ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

Update: 2015

Information Technology:

American National Standard for Information Systems

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 

Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial

& Other Biometric Information

NIST Special Publication 500-290

Edition 3 (2015)

This publication is available free of charge from:

 http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

Update: 2015

 Approved November 2011

 Sup:Dental and Sup:Voice approved September 2013

 Update:2013 approved December 2013

Update:2015 approved July 2016

 American National Standards Institute

Information Technology:

American National Standard for Information Systems -

Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial

& Other Biometric Information

Editor: Kevin Mangold

Sponsored by:

Information Access Division

Information Technology Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA 20899-8940

This document may be downloaded for free at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm

Cover Photography by Brad Wing and Ralf Meier 

January 2011; Subway Station - Stockholm, Sweden

 “The Art of Biometrics”

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 2 

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NIST Special Publication 500-290e3

Object 1

This publication is available free of charge from:

 http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
Reports on Information Technology

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST) stimulates U.S. economic growth and industrial competitiveness through technical leadership

and collaborative research in critical infrastructure technology, including tests, test methods, reference

data, and forward-looking standards, to advance the development and productive use of information

technology. To overcome barriers to usability, scalability, interoperability, and security in information

systems and networks, ITL programs focus on a broad range of networking, security, and advanced

information technologies, as well as the mathematical, statistical, and computational sciences. Special

Publication 500-series reports on ITL's research in tests and test methods for information technology,

and its collaborative activities with industry, government and academic organizations.

This standard is a contribution of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is not subject to

copyright. Any organization interested in reproducing “Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial &

Other Biometric Information” is free to do so. However, there shall be no alteration to any of the material

information contained in the standard. NIST retains the sole right to submit this standard to any other forum for

any purpose. 

Certain commercial entities, equipment or materials may be identified in this standard to assign field

numbers to registered vendors or to describe a procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is

not intended to imply recommendations or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and

Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best

available for the purpose.

National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 500-290e3 (2015)

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Spec. Pub. 500-290e3 (2015)

CODEN: NSPUE2

This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3

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Contents: ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update: 2015

 Hints for the reader of a PDF copy of the standard..........................................................................xxi

 Foreword to the 2015 Update................................................................................................................ xxii

 Foreword to the 2013 Update............................................................................................................... xxiv

 Foreword.................................................................................................................................................... xxvii

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOR ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011..................................................................xxviii

 CANVASSEES FOR ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011.........................................................................................xxxi

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for the 2013 Update................................................................................. xxxiv

 CANVASSEES For the 2013 Update.................................................................................................... xxxvi

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for the 2015 Update.................................................................................xxxix

 CANVASSEES For the 2015 Update........................................................................................................... xl

 Introduction................................................................................................................................................. xlii

1 Scope................................................................................................................................................................ 1

2 Conformance to the standard.................................................................................................................. 1

2.1 Verbal forms for the expression of provisions.......................................................................................... 1

2.2 Morphological (Level 1) conformance......................................................................................................... 2

2.3 Syntactical (Level 2) conformance................................................................................................................ 3

2.4 Semantic (Level 3) conformance.................................................................................................................... 4

3 Normative references................................................................................................................................. 5

4 Terms and definitions.............................................................................................................................. 10

5 Data conventions....................................................................................................................................... 39

5.1 Structure of a transaction.............................................................................................................................. 39

5.2 Size of a transaction......................................................................................................................................... 39

5.3 Record types...................................................................................................................................................... 40

5.3.1 Type-1 record.................................................................................................................................................................. 41

5.3.2 Type-2 records................................................................................................................................................................ 41

5.3.3 Type-3 records (deprecated).................................................................................................................................... 42

5.3.4 Type-4 records................................................................................................................................................................ 42

5.3.5 Type-5 records (deprecated).................................................................................................................................... 42

5.3.6 Type-6 records (deprecated).................................................................................................................................... 43

5.3.7 Type-7 records................................................................................................................................................................ 43

5.3.8 Type-8 records................................................................................................................................................................ 43

5.3.9 Type-9 records................................................................................................................................................................ 43

5.3.10 Type-10 records........................................................................................................................................................... 43

5.3.11 Type-11 records........................................................................................................................................................... 44

5.3.12 Type-12 records........................................................................................................................................................... 44

5.3.13 Type-13 records........................................................................................................................................................... 44

5.3.14 Type-14 records........................................................................................................................................................... 44

5.3.15 Type-15 records........................................................................................................................................................... 45

5.3.16 Type-16 records........................................................................................................................................................... 45

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5.3.17 Type-17 records........................................................................................................................................................... 46

5.3.18 Type-18 records........................................................................................................................................................... 46

5.3.19 Type-19 records........................................................................................................................................................... 46

5.3.20 Type-20 records........................................................................................................................................................... 46

5.3.21 Type-21 records........................................................................................................................................................... 47

5.3.22 Type-22 records........................................................................................................................................................... 47

5.3.23 Type-98 records........................................................................................................................................................... 47

5.3.24 Type-99 records........................................................................................................................................................... 48

5.4 Backward compatibility................................................................................................................................. 48

5.5 Character types................................................................................................................................................. 49

5.6 Character encoding.......................................................................................................................................... 50

6 Implementation domain and application profiles.........................................................................51

7 Information associated with several records.................................................................................52

7.1 Record header................................................................................................................................................... 52

7.2 Data...................................................................................................................................................................... 53

7.3 Indexes used to link records......................................................................................................................... 53

7.3.1 Information designation character / IDC............................................................................................................ 54

7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C................................................................................................................................ 56

7.3.2 Source representation / SOR..................................................................................................................................... 56

7.3.2.1 Source representation number / SRN............................................................................................................................... 56

7.3.2.2 Reference segment position / RSP...................................................................................................................................... 57

7.3.3 Associated context / ASC............................................................................................................................................. 57

7.3.3.1 Associated context number / ACN...................................................................................................................................... 57

7.3.3.2 Associated segment position / ASP.................................................................................................................................... 58

7.3.4 Type-10 reference.......................................................................................................................................................... 58

7.3.5 Simultaneous capture................................................................................................................................................... 58

7.4 Data Processing Logs....................................................................................................................................... 59

7.4.1 Annotation information / ANN................................................................................................................................. 59

7.4.2 Universal latent workstation (ULW) annotation information / LAI..........................................................60

7.4.3 Information assurance audit logs............................................................................................................................ 60

7.4.4 Comment............................................................................................................................................................................ 60

7.5 Data Protection................................................................................................................................................. 61

7.5.1 Information assurance................................................................................................................................................. 61

7.5.2 Data hash / HAS.............................................................................................................................................................. 61

7.6 Agency codes..................................................................................................................................................... 61

7.7 Metadata describing the biometric sample.............................................................................................. 62

7.7.1 Biometric acquisition device identification......................................................................................................... 62

7.7.1.1 Device unique identifier / DUI.............................................................................................................................................. 63

7.7.1.2 Make/model/serial number / MMS................................................................................................................................... 63

7.7.1.3 Device monitoring mode / DMM......................................................................................................................................... 64

7.7.1.4 Medical device information / MDI...................................................................................................................................... 64

7.7.2 Date and time................................................................................................................................................................... 64

7.7.2.1 General........................................................................................................................................................................................... 64

7.7.2.2 Greenwich Mean Time (coordinated universal time – UTC) / GMT.......................................................................65

7.7.2.3 Local date...................................................................................................................................................................................... 65

7.7.2.4 Local date & time........................................................................................................................................................................ 65

7.7.2.5 Time index / TIX – measured in milliseconds................................................................................................................ 65

7.7.2.6 Relative start time / RST, relative end time / RET and voice recording time / TIM -- measured in 

microseconds............................................................................................................................................................................................. 66

7.7.2.7 Date offset..................................................................................................................................................................................... 66

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7.7.2.8 Date and time offset.................................................................................................................................................................. 66

7.7.3 Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO.................................................................................................. 66

7.7.4 Metadata specific to friction ridge records.......................................................................................................... 70

7.7.4.1 Impression type / IMP............................................................................................................................................................. 70

7.7.4.2 Friction ridge generalized position / FGP........................................................................................................................ 71

7.7.4.3 Print (or search) position descriptors / PPD or SPD................................................................................................... 76

7.7.4.4 Print position coordinates / PPC......................................................................................................................................... 77

7.7.4.5 Friction ridge capture technology....................................................................................................................................... 81

7.7.5 Subject acquisition profile / SAP/ FAP / IAP / TAP / PAP............................................................................83

7.7.5.1 Subject acquisition profile for face / SAP......................................................................................................................... 84

7.7.5.1.1 Level 0 (Unknown profile)......................................................................................................................................... 84

7.7.5.1.2 Level 1 (Surveillance facial image)......................................................................................................................... 84

7.7.5.1.3 Levels 10-15 (Other application profiles)........................................................................................................... 85

7.7.5.1.4 Level 20 (Legacy mugshot)........................................................................................................................................ 85

7.7.5.1.5 Level 30 (Basic mugshot)........................................................................................................................................... 85

7.7.5.1.6 Level 32 (Mobile device basic mugshot).............................................................................................................. 86

7.7.5.1.7 Level 40 (Higher resolution mugshot).................................................................................................................. 86

7.7.5.1.8 Level 42 (Mobile device higher resolution mugshot).....................................................................................86

7.7.5.1.9 Levels 50 and 51 (Best practice mugshots)........................................................................................................ 86

7.7.5.1.10 Level 52 (Mobile device best practice mugshots)...........................................................................................87

7.7.5.2 Subject acquisition profile for fingerprint / FAP........................................................................................................... 88

7.7.5.3 Subject acquisition profile for iris / IAP............................................................................................................................ 89

7.7.5.4 Subject acquisition profile for palm print / PAP............................................................................................................ 91

7.7.5.5 Subject acquisition profile for Toe print and plantars / TAP...................................................................................91

7.7.6 Resolution......................................................................................................................................................................... 92

7.7.6.1 Friction ridge resolution requirement.............................................................................................................................. 93

7.7.6.2 Friction ridge scanner resolution requirement............................................................................................................. 94

7.7.6.2.1 Exemplar scanner resolution requirement.......................................................................................................... 94

7.7.6.2.2 Latent image scanner resolution requirement................................................................................................... 94

7.7.6.2.3 Scanner resolution migration path.......................................................................................................................... 94

7.7.6.3 Friction ridge transmitting resolution requirement.................................................................................................... 95

7.7.6.3.1 Record Type-4 transmitting resolution requirement......................................................................................95

7.7.6.3.2 Variable-resolution Record Types transmitting resolution requirement................................................95

7.7.7 Sample quality................................................................................................................................................................. 96

7.7.8 Image scale values......................................................................................................................................................... 97

7.7.8.1 Horizontal line length / HLL.................................................................................................................................................. 97

7.7.8.2 Vertical line length / VLL........................................................................................................................................................ 98

7.7.8.3 Scale units / SLC......................................................................................................................................................................... 98

7.7.8.4 Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS...................................................................................................................... 99

7.7.8.5 Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................................................................ 99

7.7.8.6 Bits per pixel / BPX................................................................................................................................................................. 100

 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS........................................................................................................................... 100

 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS................................................................................................................................. 101

7.7.9 Compression algorithms........................................................................................................................................... 101

7.7.9.1 Use of compression algorithms for friction ridge images.......................................................................................102

7.7.9.2 Summary of image compression and resolution for friction ridge records.....................................................103

7.7.9.3 Use of compression algorithms for iris images........................................................................................................... 107

7.7.9.4 Use of Compression algorithms for facial images....................................................................................................... 107

7.7.9.5 Use of Compression algorithms for other data............................................................................................................ 107

7.7.10 Color, black-and-white, and grayscale image requirements...................................................................108

7.7.10.1 Black and white images (no grayscale)....................................................................................................................... 108

7.7.10.2 Grayscale image data.......................................................................................................................................................... 108

7.7.10.3 Color image data.................................................................................................................................................................. 109

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7.7.11 Eye color....................................................................................................................................................................... 110

7.7.12 Paths............................................................................................................................................................................... 111

7.7.12.1 Type-9 extended feature set (EFS) paths....................................................................................................................112

7.7.12.2 All other fields specifying paths.....................................................................................................................................112

7.7.13 Lists of values in a single information item....................................................................................................115

7.8 External File References............................................................................................................................. 115

8 Record type specifications................................................................................................................... 117

8.1 Record Type-1: Transaction information record................................................................................119

8.1.1 Field 1.001: Record header...................................................................................................................................... 123

8.1.2 Field 1.002: Version number / VER..................................................................................................................... 123

8.1.3 Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.............................................................................................................124

8.1.4 Field 1.004: Type of transaction / TOT...............................................................................................................124

8.1.5 Field 1.005: Date / DAT............................................................................................................................................. 124

8.1.6 Field 1.006: Priority / PRY....................................................................................................................................... 125

8.1.7 Field 1.007: Destination agency identifier / DAI............................................................................................125

8.1.8 Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI.............................................................................................125

8.1.9 Field 1.009: Transaction control number / TCN.............................................................................................125

8.1.10 Field 1.010: Transaction control reference / TCR.......................................................................................125

8.1.11 Field 1.011: Native scanning resolution / NSR.............................................................................................125

8.1.12 Field 1.012: Nominal resolution / NTR............................................................................................................126

8.1.13 Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM......................................................................................................................126

8.1.14 Field 1.014: Greenwich Mean Time / GMT.....................................................................................................127

8.1.15 Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS............................................................................................................127

8.1.16 Field 1.016: Application profile specifications / APS.................................................................................127

8.1.17 Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM..................................................................................................................... 128

8.1.18 Field 1.018: Geographic name set / GNS.........................................................................................................128

8.2 Record Type-2: User-defined descriptive text record........................................................................129

8.2.1 Field 2.001: Record header...................................................................................................................................... 130

8.2.2 Field 2.002: Information designation character / IDC..................................................................................130

8.2.3 Fields 2.003 and above: user-defined fields.....................................................................................................130

8.3 Record Type-3: Deprecated........................................................................................................................ 130

8.4 Record Type-4: Grayscale fingerprint image........................................................................................130

8.4.1 Field 4.001: Record header...................................................................................................................................... 132

8.4.2 Field 4.002: Information designation character / IDC..................................................................................132

8.4.3 Field 4.003: Impression type / IMP......................................................................................................................132

8.4.4 Field 4.004: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP................................................................................132

8.4.5 Field 4.005: Image scanning resolution / ISR..................................................................................................132

8.4.6 Field 4.006: Horizontal line length / HLL..........................................................................................................133

8.4.7 Field 4.007: Vertical line length / VLL.................................................................................................................133

8.4.8 Field 4.008: Compression algorithm / CGA.......................................................................................................133

8.4.9 Field 4.009: Image data / DATA............................................................................................................................. 133

8.5 Record Type-5: Deprecated........................................................................................................................ 133

8.6 Record Type-6: Deprecated........................................................................................................................ 133

8.7 Record Type-7: User-defined image record..........................................................................................134

8.7.1 Field 7.001: Record header...................................................................................................................................... 134

8.7.2 Field 7.002: Information designation character / IDC..................................................................................135

8.7.3 Fields 7.003 through 7.999: User-defined fields.............................................................................................135

8.8 Record Type-8: Signature image record.................................................................................................135

8.8.1 Field 8.001: Record header...................................................................................................................................... 136

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8.8.2 Field 8.002: Information designation character / IDC..................................................................................136

8.8.3 Field 8.003: Signature type / SIG...........................................................................................................................136

8.8.4 Field 8.004: Signature representation type / SRT..........................................................................................136

8.8.5 Field 8.005: Image scanning resolution / ISR..................................................................................................136

8.8.6 Field 8.006: Horizontal line length / HLL..........................................................................................................137

8.8.7 Field 8.007: Vertical line length / VLL.................................................................................................................137

8.8.8 Field 8.008: Signature image data / DATA........................................................................................................137

8.8.8.1 Uncompressed scanned image data.................................................................................................................................137

8.8.8.2 Compressed scanned image data...................................................................................................................................... 137

8.8.8.3 Vectored image data............................................................................................................................................................... 137

8.9 Record Type-9: Minutiae data record..................................................................................................... 139

8.9.1 Field 9.001: Record header...................................................................................................................................... 164

8.9.2 Field 9.002: Information designation character / IDC..................................................................................164

8.9.3 Field 9.003: Impression type / IMP......................................................................................................................165

8.9.4 Field 9.004: Minutiae format / FMT..................................................................................................................... 165

8.9.5 INCITS 378 feature set............................................................................................................................................... 165

8.9.5.1 Field 9.126: M1 CBEFF information / CBI.....................................................................................................................165

8.9.5.2 Field 9.127: M1 capture equipment identification / CEI.........................................................................................166

8.9.5.3 Field 9.128: M1 horizontal line length /HLL................................................................................................................166

8.9.5.4 Field 9.129: M1 vertical line length / VLL.....................................................................................................................166

8.9.5.5 Field 9.130: M1 scale units / SLC...................................................................................................................................... 166

8.9.5.6 Field 9.131: M1 transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS....................................................................................166

8.9.5.7 Field 9.132: M1 transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS..........................................................................................166

8.9.5.8 Field 9.133: M1 finger view / FVW...................................................................................................................................166

8.9.5.9 Field 9.134: M1 friction ridge generalized position / FGP......................................................................................167

8.9.5.10 Field 9.135: M1 friction ridge quality data / FQD...................................................................................................167

8.9.5.11 Field 9.136: M1 number of minutiae / NOM.............................................................................................................167

8.9.5.12 Field 9.137: M1 finger minutiae data / FMD.............................................................................................................167

8.9.5.13 Field 9.138: M1 ridge count information / RCI........................................................................................................168

8.9.5.14 Field 9.139: M1 core information / CIN......................................................................................................................168

8.9.5.15 Field 9.140: M1 delta information / DIN....................................................................................................................168

8.9.5.16 Field 9.141: M1 additional delta angles / ADA.........................................................................................................169

8.9.6 Externally defined feature sets.............................................................................................................................. 169

8.9.6.1 FBI / IAFIS feature set........................................................................................................................................................... 169

8.9.6.2 3M (Cogent) feature set........................................................................................................................................................ 169

8.9.6.3 MorphoTrak (legacy Motorola) feature set...................................................................................................................169

8.9.6.4 MorphoTrak feature set........................................................................................................................................................ 170

8.9.6.5 NEC feature set......................................................................................................................................................................... 170

8.9.6.6 L1- Identix feature set.......................................................................................................................................................... 170

8.9.6.7 Other feature sets.................................................................................................................................................................... 170

8.9.6.7.1 Field 9.176: Other feature sets - owner or developer / OOD.....................................................................170

8.9.6.7.2 Field 9.177: Other feature sets - processing algorithm / PAG...................................................................170

8.9.6.7.3 Field 9.178: Other feature sets - system or device / SOD...........................................................................170

8.9.6.7.4 Field 9.179: Other feature sets –contact information / DTX.........................................................................170

8.9.6.7.5 Fields 9.180 through 9.225: Other feature sets – user-defined fields.........................................................171

8.9.7 Extended Feature Set................................................................................................................................................. 171

 8.9.7.1 EFS coordinate system......................................................................................................................................................... 171

 8.9.7.2 EFS region of interest........................................................................................................................................................... 172

 8.9.7.3 EFS angles................................................................................................................................................................................. 173

8.9.7.1 Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI.......................................................................................................................173

8.9.7.2 Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT.................................................................................................................................. 174

8.9.7.3 Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP............................................................................................174

8.9.7.4 Field 9.303: EFS feature set profile / FSP......................................................................................................................175

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8.9.7.5 Field 9.307: EFS pattern classification / PAT...............................................................................................................175

8.9.7.6 Field 9.308: EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM............................................................................................177

8.9.7.7 Field 9.309: EFS ridge quality map format / RQF.......................................................................................................178

8.9.7.8 Field 9.310: EFS ridge flow map / RFM..........................................................................................................................179

8.9.7.9 Field 9.311: EFS ridge flow map format / RFF.............................................................................................................179

8.9.7.10 Field 9.312: EFS ridge wavelength map / RWM.......................................................................................................180

8.9.7.11 Field 9.313: EFS ridge wavelength map format / RWF........................................................................................181

8.9.7.12 Field 9.314: EFS tonal reversal / TRV..........................................................................................................................181

8.9.7.13 Field 9.315: EFS possible lateral reversal / PLR......................................................................................................182

8.9.7.14 Field 9.316: EFS friction ridge quality metric / FQM.............................................................................................182

8.9.7.15 Field 9.317: EFS possible growth or shrinkage / PGS...........................................................................................182

8.9.7.16 Field 9.320: EFS cores / COR........................................................................................................................................... 183

8.9.7.17 Field 9.321: EFS deltas / DEL.......................................................................................................................................... 185

8.9.7.18 Field 9.322: EFS core delta ridge counts / CDR.......................................................................................................187

8.9.7.19 Field 9.323: EFS center point of reference / CPR....................................................................................................188

