Blue shoeprint with a tread pattern on a white background.

Conference/Workshop:
Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)

Published: 2024

Secondary Authors: Alicia Carriquiry

Type: Poster

Research Area: Footwear, Forensic Statistics

We introduce a semi-automatic alignment tool tailored for two similar footwear impressions. The term “semi-automatic” is used because the alignment process is primarily automated, yet users have the flexibility to fine-tune the results by adjusting certain parameters. This presentation provides an in-depth explanation of the alignment methodology employed in our tool. Furthermore, we demonstrate the tool’s capability to effectively align high-quality shoeprints with mock crime scene impressions made by bloody outsoles.Our proposed tool is specifically designed to align two similar shoeprints, which could either originate from the same shoe or share common class characteristics despite originating from different shoes. The primary objective is to ensure the proper alignment of their outsole patterns when overlaid. When two similar shoeprints are provided as input, our tool generates aligned shoeprints as the output.

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