Communications of the ACM
From Dinosaurs to Crime Scenes--How Our New Footprint Software Can Bring the Past to Life
Free software developed by researchers at Bournemouth University allows police to create and analyze three-dimensional images of footprints.
Credit: Matthew Robert Bennett, Marcin Budka
Using three-dimensional (3D) technologies, law enforcement can digitally capture the data in a footprint left at the scene of a crime and subject it to detailed forensic analysis.
Footwear evidence can provide valuable insight into a crime's sequence of events and could possibly link suspects to multiple crime scenes. Although 3D imaging tools exist, traditional photography and casting are the preferred methods for forensic analysis.
Researchers from the U.K.'s Bournemouth University have created an integrated freeware product that enables crime scene officers to create 3D images of footwear impressions using a digital camera, which can then be visualized, analyzed, and compared.
The DigTrace software suite is powered by digital photogrammetry, which identifies common pixels in images and triangulates the pixels to define their location in space. The result is a 3D pixel cloud that can be scaled and transformed.
With help from the U.K.'s Home Office and National Crime Agency, DigTrace is freely available to police forces and forensic services. The software also can be used by geologists and archeologists to study dinosaur or ancient human footprints.
The researchers now are working to develop tools that can create 3D models from video and closed-circuit television footage.
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