Image Retrieval in Forensics: Tattoo Image Database Application

In this article, we took an unsupervised approach in designing appropriate similarity measures to explicitly address the challenge arising from low-quality tattoo image matching. In the future, we plan to improve the matching algorithm by exploring both super- vised and semisupervised learning algorithms. Besides tattoos, other types of soft forensic evidence can be collected and managed in the form of images, such as shoe prints and gang graffiti images. Although Tattoo-ID focuses on tattoo image matching and retrieval, the underlying techniques developed in the Tattoo-ID system can be adopted to other forensic image databases.15 Other types of soft forensic image evidence might include shoeprints and gang graffiti images. In the future, we plan to extend the Tattoo-ID system to different application domains.