8.9.7.20 Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS................................................................................................................189

8.9.7.21 Field 9.325: EFS no cores present / NCOR.................................................................................................................190

8.9.7.22 Field 9.326: EFS no deltas present / NDEL134.........................................................................................................190

8.9.7.23 Field 9.327: EFS no distinctive features present / NDIS134...............................................................................191

8.9.7.24 Field 9.331: EFS minutiae / MIN.................................................................................................................................... 191

8.9.7.25 Field 9.332: EFS minutiae ridge count algorithm / MRA.....................................................................................192

8.9.7.26 Field 9.333: EFS minutiae ridge counts / MRC........................................................................................................192

8.9.7.27 Field 9.334: EFS no minutiae present / NMIN.........................................................................................................193

8.9.7.28 Field 9.335: EFS minutiae ridge count confidence / RCC.....................................................................................193

8.9.7.29 Field 9.340: EFS dots / DOT............................................................................................................................................. 194

8.9.7.30 Field 9.341: EFS incipient ridges / INR.......................................................................................................................195

8.9.7.31 Field 9.342: EFS creases and linear discontinuities / CLD..................................................................................195

8.9.7.32 Field 9.343: EFS ridge edge features / REF...............................................................................................................198

8.9.7.33 Field 9.344: EFS no pores present / NPOR................................................................................................................198

8.9.7.34 Field 9.345: EFS pores / POR.......................................................................................................................................... 198

8.9.7.35 Field 9.346: EFS no dots present / NDOT..................................................................................................................199

8.9.7.36 Field 9.347: EFS no incipient ridges present / NINR.............................................................................................199

8.9.7.37 Field 9.348: EFS no creases or linear discontinuities present / NCLD...........................................................199

8.9.7.38 Field 9.349: EFS no ridge edge features present / NREF.....................................................................................199

8.9.7.39 Field 9.350: EFS method of feature detection / MFD............................................................................................199

8.9.7.40 Field 9.351: EFS comments / COM................................................................................................................................ 201

8.9.7.41 Field 9.352: EFS latent processing method / LPM..................................................................................................201

8.9.7.42 Field 9.353: EFS examiner analysis assessment / EAA.........................................................................................201

8.9.7.43 Field 9.354: EFS evidence of fraud / EOF.....................................................................................................................202

8.9.7.44 Field 9.355: EFS latent substrate / LSB.......................................................................................................................202

8.9.7.45 Field 9.356: EFS latent matrix / LMT...........................................................................................................................202

8.9.7.46 Field 9.357: EFS local quality issues / LQI.................................................................................................................206

8.9.7.47 Field 9.360: EFS area of correspondence / AOC......................................................................................................207

8.9.7.48 Field 9.361: EFS corresponding points or features / CPF....................................................................................208

8.9.7.49 Field 9.362: EFS examiner comparison determination / ECD...........................................................................211

8.9.7.50 Field 9.363: EFS relative rotation of corresponding print / RRC......................................................................212

8.9.7.51 Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM................................................................................................................213

8.9.7.52 Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS.............................................................................................................214

8.9.7.53 Field 9.380: EFS temporary lines / TPL......................................................................................................................214

8.9.7.54 Field 9.381:EFS feature color and comment / FCC.................................................................................................215

8.9.8 Latent workstation annotations............................................................................................................................ 216

8.9.8.1 Field 9.901: Universal latent workstation annotation information / ULA.......................................................216

8.9.8.2 Field 9.902: Annotation information / ANN.................................................................................................................216

8.9.9 Workstation identifiers............................................................................................................................................. 216

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8.9.9.1 Field 9.903: Device unique identifier / DUI.................................................................................................................. 216

8.9.9.2 Field 9.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS........................................................................................................ 216

8.10 Record Type-10: Photographic body part imagery (including face and SMT) record...........217

8.10.1 Field 10.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 232

8.10.2 Field 10.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................232

8.10.3 Field 10.003: Image type / IMT........................................................................................................................... 232

8.10.4 Field 10.004: Source agency/ SRC...................................................................................................................... 235

8.10.5 Field 10.005: Photo capture date / PHD.......................................................................................................... 235

8.10.6 Field 10.006: Horizontal line length / HLL..................................................................................................... 235

8.10.7 Field 10.007: Vertical line length / VLL........................................................................................................... 235

8.10.8 Field 10.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 235

8.10.9 Field 10.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................235

8.10.10 Field 10.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................235

8.10.11 Field 10.011: Compression algorithm / CGA............................................................................................... 236

8.10.12 Field 10.012: Color space / CSP........................................................................................................................ 236

8.10.13 Field 10.013: Subject acquisition profile / SAP..........................................................................................236

8.10.14 Field 10.014: Face image bounding box coordinates in full image / FIP.........................................236

8.10.15 Field 10.015: Face image path coordinates in full image / FPFI.........................................................237

8.10.16 Field 10.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................237

8.10.17 Field 10.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................237

8.10.18 Field 10.018: Distortion / DIST........................................................................................................................ 237

8.10.19 Field 10.019: Lighting artifacts / LAF............................................................................................................ 238

8.10.20 Field 10.020: Subject pose / POS..................................................................................................................... 238

8.10.21 Field 10.021: Pose offset angle / POA............................................................................................................ 239

8.10.22 Field 10.023: Photo acquisition source / PAS............................................................................................. 239

8.10.23 Field 10.024: Subject quality score / SQS..................................................................................................... 240

8.10.24 Field 10.025: Subject pose angles / SPA....................................................................................................... 240

8.10.25 Field 10.026: Subject facial description / SXS............................................................................................ 241

8.10.26 Field 10.027: Subject eye color / SEC............................................................................................................. 242

8.10.27 Field 10.028: Subject hair color / SHC........................................................................................................... 242

8.10.28 Field 10.029: 2D facial feature points / FFP................................................................................................ 243

 8.10.28.1 MPEG4 feature points...................................................................................................................................................... 244

 8.10.28.2 Eye and nostril center feature points........................................................................................................................ 244

 8.10.28.3 Anthropometric landmarks with and without MPEG4 counterparts...........................................................247

8.10.29 Field 10.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM..........................................................................................250

8.10.30 Field 10.031: Tiered markup collection / TMC.......................................................................................... 250

8.10.31 Field 10.032: 3D facial feature points/ 3DF................................................................................................ 252

8.10.32 Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC............................................................................................................ 252

8.10.33 Field 10.034: Image capture date range estimate / ICDR......................................................................252

8.10.34 Field 10.038: Comment / COM.......................................................................................................................... 253

8.10.35 Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10........................................................................................253

8.10.36 Field 10.040: NCIC code / SMT......................................................................................................................... 253

8.10.37 Field 10.041: SMT size or size of injury or identifying characteristic / SMS..................................254

8.10.38 Field 10.042: SMT descriptors / SMD............................................................................................................ 254

8.10.39 Field 10.043: Tattoo color / COL...................................................................................................................... 257

8.10.40 Field 10.044: Image transform / ITX.............................................................................................................. 257

8.10.41 Field 10.045: Occlusions / OCC......................................................................................................................... 258

8.10.42 Field 10.046: Image subject condition / SUB.............................................................................................. 258

8.10.43 Field 10.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................259

8.10.44 Field 10.048: Suspected patterned injury detail / PID............................................................................260

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8.10.45 Field 10.049: Cheiloscopic image data / CID...............................................................................................260

8.10.46 Field 10.050: Dental visual image data information / VID....................................................................264

8.10.47 Field 10.051: Ruler or scale presence / RSP................................................................................................269

8.10.48 Fields 10.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................270

8.10.49 Field 10.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................270

8.10.50 Field 10.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................270

8.10.51 Field 10.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................270

8.10.52 Field 10.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.................................................................................270

8.10.53 Field 10.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................270

8.10.54 Field 10.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................271

8.10.55 Field 10.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................271

8.10.56 Field 10.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 271

8.10.57 Field 10.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................271

8.10.58 Field 10.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................271

8.10.59 Field 10.999: Body part image / DATA..........................................................................................................271

8.11 Record Type-11: Forensic and investigatory voice record............................................................271

8.11.1 Field 11.001: Record header............................................................................................................................... 284

8.11.2 Field 11.002: Information designation character / IDC...........................................................................284

8.11.3 Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor code /AOD......................................................................................284

8.11.4 Field 11.004: Source agency / SRC................................................................................................................... 284

8.11.5 Field 11.005: Voice recording source organization / VRSO....................................................................285

8.11.6 Field 11.006: Voice recording content descriptor / VRC.........................................................................286

8.11.7 Field 11.007: Audio recording device / AREC..............................................................................................286

8.11.8 Field 11.008: Acquisition source / AQS..........................................................................................................287

8.11.9 Field 11.009: Record creation date / RCD.....................................................................................................287

8.11.10 Field 11.010: Voice recording creation date / VRD..................................................................................287

8.11.11 Field 11.011: Total recording duration / TRD............................................................................................288

8.11.12 Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO.................................................................................................288

8.11.13 Field 11.013: Container / CONT....................................................................................................................... 289

8.11.14 Field 11.014: Codec / CDC.................................................................................................................................. 291

8.11.15 Field 11.021: Redaction / RED..........................................................................................................................293

8.11.16 Field 11.022: Redaction diary / RDD..............................................................................................................294

8.11.17 Field 11.023: Discontinuities / DIS.................................................................................................................295

8.11.18 Field 11.024: Discontinuities diary / DCD....................................................................................................296

8.11.19 Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC...................................................................................................................297

8.11.20 Field 11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD.......................................................................................................298

8.11.21 Field 11.027: Other content / OCON...............................................................................................................300

8.11.22 Field 11.028: Other content diary / OCD......................................................................................................301

8.11.23 Field 11.032: Vocal segment geographical information / SGEO..........................................................303

8.11.24 Field 11.033: Vocal segment quality values / SQV....................................................................................304

8.11.25 Field 11.034: Vocal segment collision identifier / VCI............................................................................305

8.11.26 Field 11.035: Vocal segment processing priority / PPY.........................................................................305

8.11.27 Field 11.036: Vocal segment content description / VSCD......................................................................305

8.11.28 Field 11.037: Vocal segment speaker characteristics / SCC..................................................................307

8.11.29 Field 11.038: Vocal segment channel / SCH................................................................................................310

8.11.30 Field 11.051: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................312

8.11.31 Field 11.100-900: User-defined fields / UDF..............................................................................................312

8.11.32 Field 11.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................312

8.11.33 Field 11.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................313

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8.11.34 Field 11.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................313

8.11.35 Field 11.995: Associated Context / ASC........................................................................................................313

8.11.36 Field 11.996: Hash / HAS.................................................................................................................................... 313

8.11.37 Field 11.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................313

8.11.38 Field 11.999: Voice record data / DATA.......................................................................................................314

8.12 Record Type-12: Forensic dental and oral record............................................................................314

8.12.1 Field 12.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 323

8.12.2 Field 12.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................323

8.12.3 Field 12.003: Forensic dental setting / FDS...................................................................................................323

8.12.4 Field 12.004: Source agency identification ID / SRC..................................................................................324

8.12.5 Field 12.006: Dental subject information / DSI............................................................................................324

8.12.6 Field 12.007: Original dental encoding system information / ODES...................................................327

8.12.7 Field 12.008: Transmittal dental encoding system information / TDES............................................330

8.12.8 Field 12.009: Dental history data detail / HDD.............................................................................................331

8.12.9 Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD..............................................................................................................331

8.12.10 Field 12.011: Mouth data detail / MDD.........................................................................................................337

8.12.11 Field 12.012: Dental casts and impressions / DSTI..................................................................................339

8.12.12 Field 12.020: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................340

8.12.13 Field 12.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................340

8.12.14 Fields 12.200 through 12.900: User-defined fields / UDF.....................................................................340

8.12.15 Field 12.902: Annotation information /ANN..............................................................................................340

8.12.16 Field 12.990: Type-10 Record cross reference / T10C...........................................................................340

8.12.17 Field 12.991: Type-22 Record cross reference / T22C...........................................................................341

8.12.18 Field 12.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.................................................................................341

8.12.19 Field 12.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................341

8.12.20 Field 12.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................341

8.12.21 Field 12.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................341

8.12.22 Field 12.996: Hash / HAS.................................................................................................................................... 341

8.12.23 Field 12.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................342

8.12.24 Field 12.999: Dental chart data / DATA........................................................................................................342

8.13 Record Type-13: Friction-ridge latent image record.......................................................................343

8.13.1 Field 13.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 350

8.13.2 Field 13.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................350

8.13.3 Field 13.003: Impression type / IMP................................................................................................................351

8.13.4 Field 13.004: Source agency/ SRC......................................................................................................................351

8.13.5 Field 13.005: Latent capture date / LCD..........................................................................................................351

8.13.6 Field 13.006: Horizontal line length / HLL.....................................................................................................351

8.13.7 Field 13.007: Vertical line length / VLL...........................................................................................................351

8.13.8 Field 13.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 351

8.13.9 Field 13.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................351

8.13.10 Field 13.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................351

8.13.11 Field 13.011: Compression algorithm / CGA...............................................................................................351

8.13.12 Field 13.012: Bits per pixel / BPX....................................................................................................................352

8.13.13 Field 13.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP........................................................................352

8.13.14 Field 13.014: Search position descriptors / SPD.......................................................................................352

8.13.15 Field 13.015: Print position coordinates / PPC..........................................................................................352

8.13.16 Field 13.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................352

8.13.17 Field 13.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................352

8.13.18 Field 13.018: Ruler or scale presence / RSP................................................................................................353

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8.13.19 Field 13.019: Resolution method / REM....................................................................................................... 353

8.13.20 Field 13.020: Comment / COM.......................................................................................................................... 354

8.13.21 Field 13.024: Latent quality metric / LQM................................................................................................... 354

8.13.22 Field 13.046: Image subject condition / SUB.............................................................................................. 355

8.13.23 Field 13.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................355

8.13.24 Fields 13.200 – 13.900: User-defined fields / UDF...................................................................................356

8.13.25 Field 13.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT...........................................................................356

8.13.26 Field 13.902: Annotation information / ANN............................................................................................. 356

8.13.27 Field 13.903: Device unique identifier / DUI.............................................................................................. 356

8.13.28 Field 13.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................356

8.13.29 Field 13.993: Source agency name / SAN..................................................................................................... 356

8.13.30 Field 13.994: External file reference / EFR.................................................................................................. 357

8.13.31 Field 13.995: Associated context / ASC......................................................................................................... 357

8.13.32 Field 13.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 357

8.13.33 Field 13.997: Source representation / SOR................................................................................................. 357

8.13.34 Field 13.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................357

8.13.35 Field 13.999: Latent friction ridge image / DATA.....................................................................................357

8.14 Record Type-14: Fingerprint image record........................................................................................ 357

8.14.1 Field 14.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 367

8.14.2 Field 14.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................367

8.14.3 Field 14.003: Impression type / IMP................................................................................................................ 367

8.14.4 Field 14.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 368

8.14.5 Field 14.005: Fingerprint capture date / FCD............................................................................................... 368

8.14.6 Field 14.006: Horizontal line length / HLL..................................................................................................... 368

8.14.7 Field 14.007: Vertical line length / VLL........................................................................................................... 368

8.14.8 Field 14.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 368

8.14.9 Field 14.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................368

8.14.10 Field 14.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................368

8.14.11 Field 14.011: Compression algorithm / CGA............................................................................................... 368

8.14.12 Field 14.012: Bits per pixel / BPX.................................................................................................................... 369

8.14.13 Field 14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP........................................................................369

8.14.14 Field 14.014: Print position descriptors / PPD.......................................................................................... 369

8.14.15 Field 14.015: Print position coordinates / PPC..........................................................................................369

8.14.16 Field 14.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................369

8.14.17 Field 14.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................369

8.14.18 Field 14.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP............................................................................................369

8.14.19 Field 14.020: Comment / COM.......................................................................................................................... 370

8.14.20 Field 14.021: Finger segment position / SEG..............................................................................................370

8.14.21 Field 14.022: NIST quality metric / NQM..................................................................................................... 371

8.14.22 Field 14.023: Segmentation quality metric / SQM....................................................................................371

8.14.23 Field 14.024: Fingerprint quality metric / FQM........................................................................................372

8.14.24 Field 14.025: Alternate finger segment position(s) / ASEG..................................................................372

8.14.25 Field 14.026: Simultaneous capture / SCF................................................................................................... 372

8.14.26 Field 14.027: Stitched image flag / SIF.......................................................................................................... 373

8.14.27 Field 14.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM..........................................................................................373

8.14.28 Field 14.031: Subject acquisition profile – fingerprint / FAP...............................................................373

8.14.29 Field 14.046: Image subject condition / SUB.............................................................................................. 374

8.14.30 Field 14.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................374

8.14.31 Fields 14.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................375

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8.14.32 Field 14.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT...........................................................................375

8.14.33 Field 14.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................375

8.14.34 Field 14.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................375

8.14.35 Field 14.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................375

8.14.36 Field 14.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................375

8.14.37 Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................375

8.14.38 Field 14.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................376

8.14.39 Field 14.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 376

8.14.40 Field 14.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................376

8.14.41 Field 14.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................376

8.14.42 Field 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA......................................................................................................376

8.15 Record Type-15: Palm print image record..........................................................................................377

8.15.1 Field 15.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 384

8.15.2 Field 15.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................384

8.15.3 Field 15.003: Impression type / IMP................................................................................................................385

8.15.4 Field 15.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 385

8.15.5 Field 15.005: Palm print capture date / PCD.................................................................................................385

8.15.6 Field 15.006: Horizontal line length / HLL.....................................................................................................385

8.15.7 Field 15.007: Vertical line length / VLL...........................................................................................................385

8.15.8 Field 15.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 385

8.15.9 Field 15.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................385

8.15.10 Field 15.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................385

8.15.11 Field 15.011: Compression algorithm / CGA...............................................................................................385

8.15.12 Field 15.012: Bits per pixel / BPX....................................................................................................................386

8.15.13 Field 15.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP........................................................................386

8.15.14 Field 15.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................386

8.15.15 Field 15.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................386

8.15.16 Field 15.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP............................................................................................386

8.15.17 Field 15.020: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................387

8.15.18 Field 15.021: Palm segment position / SEG.................................................................................................387

8.15.19 Field 15.024: Palm quality metric / PQM.....................................................................................................387

8.15.20 Field 15.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM..........................................................................................387

8.15.21 Field 15.031: Subject acquisition profile – palm print / PAP...............................................................388

8.15.22 Field 15.046: Subject condition / SUB...........................................................................................................388

8.15.23 Field 15.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................388

8.15.24 Fields 15.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................389

8.15.25 Field 15.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT...........................................................................389

8.15.26 Field 15.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................389

8.15.27 Field 15.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................389

8.15.28 Field 15.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................389

8.15.29 Field 15.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................389

8.15.30 Field 15.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................390

8.15.31 Field 15.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................390

8.15.32 Field 15.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 390

8.15.33 Field 15.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................390

8.15.34 Field 15.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................390

8.15.35 Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA........................................................................................................390

8.16 Record Type-16: User-defined testing image record.......................................................................391

8.16.1 Field 16.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 396

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8.16.2 Field 16.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................396

8.16.3 Field 16.003: User-defined image type / UDI................................................................................................396

8.16.4 Field 16.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 397

8.16.5 Field 16.005: User-defined image test capture date / UTD.....................................................................397

8.16.6 Field 16.006: Horizontal line length / HLL.....................................................................................................397

8.16.7 Field 16.007: Vertical line length / VLL...........................................................................................................397

8.16.8 Field 16.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 397

8.16.9 Field 16.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................397

8.16.10 Field 16.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................397

8.16.11 Field 16.011: Compression algorithm / CGA...............................................................................................397

8.16.12 Field 16.012: Bits per pixel / BPX....................................................................................................................397

8.16.13 Field 16.013: Color space / CSP........................................................................................................................ 397

8.16.14 Field 16.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................397

8.16.15 Field 16.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................398

8.16.16 Field 16.020: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................398

8.16.17 Field 16.024: User-defined image quality metric / UQS.........................................................................398

8.16.18 Field 16.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM..........................................................................................398

8.16.19 Fields 16.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................398

8.16.20 Field 16.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................398

8.16.21 Field 16.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................398

8.16.22 Field 16.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................398

8.16.23 Field 16.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................398

8.16.24 Field 16.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................398

8.16.25 Field 16.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................399

8.16.26 Field 16.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 399

8.16.27 Field 16.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................399

8.16.28 Field 16.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................399

8.16.29 Field 16.999: Test data / DATA........................................................................................................................399

8.17 Record Type-17: Iris image record........................................................................................................ 399

8.17.1 Field 17.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 406

8.17.2 Field 17.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................406

8.17.3 Field 17.003: Eye Label / ELR.............................................................................................................................. 406

