A software package for marking and unified description of an individual's face from a photo image

The need to identify a person by a photo of his face arises for identity check, searching for criminals, dead or missing people. The software products used in forensic practice are mainly intended for cranio-facial comparison when comparing the similar signs established from photos of a known person and the skull of an unknown person. For this purpose, forensic experts use a set of fixed points on the head and skull, but not always unambiguously identified on a plane image. To compare images, it would be rational to develop a unified algorithm for describing a face from a photo image and to create computer programs for automating the marking process and calculating dimensional physiognomic parameters. The paper describes the software package called Face Marking Database designed to implement these tasks. The package includes three modules: a module for entering the main characteristics of the studied object; a module for image marking intended for fixing reference points and their coordinates; a module for calculating distances and pointers to assess the face dimensional originality. The separation of distances into horizontal and vertical ones extends the possibilities of working with portrait photographs that have the face position not en face. The Face Marking Database allows receiving and storing in databases metric information about photographic images, which characterizes the individuality of each object and may be used to search for analogs or similar cases in forensic portrait and (or) forensic medical examination in cases of missing, hiding, unidentified people and in a comprehensive forensic medical examination of personal identification.