Retrieval of shoemarks using Harris points and SIFT descriptor

In this paper, we suggest a solution for the problem of scene-of-crime shoeprints retrieval based on the use of multi-scale Harris points, which are a set of very distinctive points of interest in an image, combined with SIFT descriptor. We show that such combination can overcome the issue of retrieval of partial prints in the presence of scale and rotation distortions with Gaussian noise perturbation. Excellent results were obtained for synthetic scene images, clearly outperforming published results in the literature.