8.17.4 Field 17.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 406

8.17.5 Field 17.005: Iris capture date / ICD.................................................................................................................406

8.17.6 Field 17.006: Horizontal line length / HLL.....................................................................................................407

8.17.7 Field 17.007: Vertical line length / VLL...........................................................................................................407

8.17.8 Field 17.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 407

8.17.9 Field 17.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................407

8.17.10 Field 17.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................407

8.17.11 Field 17.011: Compression algorithm / CGA...............................................................................................407

8.17.12 Field 17.012: Bits per pixel / BPX....................................................................................................................407

8.17.13 Field 17.013: Color space / CSP........................................................................................................................ 407

8.17.14 Field 17.014: Rotation angle of eye / RAE....................................................................................................408

8.17.15 Field 17.015: Rotation uncertainty / RAU....................................................................................................408

8.17.16 Field 17.016: Image property code / IPC......................................................................................................408

8.17.17 Field 17.017: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................409

8.17.18 Field 17.019: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................409

8.17.19 Field 17.020: Eye color / ECL............................................................................................................................ 409

8.17.20 Field 17.021: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................410

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8.17.21 Field 17.022: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................410

8.17.22 Field 17.023: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................410

8.17.23 Field 17.024: Image quality score / IQS........................................................................................................410

8.17.24 Field 17.025: Effective acquisition spectrum / EAS.................................................................................410

8.17.25 Field 17.026: Iris diameter / IRD..................................................................................................................... 410

8.17.26 Field 17.027: Specified spectrum values / SSV..........................................................................................410

8.17.27 Field 17.028: Damaged or missing eye / DME............................................................................................411

8.17.28 Field 17.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM..........................................................................................412

8.17.29 Field 17.031: Subject acquisition profile – iris / IAP...............................................................................412

8.17.30 Field 17.032: Iris storage format / ISF...........................................................................................................412

8.17.31 Field 17.033: Iris pupil boundary / IPB.........................................................................................................414

8.17.32 Field 17.034: Iris sclera boundary / ISB.......................................................................................................414

8.17.33 Field 17.035: Upper eyelid boundary / UEB...............................................................................................414

8.17.34 Field 17.036: Lower eyelid boundary / LEB...............................................................................................414

8.17.35 Field 17.037: Non-eyelid occlusions / NEO.................................................................................................414

8.17.36 Field 17.040: Range / RAN................................................................................................................................. 415

8.17.37 Field 17.041: Frontal gaze / GAZ..................................................................................................................... 415

8.17.38 Fields 17.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................415

8.17.39 Field 17.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................415

8.17.40 Field 17.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................415

8.17.41 Field 17.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................415

8.17.42 Field 17.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................416

8.17.43 Field 17.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 416

8.17.44 Field 17.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................416

8.17.45 Field 17.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................416

8.17.46 Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA.............................................................................................................416

8.18 Record Type-18: DNA record................................................................................................................... 416

8.18.1 Field 18.001: Record Header................................................................................................................................ 425

8.18.2 Field 18.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................425

8.18.3 Field 18.003: DNA laboratory setting / DLS...................................................................................................425

8.18.4 Field 18.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 427

8.18.5 Field 18.005: Number of analyses flag / NAL................................................................................................427

8.18.6 Field 18.006: Sample donor information / SDI.............................................................................................428

8.18.7 Field 18.007: Claimed or purported relationship / COPR........................................................................429

8.18.8 Field 18.008: Validated relationship / VRS....................................................................................................430

8.18.9 Field 18.009: Pedigree information / PED......................................................................................................430

8.18.10 Field 18.010: Sample type / STY...................................................................................................................... 431

8.18.11 Field 18.011: Sample typing information / STI..........................................................................................431

8.18.12 Field 18.012: Sample collection method / SCM.........................................................................................432

8.18.13 Field 18.013: Sample collection date / SCD.................................................................................................432

8.18.14 Field 18.014: Profile storage date / PSD.......................................................................................................432

8.18.15 Field 18.015: DNA profile data / DPD............................................................................................................432

8.18.16 Field 18.016: Autosomal STR, X-STR and Y-STR / STR...........................................................................433

8.18.17 Field 18.017: Mitochondrial DNA data / DMD............................................................................................435

8.18.18 Field 18.018: DNA user-defined profile data / UDP.................................................................................436

8.18.19 Field 18.019: Electropherogram description / EPD.................................................................................437

8.18.20 Field 18.020: DNA genotype distribution / DGD.......................................................................................437

8.18.21 Field 18.021: DNA genotype allele pair / GAP............................................................................................437

8.18.22 Field 18.022: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................438

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8.18.23 Field 18.023: Electropherogram ladder / EPL...........................................................................................438

8.18.24 Fields 18.200-18.900: User-defined fields / UDF......................................................................................439

8.18.25 Field 18.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................439

8.18.26 Field 18.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.................................................................................439

8.18.27 Field 18.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................439

8.18.28 Field 18.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................439

8.18.29 Field 18.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................439

8.19 Record Type-19: Plantar image record................................................................................................440

8.19.1 Field 19.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 447

8.19.2 Field 19.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................447

8.19.3 Field 19.003: Impression type / IMP................................................................................................................447

8.19.4 Field 19.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 447

8.19.5 Field 19.005: Plantar capture date / PCD........................................................................................................447

8.19.6 Field 19.006: Horizontal line length / HLL.....................................................................................................448

8.19.7 Field 19.007: Vertical line length / VLL...........................................................................................................448

8.19.8 Field 19.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 448

8.19.9 Field 19.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................448

8.19.10 Field 19.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................448

8.19.11 Field 19.011: Compression algorithm / CGA...............................................................................................448

8.19.12 Field 19.012: Bits per pixel / BPX....................................................................................................................448

8.19.13 Field 19.013: Friction ridge (plantar) generalized position / FGP.....................................................449

8.19.14 Field 19.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................449

8.19.15 Field 19.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................449

8.19.16 Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP............................................................................................449

8.19.17 Field 19.019: Friction ridge - toe segment position(s) / FSP................................................................449

8.19.18 Field 19.020: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................450

8.19.19 Field 19.021: Plantar segment position / SEG............................................................................................450

8.19.20 Field 19.024: Friction ridge - plantar print quality metric / FQM......................................................451

8.19.21 Field 19.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM..........................................................................................451

8.19.22 Field 19.031: Subject acquisition profile – toe and plantar print / TAP..........................................451

8.19.23 Field 19.046: Image subject condition / SUB..............................................................................................451

8.19.24 Field 19.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................452

8.19.25 Fields 19.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................453

8.19.26 Field 19.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT...........................................................................453

8.19.27 Field 19.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................453

8.19.28 Field 19.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................453

8.19.29 Field 19.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................453

8.19.30 Field 19.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................453

8.19.31 Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................453

8.19.32 Field 19.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................454

8.19.33 Field 19.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 454

8.19.34 Field 19.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................454

8.19.35 Field 19.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................454

8.19.36 Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA...............................................................................................................454

8.20 Record Type-20: Source Representation record...............................................................................454

8.20.1 Field 20.001: Record Header................................................................................................................................ 460

8.20.2 Field 20.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................460

8.20.3 Field 20.003: SRN cardinality / CAR.................................................................................................................460

8.20.4 Field 20.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 461

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8.20.5 Field 20.005: Source representation date / SRD..........................................................................................461

8.20.6 Field 20.006: Horizontal line length / HLL.....................................................................................................461

8.20.7 Field 20.007: Vertical line length / VLL...........................................................................................................461

8.20.8 Field 20.008: Scale units / SLC............................................................................................................................ 461

8.20.9 Field 20.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS.........................................................................461

8.20.10 Field 20.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS............................................................................462

8.20.11 Field 20.011: Compression algorithm / CGA...............................................................................................462

8.20.12 Field 20.012: Bits per pixel / BPX....................................................................................................................462

8.20.13 Field 20.013: Color space / CSP........................................................................................................................ 462

8.20.14 Field 20.014: Acquisition source / AQS.........................................................................................................462

8.20.15 Field 20.015: Source representation format / SFT...................................................................................464

8.20.16 Field 20.016: Segments / SEG........................................................................................................................... 464

8.20.17 Field 20.017: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS...............................................................................464

8.20.18 Field 20.018: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS.....................................................................................464

8.20.19 Field 20.019: Time index / TIX......................................................................................................................... 464

8.20.20 Field 20.020: Comment / COM..........................................................................................................................464

8.20.21 Field 20.021: Source representation number / SRN................................................................................464

8.20.22 Field 20.022: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR...................................................................465

8.20.23 Field 20.100-900: User-defined fields / UDF..............................................................................................465

8.20.24 Field 20.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................465

8.20.25 Field 20.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................465

8.20.26 Field 20.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................465

8.20.27 Field 20.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................465

8.20.28 Field 20.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................466

8.20.29 Field 20.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................466

8.20.30 Field 20.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 466

8.20.31 Field 20.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................466

8.20.32 Field 20.999: Source representation data / DATA....................................................................................466

8.21 Record Type-21: Associated context record......................................................................................466

8.21.1 Field 21.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 471

8.21.2 Field 21.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................471

8.21.3 Field 21.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 471

8.21.4 Field 21.005: Associated context date / ACD.................................................................................................471

8.21.5 Field 21.006: Medical device information / MDI..........................................................................................472

8.21.6 Field 21.015: Associated context format / AFT............................................................................................472

8.21.7 Field 21.016: Segments / SEG.............................................................................................................................. 473

8.21.8 Field 21.019: Time index / TIX............................................................................................................................ 473

8.21.9 Field 21.020: Comment / COM............................................................................................................................ 473

8.21.10 Field 21.021: Associated context number / ACN.......................................................................................473

8.21.11 Field 21.022: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR...................................................................473

8.21.12 Field 21.046: Image subject condition / SUB..............................................................................................473

8.21.13 Field 21.047: Capture organization name / CON.......................................................................................474

8.21.14 Fields 21.100 through 21.900: User-defined fields..................................................................................475

8.21.15 Field 21.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................475

8.21.16 Field 21.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................475

8.21.17 Field 21.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................475

8.21.18 Field 21.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 475

8.21.19 Field 21.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................475

8.21.20 Field 21.999: Associated context data / DATA...........................................................................................476

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8.22 Record Type-22: Non-photographic imagery data record............................................................476

8.22.1 Field 22.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 481

8.22.2 Field 22.002: Information Designation Character / IDC...........................................................................481

8.22.3 Field 22.003: Imagery capture date / ICD.......................................................................................................481

8.22.4 Field 22.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 481

8.22.5 Field 22.005: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR.....................................................................481

8.22.6 Field 22.006: Body image code / BIC................................................................................................................481

8.22.7 Field 22.020: Comment / COM............................................................................................................................ 482

8.22.8 Field 22.046: Image subject condition / SUB.................................................................................................482

8.22.9 Field 22.047: Capture organization name / CON.........................................................................................482

8.22.10 Field 22.101: Non-photographic imagery type code / ITYP.................................................................483

8.22.11 Field 22.102: Non-photographic imagery data format code / IFMT.................................................483

8.22.12 Field 22.103: Dental radiograph image data / DRID................................................................................484

8.22.13 Fields 22.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................484

8.22.14 Field 22.902: Annotation information /ANN..............................................................................................484

8.22.15 Field 22.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................484

8.22.16 Field 22.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................484

8.22.17 Field 22.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.................................................................................485

8.22.18 Field 22.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................485

8.22.19 Field 22.994: External file reference / EFR..................................................................................................485

8.22.20 Field 22.995: Associated context / ASC.........................................................................................................485

8.22.21 Field 22.996: Hash / HAS.................................................................................................................................... 485

8.22.22 Field 22.997: Source representation / SOR.................................................................................................485

8.22.23 Field 22.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................485

8.22.24 Field 22.999: Imagery data block / DATA....................................................................................................486

8.23 Record Type-98: Information assurance record..............................................................................486

8.23.1 Field 98.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 488

8.23.2 Field 98.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................488

8.23.3 Field 98.003: IA data format owner / DFO.....................................................................................................488

8.23.4 Field 98.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 488

8.23.5 Field 98.005: IA data format type / DFT..........................................................................................................488

8.23.6 Field 98.006: IA data creation date / DCD......................................................................................................488

8.23.7 Field 98.200-899: User-defined fields / UDF.................................................................................................489

8.23.8 Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF............................................................................................................................... 489

8.23.9 Field 98.901: Audit revision number / ARN..................................................................................................490

8.23.10 Field 98.993: Source agency name / SAN.....................................................................................................491

8.24 Record Type-99: CBEFF biometric data record.................................................................................491

8.24.1 Field 99.001: Record header................................................................................................................................ 495

8.24.2 Field 99.002: Information designation character / IDC............................................................................496

8.24.3 Field 99.004: Source agency / SRC..................................................................................................................... 496

8.24.4 Field 99.005: Biometric capture date / BCD..................................................................................................496

8.24.5 Field 99.100: CBEFF header version / HDV...................................................................................................496

8.24.6 Field 99.101: Biometric type / BTY...................................................................................................................496

8.24.7 Field 99.102: Biometric data quality / BDQ...................................................................................................497

8.24.8 Field 99.103: BDB format owner / BFO..........................................................................................................497

8.24.9 Field 99.104: BDB format type / BFT..............................................................................................................497

8.24.10 Fields 99.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF............................................................................................498

8.24.11 Field 99.902: Annotation information / ANN.............................................................................................498

8.24.12 Field 99.903: Device unique identifier / DUI..............................................................................................498

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8.24.13 Field 99.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS....................................................................................498

8.24.14 Field 99.993: Source agency name / SAN..................................................................................................... 498

8.24.15 Field 99.995: Associated context / ASC......................................................................................................... 498

8.24.16 Field 99.996: Hash/ HAS..................................................................................................................................... 498

8.24.17 Field 99.997: Source representation / SOR................................................................................................. 498

8.24.18 Field 99.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO..............................................................498

8.24.19 Field 99.999: Biometric data block / DATA.................................................................................................499

 Annex A: Character encoding information........................................................................................ 500

A.1: 7-bit ASCII...................................................................................................................................................... 500

A.2: Unicode and UTF encoding....................................................................................................................... 500

A.3: Base-64 encoding........................................................................................................................................ 504

A.4: Hexadecimal encoding............................................................................................................................... 506

 Annex B: Traditional encoding............................................................................................................. 507

B.1 Transmitted data conventions................................................................................................................. 511

B.1.1 Byte and bit ordering............................................................................................................................................... 511

B.1.2 Date format.................................................................................................................................................................. 512

B.1.3 Agency Codes.............................................................................................................................................................. 512

B.1.4 Date/Time format..................................................................................................................................................... 512

B.1.5 Date offset.................................................................................................................................................................... 512

B.1.6 Date and time offset................................................................................................................................................. 513

B.1.7 Record layout.............................................................................................................................................................. 513

B.1.8 Switching between character encoding sets.................................................................................................. 514

 B 1.9 Handling of lists......................................................................................................................................................... 515

B.2 Encoding for specific record types.......................................................................................................... 515

B.2.1 Type-1 record............................................................................................................................................................. 515

B.2.2 Type-4 record............................................................................................................................................................. 515

B.2.3 Type-7 record............................................................................................................................................................. 516

B.2.3.1 Logical record length / LEN.............................................................................................................................................. 516

B.2.3.2 Information designation character / IDC.................................................................................................................... 516

B.2.3.3 User-defined fields for Type-7 records........................................................................................................................ 516

B.2.3.4 End of Type-7 record........................................................................................................................................................... 517

B.2.4 Type-8 record.............................................................................................................................................................. 517

B.2.5 Type-9 record.............................................................................................................................................................. 518

B.2.6 Type-10 record............................................................................................................................................................ 518

B.2.7 Type-11 record............................................................................................................................................................ 518

B.2.8 Type-12 record............................................................................................................................................................ 518

B.2.9 Type-13 record............................................................................................................................................................ 519

B.2.10 Type-14 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.11 Type-15 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.12 Type-16 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.13 Type-17 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.14 Type-18 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.15 Type-19 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.16 Type-20 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.17 Type-21 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.17 Type-22 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.18 Type-98 record......................................................................................................................................................... 519

B.2.19 Type-99 record......................................................................................................................................................... 520

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 Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules...................................................................................... 521

 Annex D: NCIC code table........................................................................................................................ 524

 Annex E: Facial Capture – SAPs 30 and above.................................................................................. 525

E.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 525

E.2 Digital requirements................................................................................................................................... 525

E.2.1 Pixel aspect ratio......................................................................................................................................................... 525

E.2.2 Image aspect ratio...................................................................................................................................................... 525

E.2.3 No interlacing............................................................................................................................................................... 525

E.2.4 No digital zoom........................................................................................................................................................... 526

E.2.5 Minimum number of pixels.................................................................................................................................... 526

E.3 Photographic requirements...................................................................................................................... 526

E.3.1 Depth of field................................................................................................................................................................ 526

E.3.2 Subject lighting............................................................................................................................................................ 526

E.3.3 Background and lighting......................................................................................................................................... 527

E.3.4 Exposure calibration................................................................................................................................................. 527

E.3.5 Exposure........................................................................................................................................................................ 528

E.3.6 No saturation................................................................................................................................................................ 528

E.3.7 No unnatural color or “red-eye”........................................................................................................................... 528

E.3.8 No color or grayscale enhancement.................................................................................................................... 528

E.3.9 Distortion and angle of view.................................................................................................................................. 528

E.3.10 Allowed color space................................................................................................................................................ 529

E.4 Subject and scene requirements.............................................................................................................. 529

E.4.1 Pose.................................................................................................................................................................................. 529

E.4.2 Subject position........................................................................................................................................................... 529

E.4.3 Centering........................................................................................................................................................................ 529

E.4.3.1 The “Head and Shoulders” photo composition........................................................................................................... 529

E.4.3.2 The “Head Only” photo composition.............................................................................................................................. 530

E.4.4 Head Coverings........................................................................................................................................................... 530

E.4.5 Hair................................................................................................................................................................................... 530

E.4.6 Glasses and eye patches........................................................................................................................................... 530

E.4.6.1 Rationale for the recommendation: 'no glasses, if possible'.................................................................................531

E.4.7 Expression..................................................................................................................................................................... 532

E.4.8 Mouth.............................................................................................................................................................................. 532

E.4.9 Subject facial expression......................................................................................................................................... 532

E.4.10 Subject hair color..................................................................................................................................................... 532

E.4.11 Subject eye color...................................................................................................................................................... 532

E.4.12 Shoulder position..................................................................................................................................................... 532

E.4.13 Make-up and cleanliness....................................................................................................................................... 532

E.4.14 Face count................................................................................................................................................................... 533

E.4.15 Medical conditions.................................................................................................................................................. 533

E.5 Number of photographs.............................................................................................................................. 533

E.6 Data handling requirements..................................................................................................................... 534

E.6.1 Compression algorithm............................................................................................................................................ 534

E.6.1.1 SAP Levels 30 and 32 only................................................................................................................................................. 534

E.6.1.2 SAP Levels 40 and above.................................................................................................................................................... 534

E.6.2 Compression ratio...................................................................................................................................................... 534

E.7 Format requirements (SAP levels 40, 42, 50, 51 and 52).................................................................535

E.7.1 The definition and range of pose angles........................................................................................................... 535

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E.7.2 Subject Pose (POS) and subject pose angles (SPA).......................................................................................538

E.7.3 The order of rotation through pose angles...................................................................................................... 538

 Annex F: Extended Feature Set Detailed Instructions...................................................................540

F.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 540

F.2 Scope................................................................................................................................................................. 541

F.3 Purpose............................................................................................................................................................ 541

F.4 No features present fields.......................................................................................................................... 542

F.5 Definitions of feature confidence and local quality............................................................................ 543

F.6 Extended friction ridge feature set fields – detailed instructions.................................................545

F.6.1 Location and orientation fields............................................................................................................................. 545

F.6.1.2 Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT instructions........................................................................................................ 545

F.6.1.3 Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP instructions.................................................................546

F.6.2 Overall image characteristics................................................................................................................................. 548

F.6.2.1 Field 9.307: EFS pattern classification / PAT instructions....................................................................................548

F.6.3 Reference points......................................................................................................................................................... 549

F.6.3.1 Field 9.321: EFS deltas / DEL instructions.................................................................................................................. 549

F.6.3.2 Field 9.323: EFS center point of reference / CPR instructions............................................................................550

F.6.4 Minutiae.......................................................................................................................................................................... 553

F.6.4.1 Field 9.331: EFS minutiae / MIN instructions............................................................................................................ 553

F.6.5 Additional features.................................................................................................................................................... 555

F.6.5.1 Field 9.343: EFS ridge edge features / REF instructions.......................................................................................555

F.6.6 Corresponding features........................................................................................................................................... 556

F.6.6.1 Field 9.361: EFS corresponding points or features / CPF instructions.............................................................556

F.6.7 Ridge path: Skeletonized image and ridge path segments.........................................................................560

F.6.7.1 Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM instructions.........................................................................................563

F.6.7.2 Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS instructions.....................................................................................563

 Annex G: Mapping to the NIEM IEPD................................................................................................... 564

 Annex H: Conformance Specifications................................................................................................ 565

 Annex I: Bibliography.............................................................................................................................. 566

 Annex J: Errata........................................................................................................................................... 570

J.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 570

J.2 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Errata.......................................................................................... 570

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[2013a>]

Hints for the reader of a PDF copy of the standard

The PDF is stored in a default format that allows presentation of the Headings in the standard in a

column on the left. This may be used to quickly access portions of the document of particular

interest. 

