Application of fractals to the detection and classification of shoeprints

The most common clues left at a crime scene when a crime is committed are shoeprint impressions. These impressions are useful in the detection of criminals and the linking of crime scenes. A novel technique for use in the detection and classification of shoeprint impressions has been developed. The technique is based on fractal based feature extraction and pattern matching methods. The computerized system developed has been extensively tested on a large database of real shoeprint impressions and is robust to small variations of image orientations and/or translations.