with full downloads of usable videos.
Download
Full Video Download
Path: toolset/crawl/download/download_list.sh
Description: Downloads all videos based on Video IDs provided in a CSV file. Supports multi-process downloading. Results are logged in success_list.txt and fail_list.txt in the current directory.
Usage Instructions:
Modify relevant parameters in download_list.sh, then execute:
bash download_list.sh
Batch Download Function
The download_list_360 function in toolset/crawl/core/download/download_list.py enables batch downloading. Refer to the function documentation for usage. Common configurations include:
- Clip Downloading: Use
specify_startandtime_intervalparameters (see function docs for details). - Multi-process Downloading: Set the number of parallel downloads via the
jobsparameter. - Custom Cookies: Specify cookies using the
cookieparameter. - Proxy Configuration: Configure proxy servers via the
proxyparameter.