Internal cross-reference links are provided in the document. There are highlighted in green. The

reader clicks the mouse on the green text and the portion of the document that is referenced is

displayed. 

These links generate breadcrumbs or a breadcrumb trail in your computer's memory, which on some

systems responds to pressing the <Alt>+<left/right arrow> keys or <⌘>+<left/right arrow> keys to

go backwards/forwards on the breadcrumb trail as desired. This enables the reader to jump to a

Figure, Table or Section and then back to the original section of the text to continue reading. 

External hyperlinks are also provided in the document. The links were current at the time of

publication of the standard. They appear in blue. By clicking the highlighted text, the reader's default

browser accesses the referenced source. 

Many PDF readers have an option for bookmark listings next to the document. This can be very

useful for navigation through the document as shown below: 

[<2013a]

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Foreword to the 2015 Update

[2015a>]

Areas of the text with changes from the base 2011 version are marked with bars in the margins (red

for 2013 and purple for 2015). Note that minor changes, such as when 'this version' was used in 2011

and is changed to 'the base 2011 version' are not so indicated. Simple grammatical and typographical

corrections are not marked either. 

The Type-1: Field 1.002: Version number / VER can have three values: “0500” for the base 2011

version; “0501” if content of the 2013 Update is included in the transaction and the XML schema

based upon NIEM 2.1 is used (if using XML encoding). “ 0502” represents the 2015 Update. The

leading zeros shall be included in the Traditional encoding as ASCII characters, but need not be included

in XML encoding. See Section 8 Record type specifications. 

The XML encoding for the 2015 Update allows both NIEM 2.1 and NIEM 3.1 versions.

Some error correction does have an impact upon coding and conformance. Errata corrections are

marked by [2015e>] followed by [<2015e] for quick reference.

In some parts of the standard, additional text has been added to clarify ambiguities in the original text

and to add information that may be of assistance to the user of the standard. These are marked by

[2015a>] and [<2015a].

Additions of new records and fields to the standard that were not part of the 2013 Update are marked

by [2015n>] and [<2015n]. 

Changes to hyperlinks in the document are not marked as updates. 

The following are the principal revisions for the 2015 Update:

•Revision of the friction ridge impression types in Section 7.7.4.1. This simplifies the list of

codes and separates impression types from capture technology, which is reflected in a new

section (7.7.4.5). The capture technology codes may be entered in Field 13.901: Friction

ridge capture technology / FCT, Field 15.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT,

and / or Field 19.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT – all of which are new to

this Update.

• Fingerprint Acquisition Profiles (FAP), Palm print Acquisition Profiles (PAP), and Toe and

Plantar Acquisition Profiles (TAP) have been updated in Section 7.7.5 to include separate

levels for 1000 ppi devices. Level 50 in previous versions had a minimum dimension of 1.6”

x 1.5” and was specified for 1-3 fingers. It is now specified as having a minimum dimension

of 3.2” x 2” since no devices were created to match the earler specification. PAP and TAP are

new to the 2015 Update as are the corresponding fields: Field 15.031: Subject acquisition

profile – palm print / PAP and Field 19.031: Subject acquisition profile – toe and plantar

print / TAP.

•The Iris Acquisition Profile (IAP) has been updated to be consistent with ISO specifications. It

now specifies profiles for spatial sampling rate in addition to pixel counts. There is also

extended text describing iris acquisition equipment in Section 7.7.5.3.

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•Field 10.040: NCIC code / SMT has been updated to include image codes CONDITION,

MISSING and OTHER as defined in Field 10.003: Image type / IMT. See section 8.10.36. 

• Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules has been substantially shortened to remove XML

examples specific to only NIEM 2.1. A principal reason for this Update is to accommodate

NIEM 3.1 which is incompatible with NIEM 2.1 (the version used in previous versions of the

standard). 

•Type-8 records now allow signature images in other than facsimilie format. See 8.8.8.2

Compressed scanned image data.

•External files (referenced in field xx.994) are now added for Type-10, Type-13, Type-14, Type15, Type-17, and Type-19.

•Table 105 Amputation / bandaged fingerprinting codes in Field 14.018: Amputated or

bandaged / AMP has been updated to include a new code SR to indicate a scar.

• Annex E, E.4.6 Glasses and eye patches is revised to recommend taking images of persons

without glasses, when possible.

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Foreword to the 2013 Update

[2013a>] The 2013 Update to the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard incorporates the Dental and Voice

Supplements directly into the text, as well as corrects miscellaneous errors that were noticed after

publication of the 2011 version. Some additional capabilities have been added to the standard that

were not part of the Supplements, but have been requested by users of the standard. 

Overview of the changes and modifications

Areas of the text with changes from the base 2011 version are marked with bars in the margins, as in

this Foreword. Note that minor changes, such as when 'this version' was used in 2011 and is changed

to 'the base 2011 version' are not so indicated. Simple grammatical and typographical corrections are

not marked either. 

The Type-1: Field 1.002: Version number / VER can have two values: “0500” for the base 2011

version; “0501” if content of the 2013 Update is included in the transaction and/or the updated XML

schema is used.

Some error correction does have an impact upon coding and conformance, such as changing the range

values for DUP, DLF and DRT in Table 42 Type-9 Fields for EFS for Field 9.321: EFS deltas /

DEL. (They were listed as ranging from 1 to 180 in 2011 and should have been 1 to 359). Errata

corrections are marked by [2013e>] followed by [<2013e] for quick reference.

In some parts of the standard, additional text has been added to clarify ambiguities in the original text

and to add information that may be of assistance to the user of the standard. These are marked by

[2013a>] and [<2013a].

The 2013 Dental Forensics Supplement (ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Sup:Dental) is integrated into the

document and indicated by [2013d>] prior to the text and [<2013d] at the end of the insertion. This

supplement also includes some capabilities that extend beyond purely dental forensics, such as the

new Type-22 record, which can handle images to support Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)

operations using imagery that may be from other sources, such as X-rays of other parts of the body.

The 2013 Forensic and Investigatory Voice Supplement (ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Sup:Voice) is

integrated into the document and indicated by [2013v>] prior to the text and [<2013v] at the end of

the insertion.

Additions of new records and fields to the standard that were not part of the 2013 Supplements are

marked by [2013n>] and [<2013n]. 

The updates for ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2013 can be summarized as:

Type-1: Addition of a new field to signal when country code fields in the data for a 

transaction are specified according to GENC1 as opposed to the default ISO 3166-1 

1 GENC is the Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes Standard issued by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

It is the U.S. Government profile of ISO 3166 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions. It

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Type-9: Addition of new fields to support the Extended Feature Set

Type-10: Additional fields for cheiloscopic images, suspected patterned injuries, and 

capability to transmit extra-oral and intra-oral images. New fields containing subject 

information and capture organization data. 

Type-11: A new record type introduced to handle forensic and investigatory voice data.

Type-12: A new record type introduced to handle forensic dental and oral data.

Type-13: Addition of new fields to support the forensic markups of friction ridge images. New

fields containing subject information and capture organization data. 

Type-14: New fields containing subject information and capture organization data. New 

capability to handle plain fingertip exemplars added. 

Type-15: New fields containing subject information and capture organization data. New field 

to allow for segementation of a full palm print.

Type-18: Addition of a field to allow cross reference to a particular Type-2 record associated 

with the DNA information in a particular instance of the Type-18 record. 

Type-19: New fields containing subject information and capture organization data. New field 

to allow for segementation of a full plantar print.

Type-21: Addition of a new field to record information about medical devices found in or on a

person that may be used to assist in identification of unknown deceased. New fields 

containing subject information and capture organization data. 

Type-22: Addition of a new record to enable transmission of imagery that is 

not a standard photograph (which would be transmitted in a Type-10 record). 

Examples include radiographs, CT scans, PET scans, sonograms, 3D orthodontic cast

models, DICOM2 records, infrared images, and 3D face data.

Annex C: Establishment of the NIEM Biometrics Domain3

Annex G: Establishment of the NIEM Biometrics Domain and inclusion of the new fields and 

record types.

Other portions of the standard are updated to reflect their interrelationships with this new content.

Note that the code definition for 'Alphabetic' is modified. Spaces are now listed as Special Characters

(code S) in the two fields affected: Field 10.023: Photo acquisition source / PAS and Field 10.026:

Subject facial description / SXS. This was done to conform to the standard programming definition

of alphabetic characters being limited to the letters of the English alphabet. The character codes in

specifies an authoritative set of country codes and names for use by the US Federal Government for information

exchange, using ISO 3166 (Parts 1 and 2) names and code elements wherever possible, with modifications where

necessary to comply with U.S. law and U.S. Government recognition policy. See

https://nsgreg.nga.mil/genc/discovery

2 DICOM is the standard “Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine” published by the National Electrical

Manufacturers Association (NEMA). 

3

 Part of the National Information Exchange Model. See

https://www.niem.gov/communities/biometrics/Pages/about-bm.aspx

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Table 70 Type-10 record layout for these two fields were changed to AS, with the special character

listed as a space. Table 128 Character encoding set values in Annex A: Character encoding

information was also updated to reflect that the space is a special character.

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Foreword

This foreword is not part of the American National Standard ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

Law enforcement and related criminal justice agencies, as well as identity management organizations,

procure equipment and systems intended to facilitate the determination of the personal identity of a

subject or verify the identity of a subject using biometric information. To effectively exchange identity

data across jurisdictional lines or between dissimilar systems made by different manufacturers, a

standard is needed to specify a common format for the data exchange. 

Biometric data refers to a digital or analog representation of a behavioral or physical characteristic of

an individual that can be used by an automated system to distinguish an individual as belonging to a

subgroup of the entire population or in many cases, can be used to uniquely establish or verify the

identity of a person (compared to a claimed or referenced identity). Biometric modalities specifically

included in this standard are: fingerprints, plantars (footprints), palm prints, facial images, DNA and

iris images. Identifying characteristics that may be used manually to establish or verify the identity of

an individual are included in the standard. These identifying characteristics include scars, (needle)

marks, tattoos, and certain characteristics of facial photos, iris images and images of other body parts.

Latent friction ridge prints (fingerprint, palm print and plantars) are included in this standard and may

be used in either an automated system or forensically (or both).

Some data may be stored and/or transmitted in original and/ or processed versions. The image or other

data (such as a video or audio clip) may be ‘raw’ (as captured), compressed, cropped, or otherwise

transformed. An example of processed information is minutiae from friction ridge images. It is

important, therefore, that descriptive information associated be transmitted to the receiving

organization. 

The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST) led the development of this American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved American

National Standard using the NIST Canvass Method to demonstrate evidence of consensus. 

[2013a>] The 2011 version of the standard replaces ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 and ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-

2008 standards and the amendment ANSI/NIST-ITL 1a-2009. The 2013 Update incorporates the

Dental and Voice Supplements to the 2011 version of the standard as well as some other new

material. [<2013a]

[2015a>] The 2015 Update incorporates changes concerning friction ridge impression types and

further de-linkages of the text to NIEM versions, since NIEM has released a new version that is

incompatible with the version used up to 2015 by the standard for XML encoding. [<2015a]

Send suggestions and comments about the standard to:

ANSI/NIST/ITL Standard Editor

NIST

100 Bureau Dr, Mail Stop 8940 

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

or biometrics-editor@nist.gov

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FOR ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

Editor: Brad Wing 

Deputy Editors: Rick Lazarick, John Mayer-Splain, Austin Hicklin, Mike McCabe

Committees Formed at prior ANSI/NIST-ITL revision cycles:

Committee to Define the Extended Feature Set (CDEFFS) : Chair, Austin Hicklin

Ben Bavarian, Cinvent Bouatou, John Burt, Christophe Champod, Yi Chen,

Vladimir Dvornychenko, Jeri Eaton, Brian Finegold, Jean-Christophe Fondeur, Mike Garris,

Ed German, Mike Gilchrist, Paul Griffin, Masanori Hara, Peter Higgins, Tom Hopper, Anil Jain,

Creed Jones, Artour Karaguiozian, Peter Komarinski, Debbie Leben, Bill Long, Davide Maltoni,

Dana Marohn, Brian Martin, John Mayer-Splain, Mike McCabe, Glen McNeil, Steve Meagher,

Dmitry Mikhailov, Elaine Newton, Afzel Noore, Geppy Parzsiale, Wade Petroka, Ann Punter,

Richa Singh, Ron Smith, Greg Soltis, Matt Schwarz, Scott Swann, Elham Tabassi, Cedric

Thuillier, Anne Wang, Phillip Wasserman, Kasey Wertheim, Brian Wong, Stephen Wood

Mobile ID Best Practice Recommendation (BPR) committee:

Co-Chairs, Mike McCabe & Shahram Orandi

Christophe Bas, Oliver Bausinger, Jim Cambier, Greg Cannon, Marco DePalma, Patrick Grother,

Dale Hapeman, Kathy Higgins, Peter Higgins, Tom Hopper, Benji Hutchinson, Fred Jaco, Joseph

Jones, Peter Komarinski, Rick Lazarick, Margaret Lepley, David Lohman, Mike Lesko, Udo

Mahlmeister, Brian Martin, Bonny Scheier, Kristianne Scheier, John Mayer-Splain, Anthony

Mislin, T J Smith, Ambika Suman, Scott Swann, Tim Taylor, Geoff Whitaker, Charles Wilson,

Brad Wing, Andreas Wolf, Patricia Wolfhope

Working Groups Formed at 1st Workshop, July 2010:

DNA: Scott Carey; Deputy Joe Pancaro

Michelle Beckwith, Martha Bodden, Mark Branchflower, Stephen Capo, Andrew Davidson, Julie

Demerest, William Durkin, Matthew Eichler, Michael Fattizzi, Joel Galloway, Will Graves,

Christina Hamilton, Paul Hasson, Susan Hitchin, Rachel Hurst, Benji Hutchinson, Halide Jafer,

Elizabeth Johnson, Jason Johnson, Tracey Johnson, Vinh Lam, Christopher Lee, CJ Lee, Victoria

Lester-Saura, Patrick Lyden, Peggy Manoogian, Chris Miles, Thomas Mills, Victoria

Montemayor, Kristin O'Connor, Mark Perlin, Brian Perry, Kimberly Quinn, Michael Rather,

George Riley, Megan Ryan, Bonny Scheier, Cynthia Shannon, Mandy Sozer, Mary Stone,

Ambika Suman, Cathy Tilton, Diane Stephens, Ambika Suman, Peter Vallone, Brad Wing, Matt

Young

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Plantars: Austin Hicklin

John Mayer-Splain, Brad Wing

Forensic data for face and iris records: Richard Vorder Bruegge

John Mayer-Splain, Brad Wing

Iris record update: Patrick Grother

Dave Ackerman, Ben Bavarian, Jim Cambier, John Daughman, Ed German, Will Graves, Tom

Hopper, Peter Kalocsai, Daehoon Kim, Eric Kukula, Rick Lazarick, Udo Mahlmeister, Samir

Shah, Cathy Tilton, Arun Vemury, Richard Vorder Bruegge, Brad Wing

Information assurance: Eric Albertine; Deputy Zachary Simonetti

Kevin Bullmann, John Mayer-Splain, Joe Pancaro, Bonny Scheier, Cathy Tilton, Brad Wing,

Matt Young

Geographic reference: Bonny Scheier

Brian Finegold, Patrick Grother, Dale Hapeman, Brian Harrig, Kathy Higgins, Anthony Hoang,

John Mayer-Splain, Catherine Plummer, Adam Rosefsky, Charlie Schaeffer, Kristianne Scheier,

Elham Tabassi, Cathy Tilton, Geoff Whitaker, Cathy Wimer, Brad Wing, Matt Young, Polly Yu

Voice: Bonny Scheier

 Joe Campbell, Cathy Higgins, Peter Higgins, John Mayer-Splain, Ryan Lewis, Alvin Martin, 

Hiro Nakasone, Kristianne Scheier, Elham Tabassi, Cathy Tilton, Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo, Jim 

Wayman, Brad Wing, Matt Young

Composite fingerprint images: Mike McCabe

Charles Anning, Mike Barrow, Ben Bavarian, Mike Choudoin, Kevin Fisher, Mike Garris, Tom

Hopper, Fred Jaco, Joe Jones, John Lennox, Mike Lesko, Margaret Lepley, CJ Lee, John Libert,

Mike Matyas, John Mayer-Splain, Shahram Orandi, Adam Rosefsky, T J Smith, Scott Swann,

Elham Tabassi, Arun Vemury, Russ Wilson, Brad Wing, Bastiaan Zetstra

Domain designation / TOT field expansion: Brian Finegold

Ben Bavarian, Kevin Bullman, Will Graves, Austin Hicklin, Scott Hills, Mike McCabe, Timo

Ruhland, Charlie Schaeffer, Bonny Scheier, Jennifer Stathakis, Diane Stephens, Cathy Tilton,

Ryan Triplett, Brad Wing, Matt Young

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Source reference representation / associated context data records: John Mayer-Splain

Ben Bavarian, Kevin Brady, Kevin Bullman, Don D'Amato, Patrick Grother, Austin Hicklin,

Scott Hills, Eric Kukula, Rick Lazarick, Mike McCabe, Ramon Reyes, Adam Rosefsky, Timo

Ruhland, Charlie Schaeffer, Scott Swann, Richard Vorder Bruegge, Brad Wing, Kimberly

Woods, Matt Young

NIEM domain: Anthony Hoang

Will Graves, Rob Mungovan, Catherine Plummer, Charlie Schaeffer, Boris Shur, Jennifer

Stathakis, Cathy Tilton, Arun Vemury, Priscilla Walmsley, Brad Wing

Conformance: Mike Hogan

Dave Benini, Michael Evanoff, Brian Finegold, Will Graves, Patrick Grother, Austin Hicklin,

Scott Hills, CJ Lee, John Mayer-Splain, Mike McCabe, Rob Mungovan, Fernando Podio, Adam

Rosefsky, Justin Smith, Jennifer Stathakis, Scott Swann, Elham Tabassi, Sudhi Umarji,

Kimberly Woods, Brad Wing, Matt Young

Type 10 expansion to other body parts: Timo Ruhland

 Ben Bavarian, Kevin Bullman, Eric Kukula, Richard Vorder Bruegge, Brad Wing

Face best practices : Scott Swann; Deputy John Mayer-Splain

Stephen Bean, Mike Barrow, Ben Bavarian, Mike Evanoff, Ed German, Will Graves, Patrick

Grother, Eb Krone-Schmidt, Eric Kukula, Charlier Schaeffer, Bonny Scheier, Justin Smith,

Ambika Suman, Scott Swann, Mike McCabe, Nick Megan, Chris Miles, T J Smith, Richard

Vorder Bruegge, Geoff Whitaker, Brad Wing, Bastiaan Zetstra

Resolution: John Mayer-Splain

Stephen Bean, Mike Baudouin, Tom Hopper, Eb Krone-Schmidt, Rick Lazarick, Margaret

Lepley, Rick Lazarick, John Libert, Mike McCabe, Ambika Suman, T J Smith, Diane

Stephens, Elham Tabassi, Arun Vemury, Geoff Whitaker, Brad Wing, Bastiaan Zetstra

Traditional encoding documentation: John Mayer-Splain

Brian Finegold, Scott Hills, Mike McCabe, Bonny Scheier, Brad Wing

ULW-annotations: Mike McCabe

Ben Bavarian, Austin Hicklin, John Mayer-Splain, Diane Stephens, Brad Wing, Matthew 

Young

NIEM-conformant XML encoding documentation: Gerry Coleman 

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Kamran Atri, Martha Bodden, Tom D'Agostino, Brian Finegold, Will Graves, Cherie Hayes,

Anthony Hoang, Lynn LaChance, CJ Lee, Mike Matyas, John Mayer-Splain, Laura Myers,

Alan Nash, Sev Nurmaka, Scott Phillips, Catherine Plummer, Bonny Scheier, Marie

Sciocchetti, Boris Shur, Kate Silhol, Jennifer Stathakis, Justin Stekervetz, Sudhi Umarji,

Priscilla Walmsley, Cathy Wimer, Brad Wing, Matt Young, Polly Yu, Patrice Yuh 

[2015e>] The conformance testing methodology and test assertions for the 2011 version are

documented in NIST SP 500-296 R.1 and were developed by the following team: Fernando Podio,

Christofer J. McGinnis and Dylan Yaga. 

