# Selectable picture environment in PDF

I'd like to be able of copy & pasting the results of a picture environment in a PDF file to a plain text file.

The problem is that once I copy the text the results are unsatisfactory: for example, if the picture consists solely of lines, there's nothing to be selected to begin with.

To give you a MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
This is the standard Shogi board:

\bigskip
\setlength{\unitlength}{18pt}
\centering
\begin{picture}(9,9)
\multiput(0,0)(1,0){10}{\line(0,1){9}}
\multiput(0,0)(0,1){10}{\line(1,0){9}}
\end{picture}
\end{document}


The result looks something like:

I'd like the actual board to be selectable, copyable and the resulting pasted text to be something like:

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+


I don't pretend the solution to figure this out by itself, but rather allow me to specify what should be the text representation of a picture (or an otherwise "graphical") element.

-
Woudn't that be the alt-text of an image? Also, could you specify that via the OCR layer? – Canageek Dec 16 '11 at 23:14
I don't know about the OCR layer and how to access it... care to explain? Indeed, this would be like an alt text for a picture environment :) – mpr Dec 17 '11 at 5:41