The conformance testing methodology framework and assertions for the 2013 version area

documented in NIST SP 500-304, and were developed by Christofer J. McGinnis, Dylan Yaga and

Fernando Podio. [<2015e]

CANVASSEES FOR ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

Note: Canvassee organization names are listed as they were in 2011

3M Cogent, Inc Anne Wang Principal

AFIS & Biometrics Consulting Behnam Bavarian Principal

AFIS & Biometrics Consulting Guy Caldwell Alternate

Arkansas State Police Allan Fitzgerald Alternate

Arkansas State Police Rita Gibson Principal

AuthenTec Mike Chaudoin Principal

Aware, Inc. Scott Hills Alternate

Aware, Inc. Robert Mungovan Principal

Biometric Information Mgmt Michael Powers Principal

Booz Allen Hamilton Gregory Zektser Alternate

Booz Allen Hamilton Abel Sussman Principal

Bundeskriminalamt Christopher Schiel Principal

Cherry Biometrics, Inc. Vincent Panevino Alternate

Cherry Biometrics, Inc. Manfred Schenk Principal

Corvus Integration James Adams Principal

Cross Match Technologies Greg Cannon Principal

Cross Match Technologies Ralph Lessman Alternate

CSC Richard Lazarick Principal

Daon Matt Swayze Alternate

Daon Cathy Tilton Principal

Dataworks Plus Rick Johnson Principal

Dataworks Plus Todd Pastorini Alternate

Datypic, Inc. Priscilla Walmsley Principal

USCIS / Biometrics Division Conrad Zaragoza Principal

Department of Homeland Security / 

S&T Arun Vermury Principal

Department of Homeland Security / 

S&T Chris Miles Alternate

Department of Homeland Security / 

S&T Patricia Wolfhope Alternate

Department of Homeland Security / 

US-VISIT Will Graves Alternate

Department of Homeland Security / 

US-VISIT Diane Stephens Principal

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DHS/Office of the CIO Justin Stekervetz Alternate

DHS/Office of the CIO Anthony Hoang Principal

DoD / BIMA Thomas D'Agostino Principal

DoD / BIMA Brian Harrig Alternate

DoD / BIMA Matt Young Alternate

DoD / BIMA Ryan Triplett Alternate

DOJ - INTERPOL Washington Wayne Towson Alternate

DOJ - INTERPOL Washington Liliana Villa Principal

Easy Marketing S.A. - Guatemala Mario Jerez Principal

FBI- Digital Evidence Laboratory Richard Vorder Bruegge Principal

FBI/BIOMETRICS Center of 

Excellence Scott Carey Alternate

FBI/BIOMETRICS Center of 

Excellence John Manzo Principal

FBI/Information Technology Jennifer Stathakis Alternate

FBI/Information Technology Patrice Yuh Principal

FBI/NGI Mike Evanoff Alternate

FBI/NGI Justin Smith Principal

Florida Department of Law 

Enforcement Charles Schaeffer Principal

Fujitsu UK Alex Bazin Principal

Fujitsu UK Derek Northrop Alternate

Government of Argentina/National 

Office of Information Technologies Pedro Janices Principal

Higgins & Associates, International Peter Higgins Principal

Higgins & Associates, International Kathleen Higgins Alternate

IBG Mike Thieme Principal

IBG Brian Wong Alternate

ID Technology Partners, Inc. Mike McCabe Principal

ID Technology Partners, Inc. Charlie Wilson Alternate

ID Technology Partners, Inc. Mark Jerde Alternate

Komarinski & Associates, LLC Peter Komarinski Principal

Kosovo National Forensic Laboratory Besim Hasanaj Principal

L-1 Identity Solutions

L-1 Identity Solutions

Dan

Brian

Maase

Martin

Principal

Alternate

Lockheed Martin Scott Rogers Alternate

Lockheed Martin David Hagan Principal

Los Angeles Co. Sheriff's Dept. Stephen Bevan Alternate

Los Angeles Co. Sheriff's Dept. Eb Krone-Schmidt Principal

Los Angeles Co. Sheriff's Dept. Shafiq Rahman Alternate

Mentalix, Inc. Dale Remmers Principal

MorphoTrak Mitchell Higashi Alternate

MorphoTrak Ramoncito Reyes Alternate

MorphoTrak (Formerly Sagem 

Morpho) Artour Karaguiozian Principal

MTG Management Consultants Charles Collins Alternate

MTG Management Consultants Terrance Gough Principal

National Policing Improvement 

Agency John Flahive Alternate

National Policing Improvement 

Agency Geoff Whitaker Principal

Nebraska State Patrol Bruce Luhr Principal

NEC Corporation / Japan Shizuo Sakamoto Principal

NEC Corporation of America Steve Dunbar Principal

NEC Corporation of America Joseph Notani Alternate

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Netherlands National Police Agency Bastiaan Zetstra Principal

New York State Division of Criminal 

Justice Services Mary Ann Pelletier Principal

NIST Michael Garris Principal

NIST Shahram Orandi Alternate

NLETS Kathy Silhol Alternate

NLETS Catherine Plummer Principal

Noblis Don D'Amato Alternate

Noblis Brian Finegold Alternate

Noblis Austin Hicklin Alternate

Noblis John Mayer-Splain Principal

NSA Eric Albertine Principal

NSA Zachary Simonetti Alternate

ODNI B. Scott Swann Principal

Raytheon Company Charles Li Principal

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stephane Chretien Alternate

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Mark Labonte Alternate

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Denyse Sencan Alternate

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Tien Vo Principal

SABER Bonny Scheier Principal

SABER Kristianne Scheier Alternate

Siemens Vuk Krivec Principal

Sotera Defense Solutions CJ Lee Alternate

Sotera Defense Solutions Stan Larmee Principal

Texas Dept. of Public Safety Mike Lesko Principal

The Biometric Foundation Paul Collier Principal

The MITRE CORPORATION Mark Burge Alternate

The MITRE CORPORATION Margaret Lepley Principal

The MITRE CORPORATION Nicholas Orlans Alternate

Terrorist Screening Development 

Center Tony Ellis Principal

Terrorist Screening Development 

Center George Flanigan Alternate

Toronto Police Newton Phoon Principal

Trusted Federal Systems Gerry Coleman Alternate

Trusted Federal Systems Cindy Wengert Principal

UAB "Neurotechnology" Alexej Kochetkov Principal

US DOJ Boris Shur Principal

US DOJ Sudhi Umarji Alternate

vIDentity Systems, Inc. Christopher Boyce Alternate

vIDentity Systems, Inc. Alan Viars Principal

Washington State Patrol Michelle Kromm Principal

Warwick Warp Limited Li Wang Principal

Western Identification Network Ken Bischoff Principal

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[2013a>]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for the 2013 Update

General Editor: Brad Wing

Editor for Forensic Dental and Oral data: Kenneth W. Aschheim

 Co-chairs of the working group: Ken Aschheim, Pedro Janices; Virginia Kannemann

ANSI/NIST-ITL Forensic Dental Working Group

Kenneth Aschheim, Kamran Atri, Robert Barsley, Paul Bralower, Sarah Chu, Lynn Clelland, Michael

Colvard, Jay Crowley, Franklin Damann, Frank DePaolo, Robert Dorion, Carla Evans, Brian

Finegold, Adam Freeman, Lisa Fritts, Winnie Furnari, Pedro Janices, Fred Jaco, Cynthia Johnston,

Elisabeth Kalendarian, Virginia Kannemann, Elias Kontanis, John Mayer-Splain, René Pape, David

Senn, William Silver, Justin Smith, Sharon Stanford, Jennifer Stathakis, Warren Tewes, Naeem

Ullah, Richard Weledniger, Jason Wiersema, Cathy Wimer and Brad Wing.

The Dental and Oral Supplement was prepared by a joint group comprised of the Forensic Dental

Working Group of ANSI/NIST-ITL, co-chaired by Pedro Janices and Virginia Kannemann of the

Argentine National Office of Information Technologies (which originally proposed the development

of a forensics dental record for the standard4); and by the American Dental Association Standards

Committee on Dental Informatics Working Group 10.12 Forensic Odontology Informatics, chaired by

Kenneth Aschheim. He not only served as editor of the ANSI/NIST-ITL material, but also for the ADA

Standard Number 1058, which forms the core of much of the capabilities of Record Type-12. It is

largely due to his continued stewardship of both groups and his ability to reach out to all parts of the

forensic dental community that this project has come to fruition.

There was extensive coordination with: American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS)

Odontology Section; the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO); the American Board of

Orthodontics (ABO), American Society of Forensic Odontology (ASFO); American Dental

Association (ADA); American Dental Hygienists' Association; Department of Defense (DoD),

including the Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency and the National Museum of Health and

Medicine; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – including the Biometrics Center of Excellence

(BCOE), the Criminal Justice Information Center (CJIS) and the National Crime Information Center

(NCIC); Harris County Medical Examiners (Texas); International Association for Identification (IAI);

INTERPOL; Louisiana State University School of Dentistry; Maryland Office of the Chief Medical

Examiner; Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department; National Institute of Justice (NIJ) –

including NamUs; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); New York City Office of

the Chief Medical Examiner – including UVIS/UDIM; Plass Data; Québec Ministère de la Sécurité

publique; Scientific Working Group for Disaster Victim Identification (SWGDVI); University of

Illinois at Chicago School of Dentistry; University of Texas Health Sciences Center; and WinID.

4

 See http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/standard/ansi_2011/WORKSHOP/kannmann-dentistry.pdf

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Editor for Forensic and Investigatory Voice: Jim Wayman

Investigatory Voice Biometric Committee (IVBC)

Joseph Campbell, Carson Dayley, Craig Greenberg, Peter Higgins, Alysha Jeans, Ryan Lewis, Jim

Loudermilk, Kenneth Marr, Alvin Martin, Hirotaka Nakasone, Mark Przybocki (Chair), Vince

Stanford, Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo, James Wayman, Brad Wing.

 ANSI/NIST-ITL Voice Working Group

Kristin Allen, Jeremiah Bruce, Lynn Clelland, Lindsey Crookshanks, Lisa Fritts, Brian Finegold,

Patrick Gibbs, Craig Greenberg, Martin Herman, Peter Higgins, Kathy Higgins, Alexey Khitrov,

Brendan Klare, Ken Marr, Bill Michael, Larry Nadel, Hiro Nakasone, Marina Nastasenro, Anastasia

Pavlovic, Mark Przybocki (Chair), Mary Rendel, John Roberts, Bonnie Scheier (Original Chair),

Vince Stanford, Jennifer Stathakis, Reva Schwartz, Carolyn Taborini, Cathy Tilton, An (Mike) Tran,

Ryan Triplett, Jim Wayman, Cathy Wimer, Brad Wing.

Work on a proposed Supplement for voice data evolved out of the NIST / FBI co-sponsored ‘US

Government Interagency Symposium for Investigatory Voice Biometrics’ which occurred in 2009.

The Symposium created four working groups, one of which dealt with interoperability. That working

group's report stated: “One of the fundamental goals of the Symposium on Investigatory Voice

Biometrics was to initiate ‘a multi-year program to develop investigatory voice biometric collection

and interoperability standards’”. That Working Group recommended the further examination of

adding a voice data capability to the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard. Subsequent to that Symposium, the

FBI’s Biometric Center of Excellence (BCOE) initiated a multi-year sponsorship to form the

Investigatory Voice Biometric Committee (IVBC) in collaboration with the NIST to define the U.S.

government agency’s technical requirements for voice data collection, transmission format, and

analysis. One of its key recommendations was to develop a standardized approach for voice data

exchange. 

Concurrently, certain stakeholders involved in the ANSI/NIST-ITL process had recognized the need

for a standardized way to exchange voice data. An ANSI/NIST-ITL working group was formed in

2010 to develop text for inclusion in the standard, under the leadership of Bonny Scheier. That

working group agreed that the 2011 update to the standard would proceed without a new voice

record, since there was still substantial work to be done in creating a new record type. Note that the

record for the 2010 workshop recognized the need for a voice record by establishing a placeholder for

a new voice record type (http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi-nist_2010-archive.cfm). The Workshop

summary (http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/standard/ansi-overview_2010/Summary.pdf)

notes that a working group would further pursue development of a new Voice data record type.

The IVBC developed the first draft of the Type-11 record. In August, 2012, the IVBC turned over its

work to a newly re-formed ANSI/NIST-ITL Voice Working Group, in order to allow participation of a

wider group in the development process. It is the result of the combined work of all of these groups

that this Supplement was produced. The development of Record Type-11 owes much to the dedicated

effort of Jim Wayman, who served as editor throughout the process, and to Hiro Nakasone, who

directed the IVBC activity and championed the development of the Supplement.

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CANVASSEES For the 2013 Update

Organization Name

(in 2013) Principal's Name Alternate 1's Name Other Alternate Name(s)

3M Cogent Anne Wang

Accenture Daniel Bachenheimer

American Academy of 

Forensic Sciences -- 

Odontology Section

 Paula Brumit

American Board of 

Forensic Odontology Adam Freeman

American Dental 

Association Sharon Stanford Paul Bralower

American Dental 

Hygienists' Association Winnie Furnari

Applied Image, Inc. Bruno Glavich Natalie Russo

Australia Department 

of Immigration and 

Citizenship

 David Chadwick Robin Gray

Biometric Information 

Management Benjamin Powers Michael Powers

Bundeskriminalamt 

(Germany) Kevin Bullmann Christopher Schiel

Cherry Biometrics, Inc. Michael Cherry Manfred Schenk

Corvus Integration, Inc. James Adams William Willis

Crossmatch Greg Cannon Ralph Lessmann

CrossResolve LLC Valerie Evanoff

CSC Richard Lazarick

Daon Catherine Tilton Matt Swayze

Defense Forensics and

Biometrics Agency Ryan Triplett Brian Harrig

DHS - USCIS / 

Biometrics Division Halide Jafer Leslie Hope David Campognolo

DHS OBIM Diane Stephens

DigitalPersona Mike Choudoin Vance Bjorn

DoD P.M. Biometrics William Graves

Ejada Systems Suliman Abakar

FBI / BCOE Roy Bowlen Jerry Marco

FBI Standards Group Catherine Wimer Cherie Hayes

FBI / CJIS / NGIPO Jennifer Stathakis Justin Smith

Fujitsu Derek Northrope Alex Bazin

Government of 

Argentina / National 

Office of Information 

Technologies

 Pedro Janices

Consultant to 

Government of 

Argentina

Virginia Kannemann

IBG Brian Wong Michael Thieme

IBM Corporation Charles Li

IDTP Robert McCabe Paul Collier

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Organization Name

(in 2013) Principal's Name Alternate 1's Name Other Alternate Name(s)

International 

Organization for 

Forensic OdontoStomatology

 Vilma Pinchi Francesco Pradella

Joint POW / MIA 

Accounting Command Calvin Hiroshima

Kenneth W. Aschheim 

and Yakir Arteaga DDS

PC

 Kenneth W. Aschheim 

Louisiana State 

University Robert Barsley

Miami-Dade Police 

Department Forensic 

Services Bureau

 Stephanie Stoloff Colleen Carbine

MIT Lincoln Laboratory Joseph Campbell Pedro Torres-Carrasquillo

MorphoTrak Afsaw Yednekachew

MorphoTrust Benji Hutchinson

MWA Enterprises, Inc. Melissa Winesburg-Ankrom

NavMar Applied 

Sciences Corp An X. Tran

NEC Corporation of 

America Stephen Dunbar John Dowden

Neurotechnology 

(Lithuania) Alexej Kochetkov

NIST / Image Group Mike Garris Shahram Orandi

NIST / Office of Law 

Enforcement Support Robert Thompson

Noblis John Mayer-Splain Kristin Allen

Hans Carlson; 

Brian Finegold;

Nat Hall;

Austin Hicklin;

Eric Kukula;

Larry Nadel;

Ted Unnikumaran;

Rachel Wallner

Northrop Grumman 

Information Systems Mark E. Jones

Office of the Chief 

Medical Examiner, 

State of Maryland

 Warren Tewes

Operational 

Technology Division - 

FBI

 Hirotaka Nakasone

Philadelphia Medical 

Examiners Office Sheila Dashkow

RCMP - Biometrics 

Business Solutions 

(Canada)

 Tien Vo Elaine Lowe

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Organization Name

(in 2013) Principal's Name Alternate 1's Name Other Alternate Name(s)

RCMP - National 

Forensic Identification 

Specialized Support 

Services (NFISS)

 Tony McCulloch

San Jose State 

University Jim Wayman Stephen Lee

Sotera Defense 

Solutions Matthew Young Stan Larmee C J Lee

Symbolic Systems, Inc. Frank Ponzio Ron Ralph

U.S. Secret Service Reva Schwartz

UK Home Office 

Centre for Applied 

Science and 

Technology

 Geoff Whitaker Ambika Suman

UK Police ICT 

Company Directorate John Flahive

UK Home Office IT 

IABS Design Authority Nick Upton Richard Garner

University of Alabama 

School of Dentistry Richard Weems

University of Notre 

Dame Patrick Flynn

University of Texas 

Health Science Center 

at San Antonio

 David Senn

WinID Jim McGivney John Filippi

[<2013a]

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[2015a>]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for the 2015 Update

General Editor: Kevin Mangold (formerly Brad Wing)

Administrative Editor: Pat Flanagan

There were two working groups established to assist in the 2015 update: 

• Friction Ridge Issues

• XML Issues 

Chair of the Friction Ridge Issues Working Group: Greg Cannon

Friction Ridge Issues Working Group:

Daniel Asraf, Tom Buss, Stephen Dunbar, Brian Finegold, Mike Garris, Rick Lazarick, Bill Long,

Mike McCabe, Anthony Misslin, Christopher Shiel, Jennifer Stathakis, Scott Swann, Anne Wang,

Geoff Whitaker, Brad Wing

Chair of the XML Issues Working Group: Will Graves

XML Issues Working Group:

Kamran Atri, Bruce Bandini, Greg Cannon, Angela Dormagen, Brian Finegold, Cherie Hayes, C.J.

McGinnis, Anthony Misslin, Christopher Schiel, Jennifer Stathakis, Rachel Wallner, Cathy Wimer,

Brad Wing, Dylan Yaga

And special thanks to Jim Cambier, Greg Cannon, Pat Flanagan, Mike Garris, C J McGinnis, John

Mayer Spain, Jennifer Stathakis, Rachel Wallner and Dylan Yaga for their assistance to the editor in

preparing the text. 

Following publication of this Update, a working group is to be established that will generate the XML

encodings. 

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CANVASSEES For the 2015 Update

Organization Name 

(in 2015)

Principal's Name Alternate 1's Name Other Alternate Name(s)

3M Anne Wang

American Dental 

Association

Sharon Stanford

Booz Allen Hamilton Ryan Triplett Jennifer Coulture Adam Dale

Cherry Biometrics Michael Cherry Manfred Schenk

Compass Technical 

Consulting, LLC

Steven Tomanovich

Corvus Integration James Adams William Willis

CrossMatch Greg Cannon Ralph Lessmann

Cross Resolve Valerie Evanoff

CSC Catherine Tilton Richard Lazarick

Dept. of Defense, Defense

Forensics and Biometrics 

Agency (DFBA)

Steve Cuffee Brian Harrig Kuldip Acharya

Dept. of Defense, PM 

Biometrics

William Graves

Dept. of Homeland 

Security- OBIM

Diane Stephens Kamran Atri Shuchita Bora

FBI BCOE Jennifer Stathakis Justin Smith

FBI Laboratory Jeffery Carlyle Kate Knorr

FBI CJIS Catherine Wimer

FBI CODIS Kevin Ellis

FBI Operational 

Technology Division

Hirotaka Nakasone

Florida Law Enforcement Charles Schaeffer

Fujutsu Consulting Derek Northrope

Higgins and Associates, 

International

Peter Higgins

IBM Charles Li

Identity E2E Ltd. Richard Garner

IDTP Michael McCabe C J McGinnis

Integrated Biometrics Tom Buss

International Organization 

for Forensic OdontoStomatology

Vilms Pinchi Francesco Pradella

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Organization Name 

(in 2015)

Principal's Name Alternate 1's Name Other Alternate Name(s)

LEIDOS Patrick Gibbs

Louisiana State University Robert Barsley Paul Bralower

Maryland – Office of the 

Chief Medical Examiner

Warren Tewes

Michigan State Police Amanda Noxon

Morpho-MorphoTrak Peter Lo

MorphoTrust Andria Legon Paige Bowlus

Nebraska State Police Bruce Luhr Chris Neukirch

NEC Corporation of 

America

John Dowden

NEC Japan Shizuo Sakamoto

NIST – Image Group Craig Watson

Noblis John Mayer-Splain Kristen Allen Hans Carlson, Brian 

Finegold, Nat Hall, Austin 

Hicklin, Eric Kukula, Ted 

Unnikumaran, Rachel 

Wallner

Northrup Grumman Corp Mark Jones Lore Brady John Wnek

Novetta Michael Thieme

Royal Canadian Mounted 

Police

Thomas Maeder Mark Labonte

San Jose State University James Wayman

Symbolic Systems Frank Ponzio Ron Ralph

UK Home Office 

Technology Biometrics 

Programme

John Flahive

UK Centre for Applied 

Science and Technology

Geoff Whitaker Ambika Suman

WinID Jim McGivney John Filippi

[<2015a]

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Introduction

Information compiled and formatted in accordance with this standard may be recorded using machinereadable media and may be transmitted by data communication facilities. Law enforcement, criminal

justice agencies, and other organizations that process biometric data use the standard to exchange identity

data such as images of fingerprints, palm prints, plantars, faces, iris and other body parts including scars,

marks and tattoos (SMT). Marks, as used in this standard, means needle marks typical of drug use. The

term ‘marks’ in some nations denotes what is called ‘latent prints’ in the terminology of this standard. The

standard also allows the exchange of forensic markups of images of faces, irises, other body parts, and

latent friction ridge prints.

The first version of this standard, ANSI/NBS-ICST 1-1986, was published by NIST (formerly the National

Bureau of Standards) in 1986. It was a fingerprint minutiae-based standard. Revisions to the standard

were made in 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2007. Updates to the standard are designed to be backward

compatible, with new versions including additional information. All of those versions use “Traditional”

encoding. In 2008, ‘NIEM-conformant encoding’ using Extensible Markup Language (XML) was

adopted. NIEM, the National Information Exchange Model, is a partnership of the U.S. Department of

Justice and Department of Homeland Security. NIEM is designed to provide a common semantic

approach in XML applications. With some minor exceptions, the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard

are equivalent except for the encoding format. In 2009, an amendment to the 2007 and 2008 versions was

approved that extended codes to handle multiple finger capture. 

The 2011 version of the standard does not restrict encoding to any particular format. However, in cases

where an alternative encoding (i.e, other than Traditional or NIEM-conformant XML) is used, the sending

and receiving parties shall document encoding rules and assumptions. 

This standard defines the structure and format of the records contained in a transaction that may be 

transmitted to another site or agency. An ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction is called a file in Traditional 

encoding and an Exchange Package in XML encoding.

A transaction is comprised of records. Each Record Type is defined in this standard. Certain portions of

the transaction may be in accordance with definitions provided by the receiving agency, as described in

the standard. 

[2015a>] The 2015 Update specifically generalizes the XML encoding instructions, since NIEM has

introduced a new version that is incompatible with previous versions of NIEM. There are two

schemas for the 2015 Update available on the standard's website – one for NIEM 2.1 (which was used

in previous versions of the standard) and one based on NIEM 3.1. To handle this, several

modifications have been made to the Annexes in order to refer to external files that can be updated

without causing a revision to the standard each time that NIEM is changed. [<2015a]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

1 Scope

This standard defines the content, format, and units of measurement for the electronic

exchange of fingerprint, palm print, plantar, facial/mugshot, scar, mark & tattoo (SMT), iris,

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and other biometric sample and forensic information that

may be used in the identification or verification process of a subject. The information

consists of a variety of mandatory and optional items. This information is primarily intended

for interchange among criminal justice administrations or organizations that rely on

automated identification systems or use other biometric and image data for identification

purposes. 

[2013a>] One transaction may pertain to a specific subject, or contain information for

multiple subjects. The definition for a given transaction should specify clearly whether

all records apply to a single subject (such as in a criminal arrest transaction), have

multiple records each of which applies to a different subject (such as a search result

transaction), or have records that themselves contain multiple subjects (such as a Type11 recording with multiple speakers). [<2013a]

2 Conformance to the standard

2.1 Verbal forms for the expression of provisions

The following terms are used in this standard to indicate mandatory requirements,

recommended options, or permissible actions.

• The terms “shall” and “shall not” indicate requirements to be followed strictly in

order to conform to this standard and from which no deviation is permitted.

• The terms “should” and “should not” indicate that among several possibilities one is

recommended as particularly suitable, without mentioning or excluding others, or

that a certain course of action is preferred but not necessarily required, or that (in the

negative form) a certain possibility or course of action is discouraged but not

prohibited.

• The terms “may” and “need not” indicate a course of action permissible within the

limits of this standard.

A system is conformant to this standard if it is capable of generating or using transactions

that are morphologically, syntactically and semantically conformant to the requirements of

this standard. Transactions shall consist of one Type-1 record and one or more of the Type2 to Type-99 records. For the structure of a transaction, see Section 5.1. For a description

of the Record Types, see Section 5.3. Prior versions of the standard only required a Type-1

record. 

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

2.2 Morphological (Level 1) conformance

Morphological5 conformance deals with the form and structure of the internal content and

verifies data structures exist and have allowable values. Specifically, it checks for the

structure and value of each field, subfield and information item in a transaction.

A transaction conforms morphologically to this standard if it satisfies all of the normative

morphological requirements related to its data structure and data values, as specified

throughout Section 7 Information associated with several records and Section 8 Record

type specifications. If the system claims conformance with a particular encoding, then it

shall satisfy the requirements of either Annex B: Traditional encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant encoding rules, as appropriate.

Table 1 Excerpt from Table 36: Type-9 record layout

Traditional format requires the data in binary form (not text) with a fixed byte length6; therefore the character min and max values are

the same for traditional format (denoted by T= value). They are expressed in bytes. For XML, the min and max values are the

character count (denoted by X= value). 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

4.004 FGP

FRICTION RIDGE 

GENERALIZED 

POSITION

M 

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

T=1

X=3

0 < FGP < 15 or

FGP = 255

 non-negative

integer

See Table 9

T = 6;

X= 1 6

The excerpt above is taken from Table 36 Type-4 record layout. Notice the “Value

Constraints” column. See Section 8 Record type specifications for an explanation of the

entries in this type of table. 

This example illustrates conformance of the data values:

• Valid values for Field 4.004: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP are

shown in Table 36. Testing this type of conformance for Field 4.004 involves

verifying that the value for FGP is zero or that it is a positive integer less than or

5

[2013e>] Morphological and Syntactical header labels were reversed in these sections in the 2011 text.

The explanatory text was correct. [<2013e]

6

[2013e>] Revised character type for Traditional format to Binary. [<2013e]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

equal to 15 or that it is equal to 255. A value of 10 is conformant; however, a

value of 250 is not conformant. A value of 4.25 is not conformant since it is not

an an integer, has more than 3 characters, contains a special character (the period

is not allowed in numeric data – shown as “N” in the 'Character Type' column),

and the value is not in Table 9.

Table 2 Excerpt from Table 118: Type-19 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

19.024

FQM

FRICTION RIDGE - 

PLANTAR PRINT 

QUALITY METRIC

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 FRMP

 friction ridge metric 

position 

M↑ N 2 2

60 < FRMP < 79

positive integer

1 1

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or

255 

non-negative

integer

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification

M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

M↑ N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

The excerpt above is taken from Table 118 Type-19 record layout. This excerpt illustrates

a field with repeating subfields that each contain four mandatory information items. (See

Section 5.1 Structure of a transaction for information about fields, subfields and

information items). If the transaction contains a Type-19 record with Field 19.024: Friction

ridge - plantar print quality metric / FQM present, then QAP shall be present in each

subfield. If QAP is not present in a subfield, then the field would not be morphologically

conformant. (The same applies to FRMP, QVU and QAV). Another example of nonconformance is to have 10 instances of the subfield within the field. 

2.3 Syntactical (Level 2) conformance

Syntactical82 conformance deals with explicit requirements that check for internal

consistency and ensure that values are compatible with this standard. Specifically,

syntactical conformance checks for the relationships between fields, subfields, or

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information items within a transaction to other values within the same transaction as

specified in this standard.

Transactions that claim syntactical conformance to this standard shall satisfy all of the

normative requirements related to the relationships between fields, subfields, or information

items as described in Sections 7 and 8 for each implemented record type. If the system

claims conformance with a particular encoding, then it shall satisfy the syntactical

requirements of either Annex B: Traditional encoding or Annex C: NIEM-conformant

encoding rules, as appropriate.

An example of this type of conformance is:

• [2013a>] Field 17.026: Iris diameter / IRD is restricted to values between

10 and 9999, inclusive. A value of 200 for Field 17.026 is in the allowable

range for IRD and would therefore be morphologically conformant.

[<2013a] However, if Field 17.031: Subject acquisition profile – iris /

IAP is 40, then Field 17.026: Iris diameter / IRD shall be greater than or

equal to 210. (See Table 15 for IAP constraints by level). Testing for

syntactical conformance involves comparing values within a transaction,

therefore, if IAP is 40, an IRD value of 200 is not syntactically conformant.

2.4 Semantic (Level 3) conformance

Semantic conformance checks if the biometric transaction is a faithful representation of the

parent biometric data and ensures requirements are satisfied that are not merely syntactical

or morphological. Individual fields may have explicit semantic requirements in addition to

syntactic requirements.

Transactions that claim semantic conformance to this standard shall satisfy the semantic

requirements, as described in Sections 7 and 8 of this standard, for each implemented record

type.

Some examples of semantic conformance are: 

• For a Type-9 minutiae record, there is a minutia corresponding to each set of

coordinates (x, y, t) of the location encoded in the record. See Section 5.1 for a

description of transactions, records and fields.

• For a Type-10 record, a subject acquisition profile (SAP) level-50 image shall

comply with semantic requirements including the position and size of the face

within the image, angle of view, and lighting. See Section 7.7.5.1 for the face

SAP specifications.

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

3 Normative references

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this standard.

For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition

of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies. All standards are subject to

revision, and parties using this American National Standard are encouraged to investigate

the possibility of applying the most recent versions of the standards indicated below.

AAMVA International Specification – DL/ID Card Design. It is available at 

http://www.aamva.org/2013DLIDCardDesignStandard/

[2013d>]

American Board of Forensic Odontology, Diplomates Reference Manual. It is available

at http://www.abfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ABFO-Reference-Manual1-22-2013-revision.pdf

ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058, Forensic Dental Data Set. It is available at

http:webstore.ansi.org 

ANSI/ADA Specification No. 1067 Standard Functional Requirements for an

Electronic Dental Record System. It is available at http:webstore.ansi.org

ANSI/ADA Specification No. 3950, Designation System for Teeth and Areas of the

Oral Cavity. It is available at http:webstore.ansi.org This contains the same

information as: ISO 3950:2009 Dentistry – Designation system for teeth and areas of

the oral cavity. It is available at http://www.iso.org/

[<2013d]

ANSI X3.4-1986 (R1992), Information Systems --- Coded Character Sets --- 7-Bit

American National Standard Code for Information Interchange (7-Bit ASCII).

7

ANSI/EIA - 538-1988 Facsimile Coding Schemes and Coding Control Functions for

Group 4 Facsimile Equipment.7

ANSI/IAI 2-1988, Forensic Identification --- Automated Fingerprint Identification

Systems --- Glossary of Terms and Acronyms. It is available at

https://www.theiai.org/publications/

ANSI/INCITS 398 The Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework. It is

available at http://www.incits.org

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, NIST Special Publication 500-271, Data Format for the

7 ANSI and ISO documents are available from the American National Standards Institute, 11 West 42nd 

Street, New York, NY 10036.

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Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial and Other Biometric Information – Part 1. 8

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008, NIST Special Publication 500-271, Data Format for the

Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial and Other Biometric Information – Part 2: XML

Version.8

ANSI/NIST ITL 1-2011 NIEM IEPD Exchange and Subset Schemas8

[2013n>]

ANSI/NIST ITL 1-2011 Update:2013 NIEM IEPD Exchange and Subset Schemas8

[<2013n]

[2013a>]

Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, Part 58, 21CFR58, Title 21 Food and Drugs, 

Chapter I – Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human 

Services, Subchapter A, Part 58, Good Laboratory Practice for Nonclinical Laboratory

Studies. It is available at www.accessdata.fda.gov

[<2013a]

Department of Defense, Office of GEOINT Sciences (SN), Coordinate Systems Analysis

Branch, Military Grid Reference System. It is available at 

 http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/grids/mgrs.doc 

Federal Bureau of Investigation; The Science of Fingerprints; Rev 12-84; ISBN 0-16-

076078-X. It is available online at Project Gutenberg 

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19022 and from the Government Printing Office 

http://bookstore.gpo.gov/actions/GetPublication.do?stocknumber=027-001-00033-5.

FBI CJIS, Personal Identity Verification (PIV): Image Quality Specifications for Single

Finger Capture Devices, 10 July 2006.

9

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication, FIPS PUB 180-3, Secure Hash

Standard (SHS), October 2008. It is available at

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsFIPS.html#fips180-4 

NGI-DOC-01078-x.x Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Electronic Biometric

Transmission Specification (EBTS). 9

IAFIS-IC-0110 (V3.1) WSQ Gray-scale Fingerprint Image Compression Specification,

October 4, 2010. 9

IEC 61966-2-4, Multimedia systems and equipment – Colour measurement and

management – Part 2-4 Colour management – Extended-gamut YCC colour space for

video applications – xcYCC. It is available at http://webstore.iec.ch

8

 ANSI/NIST-ITL documents are available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm

9

 These documents are available at https://www.fbibiospecs.cjis.gov

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[2013v>]

IEEE 754-2008, IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic. It is available at 

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=4610933

[<2013v]

INCITS 378-2009, Information Technology - Finger Minutiae Format for

Data Interchange. 7

INCITS 378-2009/AM1-2010, Information Technology - Finger Minutiae

Format for Data Interchange .

7

International Biometrics & Identification Association, CBEFF Registry, It is available at

http://www.ibia.org/cbeff/

International Civil Aviation Organization, Document 9303, Machine Readable Travel 

Documents. It is available at http://www.icao.int/publications/pages/publication.aspx?

 docnum=9303

International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Committee No. 100: Audio, Video

and Multimedia Systems and Equipment, Project Team 61966: Colour Measurement

and Management in Multimedia Systems and Equipment, IEC/4WD 61966-2-1: Colour

Measurement and Management in Multimedia Systems and Equipment - Part 2-1:

Default RGB Colour Space – sRGB, available at

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iec:61966:-2-2:ed-1:v1:en

Internet Society, Internet Engineering Task Force, The Base16, Base32, and Base64 

Data Encodings. It is available at: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648

Internet Society, Network Working Group. The Ogg Encapsulation Format. It is

available at http://xiph.org/ogg/doc/rfc3533.txt.

[2013v>]

ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages – Part 3 : Alpha3

code for comprehensive coverage of languages.7

[<2013v]

ISO 3166-1, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – 

Part 1: Country codes.7

ISO 8601-1988, Data Elements and Interchange Formats - Information Interchange 

Representation of Dates and Times.

7

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), JPEG File Interchange Format, Version 1.02.

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Available at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/JPEG/jfif3.pdf 

ISO/IEC 646, Information technology – ISO 7-bit coded character set for information 

exchange.

7

ISO/IEC 10918, Information technology -- Digital compression and coding of

continuous-tone still images: Requirements and guidelines.

7

[2013d>]

ISO 12052:2006 Health informatics – Digital imaging and communication in medicine

(DICOM) including workflow and data management. It is available at

http://www.iso.org/. This is also known as National Electrical Manufacturers

Association (NEMA) PS3 Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM).

It is available at http://medical.nema.org/standard.html

[<2013d]

ISO/IEC 14496-2, MPEG4 Feature Points, Annex C.

7

ISO/IEC 15444-1, JPEG 2000, Information Technology - Digital Compression and

Coding of Continuous-Tone Still Images Part 1: Requirements and Guidelines.

7

ISO/IEC 15444-2, Information technology — JPEG 2000 image coding system:

Extension, available at: http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?

csnumber=33160

ISO/IEC 15948:2004 Information Technology -- Computer graphics and image

processing -- Portable Network Graphics (PNG): Functional specification.7

[2013v>]

ITU-T G.711 (11/88) with Amendment 1 (08/09) and Amendment 2 (11/09), including 

Appendix 1 (09/99) and Appendix 2 (02/00), Pulse code modulation (PCM) of voice 

frequencies. It is available at http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.711/e

 [<2013v]

MTR 04B0000022 (Mitre Technical Report), Margaret Lepley, Profile for 1000 ppi

Fingerprint Compression, Version 1.1, April 2004. It is available at:

 http://www.fbibiospecs.cjis.gov/Document/Get?fileName=J2K1000 .pdf

National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Code Manual. It is available at: 

https://www.oregon.gov/osp/CJIS/docs/NCIC Manuals/2015/NCIC Code Manual 

Full.pdf

[2013d>]

National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) PS3 Digital Imaging and

Communications in Medicine (DICOM). It is available at

http://medical.nema.org/standard.html

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[<2013d] 

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, World Geodetic System 1984, WGS 84. The

latest version is applicable. It is described at http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/wgs84/

[2013n>] 

National Information Exchange Model, Normative Specifications. The normative

specifications are available at: www.niem.gov/technical/Pages/references-specs.aspx

 [<2013n] 10

National Institute of Standards and Technology, NISTIR 7300, NIST Fingerprint Image

Quality (NFIQ) Conformance Test, February 2005. It is available at:

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/nbis.cfm#NFIQ

National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication 800-76,

Biometric Data Specification for Personal Identity Verification. [2013a>] NIST SP

800-76 was updated in 2013 as NIST Special Publication 800-76-2. It is available at 

http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-76-2 [<2013a] 

[2013a>] 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication 500-289,

Compression Guidance for 1000 ppi Friction Ridge Imagery. It is available at

http://www.nist.gov/publication-portal.cfm Enter “500-289” in the 'Simple text

search' to retrieve the document. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST Special Publication 1134, EFS

Profile Specification. It can be downloaded from

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.1134.pdf

[<2013a]

Personal Identity Verification (PIV): Image Quality Specifications for Single Finger

Capture Devices.9

Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology

(SWGFAST), Standards for examining friction ridge impressions and resulting

conclusions. It is available at: http://www.swgfast.org/Documents.html

The United States Code of Federal Regulations , Title 21 Section 58. (21 CFR 58). (It

states the industry standard for DNA sequencing.) It is available at:

https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/CFR-2011-title21-vol1/CFR-2011-title21-vol1-part58

10 [2013n>] The references to specific NIEM documents were removed, and replaced with a reference to

the set of NIEM normative specifications, which may be updated on a different cycle than ANSI/NISTITL. [<2013n]

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The Unicode Consortium, The Unicode Standard, Version 6.0 – Core Specification. It is

available at http://www.Unicode.org/versions/Unicode6.0.0/

W3C Extensible Markup (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition), World Wide Web Consortium. It is 

available at: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/

W3C XML Schema (Second Edition), World Wide Web Consortium. It is available in 

two parts at: http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/ and 

http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2

4 Terms and definitions

The following definitions and those given in the American National Standard Automated

Fingerprint Identification Systems --- Glossary of Terms and Acronyms, ANSI/IAI 2-

1988, apply to this standard.

[2013v>] 

 μ-law

A companding algorithm used in North America and Japan that optimizes an analog

telephone band signal while digitizing. 

 3G2

A container format used for multimedia applications. It was developed by the Third

Generation Partnership Project 2(3GPP2) and is similar to 3GP. 

 3GP

A container format used for multimedia applications. It was developed by the Third

Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is used on 3G mobile phones, and some 2G

and 4G phones.

 [<2013v]

AABB

The American Association of Blood Banks.

AAMVA

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

[2013d>] 

 ABFO 

The American Board of Forensic Odontology 

 ABFO # 2 Reference Scale

A right angle ruler designed by the ABFO that is used for patterned injury imagery. It

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includes three circles that are useful to determine distortion due to photography at

different angles. The ruler itself is manufactered by several different sources. The

correct name is the ABFO #2 Reference Scale, but it is commonly known as the ABFO

# 2 ruler. 

 ABO

The American Board of Orthodontics 

 [<2013d] [2013v>] 

 acoustic signal

Pressure waves in a media that have information content.

 [<2013v] [2013d>] 

 ADA

The American Dental Association 

[<2013d]

AFIS

Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

[2013v>] 

 AGC

Automatic gain control is an adaptive system that effectively reduces the amplitude or

energy of an audio signal if it is strong and raises it when it is weaker. 

 AIFF

The Audio Interchange File Format stores audio data in uncompressed pulse-code

modulation (PCM). The file extensions commonly used are '.aiff' and 'aif'. There is a

compressed variant which has the extension '.aifc', but in reality, sometimes a

compressed version is stored with the file extension '.aiff'. See http://wwwmmsp.ece.mcgill.ca/Documents/AudioFormats/AIFF/Docs/AIFF-1.3.pdf 

 A-law

A companding algorithm used outside of North America and Japan that optimizes an

analog telephone band signal while digitizing. 

[<2013v]

allele 

One member of a series of possible alternative forms of a DNA sequence found at a

particular genetic location.

allele call

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The value identified for the allele, either via expert system or by an analyst.

ANSI

The American National Standards Institute, Inc.

[2013d>]

 antemortem

Prior to death. 

[<2013d]

Appendix F certified devices

This refers to devices that have successfully completed a test of fingerprint capture

devices that is performed in accordance with procedures established by the FBI in

EBTS Appendix F. [2013a>] See https://www.fbibiospecs.cjis.gov for Appendix F,

CJIS Image Quality Specifications. [<2013a] The listing of approved devices is

available at https://www.fbibiospecs.cjis.gov

ASCII

The American National Standard Code for Information Interchange.

ASCLD

The American Association of Crime Lab Directors.

[2013v>] 

 assigned voice

A voice to which an identifier has been attached. The identifier may or may not point

to the person with that voice. For instance, the voice of an unknown speaker that has

been previously encountered can be considered an 'assigned voice' by attaching an

identifier to it in earlier transactions.

 [<2013v]

aspect ratio

The width-to-height ratio of a pixel or the captured image.

[2013v>]

 audio signal

Information in analog or digital form that contains acoustic content (voice or otherwise)

 audio recording

A stored audio signal capable of being transduced into an acoustic signal.

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 automatic speech recognition

The process or technology which accepts speech as input and determines what was

spoken.11

[<2013v] [2013a>] 

 BCOE

The FBI's Biometric Center of Excellence. 

[<2013a]

BDB

Biometric Data Block used in CBEFF.

[2013a>] 

 C-216C

Form C-216C is a fingerprint form used in Canada to have background record checks

performed. See https://reliabilityscreening.ca/downloads/RCMP_GRC_C216C_Form.pdf

[<2013a]

CBEFF

Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework. It provides a set of definitions used

to exchange biometric data in a standardized manner. It forms the basis for Type-99

records.

CDEFFS

Committee to Define an Extended Fingerprint Feature Set.

[2013a>] 

 CIE

The International Commission on Illumination. The color space that they defined is

called CIELab. They have also developed a metric for color distance called ΔE1976

(Delta E) with 1976 indicating the version of the formula. They have developed more

detailed and precise distance metrics in later years. For more information, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_difference. 

CJIS

The Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the FBI. 

11See definitions developed by the IEEE Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing Society as presented in 

David S. Pallett, Performance Assessment of Automatic Speech Recognizers, Journal of Research of the 

National Bureau of Standards, Volume 90, Number 5, September-October 1985.

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[<2013a]

class resolution 

The value of resolution (scanning or nominal) used to name (or identify) an acquisition

process or image, where the resolution is within a specified tolerance around that value.

Example: A scanner is referred to as “500 ppi” (class resolution) if the native scanning

resolution is within 1% (5 ppi).

[2013v>]

codec

A codec is a computer program that encodes and decodes a data signal, usually in a

compressed format. 

codec format

A codec format is the data structure produced by a codec. 

companding algorithm

An algorithm that allows signals with a large dynamic range to be transmitted over

facilities with a smaller dynamic range. It is used in telephony (see μ-law and A-law)

and some other types of communications. 

[<2013v]

constraint schema 

This is a NIEM schema that adds additional constraints and restrictions to components.

A constraint schema was used in the 2008 version of the standard to add cardinality

constraints to schemas that were automatically generated by a NIEM tool called SSGT

(Subset Schema Generator Tool). The tool has been updated to directly specify

cardinality constraints in the NIEM subset schema, so constraint schemas are no longer

provided. However, an implementer is permitted to define their own constraint schema

to add further restrictions to the standard. An example is to only allow certain record

types in a transaction.

[2013v>] 

 container

A format that describes how the data and metadata are stored in a computer file. 

contemporaneous 

Existing at or occurring at the same period of time. In Record Type-11, the phrase

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“contemporaneous capture of a voice signal” indicates recording of the voice signal at

the time of the speaker vocalization. 

[<2013v]

context data

Additional related image, audio, or waveform data in support of a biometric record.

[2013d>] 

 CT scan

Computerized tomography scan. 

 current data

Data for the individual in his/her current state, not necessarily data recorded or created

on the current date. For instance, current data on a subject may be a radiograph of a

decedent taken at the time of burial several years ago that is now being compared to

radiographs that had been provided for a missing person prior to the assumed date of

death of the subject.

[<2013d]

deprecated

The record type / field / subfield / information item / value / file shall not be used when

claiming conformance to this version of the standard. (different than 'legacy' )

derived representation 

Biometric type record derived from a Type-20 source representation record, which may

be another Type-20 record from which other biometric type records are derived.

[2013v>] 

 diary

A list giving the start and stop times of speech segments within the voice signal,

pertaining to the subject of the record. Diarization of segments from multiple speakers

requires multiple Type-11 records, one for each speaker. These multiple Type-11

records may be contained in a single transaction, as long as the transaction is focused

upon a single subject. 

[<2013v] [2013d>] 

 DICOM

The standard “Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine” published by the

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National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). 

 DICOS

The standard “Digital Imaging and Communications in Security” published by the

National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) 

[<2013d] [2013v>] 

 digital sample (n)

A representative value of a signal at a chosen instant, derived from a portion of that

signal. From the Vocabulary of Digital Transmission and Multiplexing, and Pulse

Code Modulation (PCM) Terms, ITU-T Recommendation G.701 (March, 1993) 

 digitally sample (v)

Obtain the values of a function for regularly or irregularly spaced distinct values from

its domain. From: ISO 2382-2-1976, Information technology – Vocabulary – Part

2:Arithmetic and logic operations 

[<2013v]

distal segment

The segment of a finger or thumb farthest from the palm.

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic Acid. This is a chemical that forms a double helix that is unique to all

but identical siblings. 

domain

This term has two uses in this standard:

• Implementation domain refers to the group of organizations or agencies

that have agreed to use a specified set of user-defined fields in a particular

format. This is the domain encoded in Field 1.013: Domain name /

DOM.

• NIEM biometrics domain refers to an XML namespace that conforms with

the NIEM naming rules. It deals with biometric data. See Annex C:

NIEM-conformant encoding rules for details.

EBTS

This stands for two separate application profiles of the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard:

a) Acronym for the FBI's application profile of the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard: 

Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification.

b) Acronym for the US Department of Defense's application profile of the 

ANSI/NIST-ITL standard: Electronic Biometric Transmission 

Specification.

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EFTS

The FBI's earlier application profile of the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard: Electronic Fingerprint

Transmission Specification. It has been superseded by EBTS. 

EFS

Extended Feature Set for markup of friction ridge data [2015a>]as defined in fields

9.300-9.399 [<2015a]

EJI - entire joint image

An exemplar image containing all four full-finger views for a single finger. 

(See Figure 4)

electropherogram

A plot of fluorescence units over time showing the measured peaks of a DNA molecule at

various genetic locations.

element

In XML, an element is a building block delimited by a start-tag (for example:

<CaptureDate>) and an end-tag (for example: </CaptureDate>). Everything between the

start-tag and the end-tag of the element (exclusive) is called the element's content. The

“fields”, “subfields”, and “information items” used by traditional-encoding (non-XML)

are all represented by XML elements in this encoding. 

[2013a>] 

 endian (big or little)

The order of significance in a number. Big endian places the most significant byte (or

digit) first. Little endian places the most significant byte (or digit) last. Humans tend to

represent numbers as big-endian, with 10 representing ten and not one.

 [<2013a]

exchange schema

Although NIEM contains thousands of elements it does not contain everything needed in

an XML exchange. It contains the most common building blocks. In addition,

implementers can define, in other exchange schemas, “user-defined” elements from the

implementer’s domain.

exemplar

The friction ridge prints of an individual, associated with a known or claimed identity,

and deliberately recorded electronically, by ink, or by another medium (also called

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'known prints').

[2013d>] 

 FastID

A European Union-funded project designed to develop an operational commonality of

identification data between INTERPOL member countries in the event of a disaster.

See http://www.interpol.int/contentinterpol/search?

SearchText=FASTID&x=0&y=0

[<2013d] [2013a>] 

 FD-249

The FD-249 is an Arrest and Institution Fingerprint card (white card with red ink) used

for criminal submissions to the FBI and certain other law enforcement organizations.

See http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/forms/description-fd249

FD-258

The FD-258 is the Applicant Fingerprint Card (white card with blue ink) used for

submission to the FBI and certain other law enforcement organizations as part of a

background check. See http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/forms/description-fd258

[<2013a]

fingerprint

An image or impression of the friction ridges of all or any part of a finger or thumb. 

FAP

Acronym for Fingerprint Acquisition12 Profile. It is a series of sets of progressively

more stringent parameters and requirements relevant to fingerprint acquisition.

[2015a>] In the Mobile ID Best Practices Recommendations Version 1, face, finger and

iris application profiles were all referred to as SAP. They are referred to separately in

this standard. This was changed in Mobile ID Best Practices Recommendations

Version 2 to be consistent with this standard. [<2015a]

FBI 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department of Justice.

forensic

Pertaining to the use of analytic / scientific techniques to establish or verify identity - in

this standard, it applies to the examination and mark-up of images (sometimes manually).

12 [2013a>] In the 2011 version this was labeled Fingerprint Application Profile. For

consistency with SAP, it is now called an acquisition profile. [<2013a]

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Frankfurt horizon

The plane determined by the lowest point of the left eye socket and the tragions of the

ears.

flat fingerprint

A fingerprint image resulting from the touching of a single finger to a livescan platen or

paper fingerprint card without any rolling motion. Also known as a single-finger plain

impression.

friction ridge image

An image of an impression from the palmar surfaces of the hands or fingers, or from the

plantar (sole) surfaces of the feet or toes.

friction ridge skin

The volar skin surface of the surfaces of the hands and fingers, and the plantar surfaces of

the feet and toes.

 full finger view

A full finger view is a rolled or plain image of a full-length finger showing all segments.

An entire joint image includes four full finger view images: one rolled; left, center, and

right plain.

[2013n>] 

 GENC

Acronym for Geopolitical Entities, Names and Codes, which is the United States

Government profile of the ISO 3166 standards. This reflects the United States (U.S.)

Government requirement to use names of countries, dependencies, areas of special

sovereignty, and administrative subdivisions that have been approved by the U.S. Board

on Geographic Names (BGN), the authority established under Public Laws 80-242 to

provide for uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography throughout the

Federal Government. GENC is available at https://nsgreg.nga.mil/genc/registers.jsp 

[<2013n]

genotype 

The entire genetic constitution of an individual; also, the alleles present at one or more

specific loci.

GLP

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Good Laboratory Practice. The United States has rules for GLP in 21CFR58. The

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has stated principles

of GLP. 

GMT

Greenwich Mean Time.

GPS

Global Positioning System.

[2013v>] 

 Hz

Abbreviation for Hertz, which is the measure of the frequency of oscillations. It is the

fundamental property of sound that determines pitch. 

[<2013v] [2013a>] 

 IAFIS

Acronym for the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System of the FBI.

[<2013a]

IAP

Acronym for Iris Acquisition Profile. It is a series of sets of progressively more

stringent parameters and requirements relevant to iris acquisition. [2015a>] In the

Mobile ID Best Practices Recommendations Version 1, face, finger and iris application

profiles were all referred to as SAP. They are referred to separately in this standard.

This was changed in Mobile ID Best Practices Recommendations Version 2 to be

consistent with this standard. [<2015a]

IBIA

International Biometric Industry Association.

ICAO

The International Civil Aviation Organization. 

ICC

International Color Consortium.

IEC

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The International Electrotechnical Commission.

ILAC

International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation.

impression

A friction ridge image containing friction ridge detail produced on a surface by pressure.

incipient ridge

A friction ridge not fully developed that may appear shorter and thinner in appearance

than fully developed friction ridges.

INCITS

The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards.

instance document 

An XML package described by a schema is called an instance document. If a document

satisfies all the constraints specified by the schema, it is considered to be schema-valid. 

interdigital area

The portion of the palm along the base of the fingers.

[2013v>]

 interlocutor

A person who takes part in a dialog (Oxford English Dictionary Thumb Edition, 10th

Edition, 2002). In Record Type-11, an interlocutor is any speaker in the recording who 

is not the subject of the ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction. An interlocutor may be the subject 

of the record, within the transaction, however.

[<2013v]

INTERPOL

International Criminal Police Organization.

INT-I

The INTERPOL application profile of the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard, developed by the

INTERPOL AFIS Expert Group.

[2013v>]

 IPA

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International Phonetic Alphabet 

[<2013v]

IREX

Iris Exchange Program. This is a program at NIST in support of iris-based applications

based on standardized interoperable iris imagery. See http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/irex.cfm

iris

A thin, colored, approximately circular structure surrounding the pupil of the eye that

contains features used for identification of individuals.

ISO

International Organization for Standardization.

ITL

Acronym for the Information Technology Laboratory of NIST. See

http://www.nist.gov/itl/

IUPAC

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. See http://www.iupac.org

JFIF

 JPEG File Interchange Format. See http://www.jpeg.org

JPEG

Image compression and storage format specified by the Joint Photographic Experts

Group. It is discrete cosine transform-based.

JPEG 2000

Image compression and storage format specified by the Joint Photographic Experts

Group. It is a wavelet-based method.

[2013v>] 

 known voice signal

A voice signal from an individual who has been “identified”, or individuated in a way

that allows linking to additional, available information about that individual. 

[<2013v]

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(allelic) ladder

A composition of DNA fragments that represents common alleles at a locus.

latent print

An impression or image of friction ridge skin left on a surface.

legacy

Indicates that the transaction element was valid in previous versions of the standard.

Systems claiming conformance to this version of the standard shall only use the element

when transmitting information stored prior to the adoption of this version of the standard

[2013v>] 

 linear PCM

Linear pulse code modulation is a digital encoding methodology for audio waveforms

based upon amplitudes of the signal. 

[<2013v]

locus (plural loci)

A unique physical location on the DNA molecule.

[2013a>]

 lux

The unit of illuminance and luminous emittance, measuring luminous flux per unit area.

It is equal to one lumen per square meter 

[<2013a]

MAC address

Media Access Control address, a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces.

mark

The point where a needle has pierced the skin, usually associated with drug use.

medial segment

The middle segment of the finger. The thumb does not have a medial segment.

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[2013a>] 

metadata

Documentation relevant to the biometric data, but not the biometric data itself.

Metadata may include both signal/sample-related and content-related information.

Examples are the format of the data file, such as WAV and the scope of accreditation of

a DNA processing laboratory. 

[<2013a]

MGRS

Military Grid Reference System. 

minutia

The point where a friction ridge begins, terminates, or splits into two or more ridges.

Minutiae are friction ridge characteristics that are used to individualize a friction ridge

image (fingerprint, palm print, plantar). This is also known as Level 2 detail. 

mitochondrial DNA

Small circular DNA molecules located in structures used to provide energy to the cell

(mitochondria). Their small size and abundant nature make them particularly useful when

examining small or much damaged biological material. It can be used to trace maternal

lineages as it is only inherited from one’s mother.

modality

This is a type or class of biometric system. Any measurable biological or behavioral

characteristic can be a biometric modality. 

morphological conformance

Conformance with the form and structure of the internal content, and verification that the 

data structures exist and have correct values

[2013d>] 

 morphological tooth numbering

Assignment of tooth numbers based upon the shape of the teeth. This is in contrast to

positional tooth numbering, which assigns a tooth number based solely upon position,

and does not consied the shape of the tooth. For most cases, the tooth number

assignment would be the same. Differences arise only in unusual cases. 

[<2013d] [2013v>] 

 MP3

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An encoding format commonly used for audio recordings. It is also called MPEG-1 or

MPEG-2 Audio Layer III. It has used the file extension '.mp3' since 1995. 

[<2013v] [2013d>] 

 MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging. 

[<2013d]

mugshot

Term used interchangeably with facial image. 

native scanning resolution

The scanning resolution used by a specific AFIS, live-scan reader, or other image capture

device and supported by the originator of the transmission.

[2013d>] 

 NamUs

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, which is a national repository

for missing persons and unidentified decedent records. It is operated by the National

Institute of Justice. See www.namus.gov.

[<2013d]

NCIC 

National Crime Information Center of the FBI. 

See www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/is/ncic.htm

[2013d>] 

 NEMA

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association. 

[<2013d]

NFIQ

NIST Fingerprint Image Quality. See www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/bio_quality.cfm.

[2013a>] 

 NGI

The FBI's Next Generation Identification, which provides an incremental replacement

of IAFIS technical capabilities, while introducing new functionality.

 [<2013a]

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NIEM

National Information Exchange Model. It is a partnership of US Federal agencies. It is

designed to develop, disseminate and support enterprise-wide information exchange

standards and processes that can enable jurisdictions to effectively share critical

information in emergency situations, as well as support the day-to-day operations of

agencies throughout the U.S.

[2013n>] 

 NIEM biometrics domain

One of the subject-matter domains of NIEM. It was established in July 2012 to support

biometric-related alignment of XML standards. The Biometric domain develops a

standardized data model and code lists that form the foundation of the biometrics

schema within NIEM. The ombudsman of the NIEM biometrics domain is the convener

of ANSI/NIST-ITL, according to its charter. 

[<2013n]

NIEM subset schema

 

The portion of NIEM needed for a particular exchange. 

NIST

National Institute of Standards and Technology.

nominal resolution

The number of pixels per unit distance (ppmm or ppi) of the image. The nominal

resolution may be the same as the scanning resolution for a particular image. On the

other hand, the nominal resolution may be less than the scanning resolution if the scanned

image was subsampled, scaled, or interpolated down.

[2013a>] 

 non-negative integer

The range of integers including zero and those greater than or equal to 1. 

[<2013a] [2013d>] 

 non-photographic image

For purposes of this standard, it is any image or model that is other than defined as a

photographic image. A photographic image is conveyed in a Type-10 record. A nonphotographic image is conveyed in a Type-22 record. Non-photographic images can

include (but are not limited to) such diverse items as 3D point cloud representations of

the face, radiographs, sonograms, PET scans and 3D orthodontic models. Note that 2D

iris images are handled in Type-17 records and 2D friction ridge images in Type-4,

Type-13, Type-14, Type-15 and Type-19 records; they should not be included in a

Type-22 record. 

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odontology

Forensic dentistry – a specialized discipline in dentistry to identify individuals based

upon characteristics of their dentition and oral region. 

[<2013d]

[2015a>]

OSAC

The Organization of Scientific Area Committees is part of an initiative by NIST and the

Department of Justice to strengthen forensic science in the US. The organization is a

collaborative body of more than 500 forensic science practicioners and other experts.

NIST established OSAC to support the development and promulgation of forensic

science consensus documentary standards and guidelines, and to ensure that a sufficient

scientific basis exists for each discipline. See

www.nist.gov/forensics/osac/index.cfm 

[<2015a]

palm print

A friction ridge image from the palm (side and underside) of the hand. A full palm print

includes the area from the wrist to the tips of the fingers.

[2015n>]

 PAP

Acronym for Palm print Acquisition Profile. It is a series of sets of progressively more

stringent parameters and requirements relevant to palm print acquisition. 

[<2015n]

pedigree

A family tree or a structure depicting relatedness and position of known and unknown

persons.

[2013d>] 

 PET

Positron emission tomography. 

[<2013d] [2013v>] 

 physical medium

Any external storage material of the voice signal and content information in either

analog or digital form. Examples include reel-to-reel recording tape, cassette tape,

Compact Disc, and phonograph record. 

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[<2013v] [2013d>] 

 photographic image

A standard two-dimensional image illuminated and captured in the visible wave lengths

(380 to 780 nm). This definition is specific to this standard – other references may refer

to images captured using non-visible wavelengths converted to visible wavelengths as

photographic images, but they are not so classified for purposes of this standard. A

photographic image is conveyed in a Type-10 record (unless it is an iris image

conveyed in Type-17, or a friction ridge image conveyed in one of Types 4, 13, 14, 15,

or 19). A non-photographic image is conveyed in a Type-22 record. Original source

images are conveyed in Type-20 records and non-biometric associated context images

are conveyed in Type-21 records, regardless of the format or source of the image.

 [<2013d] 

PIV

Personal Identity Verification.

plain fingerprint

A fingerprint image resulting from the touching of one or more fingers to a livescan

platen or paper fingerprint card without any rolling motion.

plantar

The friction ridge skin on the feet (soles and toes).

PNG

Portable Network Graphics. 

[2013d>] 

 positional tooth numbering

Assignment of tooth numbers based upon the location of the teeth. This is in contrast to

morphological tooth numbering, which assigns a tooth number based upon position,

the shape of the tooth. For most cases, the tooth number assignment would be the same.

Differences arise only in unusual cases. 

[<2013d] [2013a>] 

 positive integer

An integer greater or equal to 1. The value 0 is not included in this use of the term. 

 [<2013a] [2013d>] 

 postmortem

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After death. 

[<2013d]

ppi 

Pixels per inch.

ppmm

Pixels per millimeter.

[2013d>] 

 prior data

Data collected when the subject was in a different, previous state/condition than the

current state of the subject. Examples are antemortem data, when postmortem data

exists or facial images of a missing person that are compared to those of the person

being interviewed. 

[<2013d]

proximal segment

The segment of the finger or thumb closest to the palm.

[2013a>]

 quality

An ordinal estimate of the usefulness of biometric data for the purpose of automated

recognition. 

[<2013a] [2013v>]

 questioned voice signal

A voice signal from an individual who is unknown and has not yet been linked to any

previously encountered individual. Note: The task of speaker identification is to link a

questioned voice signal to a known voice signal through determination of a common

speaker. 

 QuickTime

A multimedia framework developed by Apple, Inc. It allows the use of many different

codec formats. The native file format for QuickTime video specifies a multimedia

container file that contains one or more tracks. Each track either contains a digitally

encoded media stream using a specific format or a data reference to the media stream

located in another file. 

 RAW audio format

A format that stores uncompressed audio without header information. The most

common file extensions for RAW audio format are '.raw' and '.pcm'. 

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[<2013v] [2013a>] 

 

RAW image format

A family of file formats, often specific to different models of digital imagery

equipment, that are not yet processed for storage in a 'printable' image format such as

JPEG or TIFF. The file extension '.raw' is only one such format. 

[<2013a]

 RCMP

Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

record (n)

A defined set of fields that contain data as defined in this standard.

[2013v>] 

 record (v)

The act of converting an acoustic voice signal directly from an individual into a storage

media, perhaps through contemporaneous, intermediate (transient) signal types. Note:

This definition is retained because of its entrenchment in natural language use.

Consequently, a record (n) is not recorded, it is created. Transcoding is the term used

for further processing of the voice signal and any digital or analog representation of that

signal. 

[<2013v] [2013a>]

 record creation

The act of creating a record contained in an ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction. 

[<2013a] [2013v>] 

 recording (n)

A stored acoustic signal in either analog or digital form. 

 redaction

Over-writing of segments of a voice signal for the purpose of masking speech content in

a way that does not disrupt the time record of the original recording.

[<2013v]

RGB

Red, Green, Blue used to represent color pixels comprised of a specified number of bits

to represent each of these primary color components.

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ridge

A raised portion of the epidermis on the palmar or plantar skin, consisting of one or more

connected ridge units of friction ridge skin.

ridge segment

A section of a ridge that connects two minutiae; a single non-intersecting portion of a

skeletonized image.

ridge tracing

See skeletonized image.

[2013v>] 

 RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format that is

sometimes used in audio and video recordings. The most common implementation of

RIFF is WAV, which uses the file extension '.wav'. 

[<2013v]

ROI

Region of interest.

rolled fingerprint

A fingerprint image collected by rolling the finger across a livescan platen or paper

fingerprint card from nail to nail. Rolls may be from livescan devices or scanned from

paper fingerprint cards.

[2013v>] 

 sample (v)

Obtain the values of a function for regularly or irregularly spaced distinct values from

its domain. From: ISO 2382-2:1976. 

[<2013v]

SAP

Subject Acquisition Profile. With the exception of mobile device SAP levels, they are a

series of sets of progressively more stringent parameters and requirements relevant to

face acquisition. Subject Acquisition profiles for iris are denoted as Iris acquisition

profiles (IAP), and those for fingerprints are denoted as Fingerprint acquisition

profiles (FAP). The term SAP had been used exclusively for face acquisition in earlier

versions of the standard. [2015a>] In the Mobile ID Best Practices Recommendations

Version 1, face, finger and iris application profiles were all referred to as SAP. They

are referred to separately in this standard. This was changed in Mobile ID Best

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Practices Recommendations Version 2 to be consistent with this standard. [<2015a]

scanning resolution

The number of pixels per unit distance at which an image is captured (ppmm or ppi). 

scar

Healed fibrous tissue resulting from an injury to the skin.

(XML) schema

An XML schema declares the XML elements, their structure and order. A schema

assigns data types, names, and attributes to the elements. A schema may be used to

validate the structure and content of an XML package.

semantic conformance

Conformance to ensure that the biometric transaction is a faithful representation of the

parent biometric data and thereby ensuring that the requirements are satisfied that are not

merely syntactic or morphological. 

simultaneous capture 

The acquisition of images of a single biometric modality from a subject at the same time.

Sequential capture over a time scale ( < 1 second) that prevents confounding of body

parts ( e.g., substituting left iris for right iris) can also be considered simultaneous capture

in this context.

skeletonized image

A representation of a friction skin image in which all pixels are white except for a 1-

pixel-wide thinned black skeleton following the midpoint of each ridge. Also known as a

ridge tracing.

slap image

Slap fingerprints (slaps) are taken by simultaneously pressing the fingers of one hand

(i.e., without the thumb) onto a scanner or fingerprint card. Slaps are also known as fourfinger simultaneous plain impressions (although if the person has more than four fingers

on a hand, all of the fingers may be included in the slap image).

SMT

Scar, (needle) mark, and tattoo information.

[2013v>]

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 snip (v)

Extraction of an audio signal from an original recording in a way that disrupts the

continuity and time record of the original recording. 

[<2013v]

source representation 

The image, recording, or other signal from which a biometric type record (see derived

representation) is derived. A source representation may be included as a Type-20 record

in a transaction.

[2013v>] 

 speaker

A vocalizing human, whether or not the vocalizations contain speech. An interlocutor

might be a synthesized voice, which can be considered a “speaker” within the context

of this standard. 

speech

Audible vocalizations made with the intent of communicating information through

linguistic content. Nonsensical vocalizations with linguistic content will be considered

as speech (including singing and chanting). Speech can be made by humans, by

machine synthesizers, or by other means.

SPH - sphere

Sphere audio data format. Information is available at 

ftp://jaguar.ncsl.nist.gov/pub/sphere_2.6a.tar.Z 

[<2013v] 

stitched image

A friction ridge image created by combining images that were separately captured. 

substrate

Surface upon which a friction ridge impression is deposited.

STR - Short Tandem Repeat

Short sequences of DNA that are repeated numerous times in direct succession. The number

of repeated units may vary widely between individuals and this high level of variation

makes STRs particularly useful for discriminating between people.

[2013a>] 

 subject of the record

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The person to whom the data in the record applies. The subject of the record need not

be the subject of the transaction. 

 subject of the transaction

The person to whom the transaction applies. The subject of a record need not be the

subject of the transaction. 

[<2013a] [2013d>] 

 SWGDVI13

Scientific Working Group for Disaster Victim Identification. 

[<2013d]

SWGFAST13

Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study, and Technology. 

[2013v>] 

 SWG-Voice13

Scientific Working Group for Forensic and Investigatory Voice. 

[<2013v]

syntactical14 conformance 

Conformance to the relationships between fields, subfields, or information items within a

transaction to other values within the same transaction as specified in this standard. 

[2015n>]

 TAP

Acronym for Toe and foot print Acquisition Profile. It is a series of sets of

progressively more stringent parameters and requirements relevant to plantar print

acquisition. 

[<2015n]

tattoo

An indelible image on the skin that was applied to the skin. [2015a>] This is the

definition of tattoo as used in Field 10.003: Image type / IMT. 

Field 10.042: SMT descriptors / SMD breaks this down into subsets, one of which is

13 [2015a>] The Forensic Science Standards Board was establised in 2014. Reporting to it are the

Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC). The former SWGs have been transitioned to

become OSACs. See www.nist.gov/forensics/osac/index.cfm [<2015a]

14 [2013e>] Changed 'Syntactic' to “Syntactical' to conform to usage in the document. [<2013e]

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also called tattoo. See Table 71 Type-10 image types for more detail.[<2015a]

A common tattoo results from picking of the skin with a coloring matter. A subclass of

tattoo is chemical, which indicates that the image was created by the use of chemicals to

burn the image into the skin. Another subclass of tattoo is branded, which indicates that

the pattern was caused by using a branding iron or other form of applied heat. A third

subclass of tattoo is cut, which indicates that the image was caused by incision of the

skin.

tolerance 

The allowable range of deviation from the class resolution, symmetric around the class

resolution value. For PIV single fingerprint scanners with the class resolution of 500 ppi,

the tolerance is 2%. For all scanners other than PIV, the tolerance is 1%.

[2013v>] 

 track

A path associated with a single read/write head on a data medium. 

[<2013v]

traditional encoding

The format of transactions used in all versions of this standard prior to, and including that

of 2007. It is also included in this standard and is specified in Annex B: Traditional

encoding. 

transaction

A group of records with information and biometric data concerning a particular

individual that is transmitted and / or stored as a complete unit.

transaction element

A record type / field / subfield / information item / value.

[2013v>] 

 transcoding

Any transfer, compression, manipulation, re-formatting or re-storage of the original

data. Transcoding can be lossless or lossy.

 [<2013v] [2013d>] 

 transillumination

Imaging technique with light transmitted through an excised specimen. 

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[<2013d] [2013v>] 

 turn

A conversation is a sequence of conversational turns. A turn is when an individual

speaks for a continuous period of time. Individual turns from different people may

overlap when they speak simultaneously. However, typically a turn is referred to in a

question / response environment.

[<2013v]

Unicode

A computing industry standard for the representation of most of the world's scripts (such

as Latin letters, Cyrillic letters, Chinese characters, special symbols and others). See A.

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier. 

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. 

UTC

Coordinated Universal Time.

UTF

Unicode Consortium Standard Transmission Format

[2013d>] 

 UVIS / UDIM

The Unified Victim Identification System developed by the Office of the Chief Medical

Examiner of New York City and its built-in Dental Identification Model. 

[<2013d]

valley

A lowered portion of the epidermis on the palmar or plantar skin, consisting of those

areas between ridges.

[2013v>] 

 voice data file

The digital, encoded file primarily containing the sounds of vocalizations of both

speech and non-speech content, convertible to an acoustic signal replicating the original

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acoustic signal. A voice data file is extracted from an audio recording, but not all audio

recordings contain voice signals and not all voice data is speech. A physical medium,

such as a phonograph record, contains a voice signal but is not a voice data file. 

voice recording

A signal, stored on a digital or analog medium, of vocalizations containing both speech

and non-speech content. 

voice signal

Any audible vocalizations emanating from the human mouth, throat and nasal cavity

with or without speech content. 

[<2013v]

WAV

Waveform Audio File Format.

WSQ

Acronym for Wavelet Scalar Quantization, a compression algorithm used for 500 ppi

friction ridge prints.

W3C

World Wide Web Consortium. It is an international community that develops standards

for web development.

WGS 84 (G873)

WGS 84 is the World Geodetic System of 1984. At 0000 GMT September 30, 1996 (the

start of GPS Week 873), WGS 84 was redefined and was more closely aligned with

International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) 94. It is

now formally called WGS 84 (G873). WGS 84 (G873) was adopted as the reference

frame for broadcast orbits on January 29, 1997.

[2013v>] 

 Windows Media

There are several proprietary formats developed by Microsoft. Windows Media Video

(WMV) was developed for Internet streaming applications. Windows Media Audio

(WMA) has four distinct codecs: WMA Pro, WMA Lossless, WMA Voice and the

original codec also referred to as WMA. The Advanced Systems Format (.asf) is a

container format designed for streaming media. The Advanced Stream Redirector

(ASX) is a type of XML designed to store a playlist for a multimedia presentation.

 [<2013v][2013d>] 

 WinID

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A computer system that uses dental and anthropometric characteristics to rank possible

matches for missing persons and unidentified human remains. 

[<2013d]

XML

Extensible Markup Language. A convention for marking up and tagging data for

electronic transmission. An XML package is built from text content marked up with text

tags such as <FingerMissingCode>. In XML one can create as many tags as needed.

These tags describe the type of content they contain rather than formatting or layout

information. The types of tags allowed in an XML file are typically defined and

constrained by a specification such as an XML Schema Definition (XSD).

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5 Data conventions

5.1 Structure of a transaction

This standard defines the composition of the records comprising a transaction that may

be transmitted to another site or agency. The receiving agency shall set the

requirements for scanning resolution, number and type of records, and other userspecific data in order to consider the transaction valid.15 [2013a>] For most record

types, an individual record generally contains biometric and/or forensic data for a single

subject. However, in some cases a record may pertain to multiple subjects, such as a

Type-11 recording with multiple speakers, or a Type-20 image of evidence with

fingerprints from various people. A given transaction may require that all records apply

to a single subject, or may contain records from different subjects. Thus, there is a

difference between the subject of the transaction and the subject of the record. [<2013a]

A transaction16 is comprised of records. The Record types are listed in Table 3. All of the

records belonging to a single transaction shall be transmitted together. There may be

multiple records in a transaction of each record type other than Type-1. The only required

record Type is Type-1, which is used to describe the transaction. There shall be at least one

other record of another Type from Table 3 accompanying a Record Type-1. 

A record is comprised of fields. Within the standard, each field is assigned a number, a

description and a mnemonic. An example is Field 10.020: Subject pose / POS. A field is

used to transmit a particular datum or group of closely related data. A single type of data

that may have multiple entries in a field is shown as Subfield: repeating values in the record

layout tables. Single or multiple types of data in a field that do not repeat are shown as

information items in the record layout tables. Data with different formats that repeat as a set

are shown as information items grouped under the heading: Subfields: Repeating sets of

information items. The handling of subfields varies by encoding. See Annex B:

Traditional encoding and Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules

5.2 Size of a transaction 

Although the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard stated “... there is no upper limit on

the number of logical records that may be present in a file...” there was an effective upper

15 [2013a>] The following sentences were deleted for the Update, since Record Type-11 also allows the

counting of the number of individuals speaking in a recording as a valid use for a transaction: “All

records in a transaction shall pertain to a single subject. Biometric data used to identify another individual

requires a separate transaction. Some records may include biometric data from another person if that data

is used to corroborate the identity of the subject of the transaction.”[<2013a]

16 An ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction is called a file in Traditional Encoding and an Exchange Package in

XML encoding.

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limit due to the field size limits specified in the 2007 version (but not the 2008 version).

This limit was 3 ASCII17 characters for the information item holding the total number of

records of Type 2 through 99; thus an upper limit of 999 such records. With the addition

of a Type-1 record, the maximum number of records in a transaction was thus restricted

to 1000. This upper limit of 1000 records is maintained in the 2011 version of the

standard to ensure backward compatibility with the 2007 version.

5.3 Record types

A transaction is comprised of records. The standard currently supports several different

biometric [2013a>] and forensic [<2013a] modalities, and has reserved record

identifiers for the possible future addition of other modalities. 

Table 3 Record types

Record Identifier Record Contents

1 Transaction information

2 User-defined descriptive text

3 (Deprecated)

4 High-resolution grayscale fingerprint image 

5 (Deprecated)

6 (Deprecated)

7 User-defined image

8 Signature image

9 Minutiae data

10 Photographic body part imagery (including face and SMT)18

11 Forensic and investigatory voice data117

12 Forensic dental and oral data117

13 Variable-resolution latent friction ridge image

14 Variable-resolution fingerprint image

15 Variable-resolution palm print image

16 User-defined variable-resolution testing image

17 Iris image

18 DNA data

19 Variable-resolution plantar image

17 ASCII is defined in ANSI X3.4-1986 (R1992) (See Section 3 Normative references)

18 [2013a>] The name of the record is changed from “facial, other body part and SMT image record” to

clarify the distinction between Type-10 records and Type-22 records, which are added in the 2013

Update [<2013a]

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Record Identifier Record Contents

20 Source representation

21 Associated context

22 Non-photographic imagery19

23-97 Reserved for future use

98 Information assurance

99 CBEFF biometric data record

5.3.1 Type-1 record

Transmissions to be exchanged are required to contain one and only one Type-1 record per

transaction. The Type-1 record shall always be the first record within the transaction. At

least one more record shall be present in the file. The Type-1 record shall provide

information describing type and use or purpose for the transaction involved, a listing of each

record included in the transaction, the originator or source of the physical record, and other

useful and required information items. 

[2013n>] A new field has been added in the 2013 Update to allow use of alternate

reference codes for nations and other geographic areas. This was needed to

accommodate the U.S. Government requirement to use the GENC list in lieu of ISO

3166 when possible. [<2013n]

5.3.2 Type-2 records

Type-2 records shall contain user-defined textual fields providing identification and

descriptive information associated with the subject of the transaction. Each entry in a

Type-2 record shall have a definition and format that is listed with the Domain owner. Data

contained in this record shall conform in format and content to the specifications of the

domain name(s) as listed in Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM found in the Type-1

record, if that field is in the transaction. The default domain is NORAM. Field 1.016:

Application profile specifications / APS allows the user to indicate conformance to

multiple specifications. If Field 1.016 is specified, the Type-2 record must conform to each

of the application profiles.

A DOM or APS reference uniquely identifies data contents and formats. Each domain and

application profile shall have a point of contact responsible for maintaining this list. The

contact shall serve as a registrar and maintain a repository including documentation for all of

its common and user-specific Type-2 data fields. As additional fields are required by

specific agencies for their own applications, new fields and definitions may be registered

and reserved to have a specific meaning. When this occurs, the domain or application profile

registrar is responsible for registering a single definition for each number used by different

members of the domain or application profile. There may be more than one Type-2 record

19 [2013v>] [2013d>] New record types for the 2013 update. [<2013d] [<2013v]

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included in each transaction.20

[2013n>] It may be desirable in certain transactions to have separate Type-2 records when

dealing with multiple persons whose identities are being used to establish or verify the

identity of the subject of the transaction (such as persons already identified in a voice

recording). The 2013 Update includes a new field (Note that in Type-11 records it is an

information item associated with segments of a recording), to associate particular record

instances with an identity described in a particular instance of a Type-2 record. The value

is the IDC of the associated Type-2 record, which is different from that of the record with

the Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C contained in it. See Type-2 Record cross

reference / T2C in Record Types 10, 11, 12, 18 and 22. [<2013n]

5.3.3 Type-3 records (deprecated)

This record type is deprecated. For details concerning this record type, please refer to the

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 version of this standard. Record Type-3

shall not be contained in transactions conforming to this version of the standard. 

5.3.4 Type-4 records

Type-4 records were designed to convey fingerprint images captured by an Automated

Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) live-scan reader, or other image capture devices

operating at a nominal scanning resolution of 500 pixels per inch (ppi). Many systems still

use this record type and it will remain an integral part of the standard. Many implementation

domains and application profiles specify that unless fingers are missing or non-recordable,

there shall be 14 Type-4 records in a file: ten rolled impressions of the individual fingers,

two plain impressions of each thumb, and two simultaneously obtained plain impressions of

the four remaining fingers on each hand. 

[2015a>] Newer systems may need to interface with older systems still utilizing Type-4

records. Therefore, it may be necessary to downsample 1000 ppi images to 500 ppi and

transcode to WSQ format prior to transmission in a Type-4 record. That is permissable

and in conformance with this standard. [<2015a]

New users are encouraged to utilize record Type-14 to convey fingerprint images. Type-14

records may handle both 500 ppi images and those at greater resolutions that are now

commonly exchanged. 

5.3.5 Type-5 records (deprecated)

This record type is deprecated. For details concerning this record type, please refer to the

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 version of this standard. Record Type-5

shall not be contained in transactions conforming to this version of the standard.

20 [2013a>] For an example of the use of multiple Type-2 records in a transaction, see the description of the LFFS/LFIS

transaction type used by the FBI. It is described in the EBTS specifications available at https://www.fbibiospecs.cjis.gov

[<2013a]

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5.3.6 Type-6 records (deprecated)

This record type is deprecated. For details concerning this record type, please refer to the

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 version of this standard. Record Type-6

shall not be contained in transactions conforming to this version of the standard. 

5.3.7 Type-7 records

Type-7 was intended as a temporary measure to enable the exchange of image data that

would be defined by specific record types in later versions of the standard. Since some

older systems still use this record type, it is included in the standard. 

5.3.8 Type-8 records

Type-8 records shall be used for scanned binary or vectored signature image data. Each

Type-8 record shall contain data representing the signature of the subject from whom the

biometric sample is being collected and/or the operator capturing biometric data. 

5.3.9 Type-9 records

Type-9 records shall contain and be used to exchange minutiae or other friction ridge

feature data. Each record shall represent the processed (automated and/or manual) image

data from which the characteristics are stated. The primary use of this record type shall be

for remote searching of latent prints. The Extended Feature Set (EFS) for latent print

markups is included in this record type. There is also a capability to have additional vendorspecified feature sets. 

[2013n>] New fields have been added to the EFS in the 2013 Update to facilitate

additional functionality. [<2013n]

5.3.10 Type-10 records

[2013a>] Type-10 image records shall contain and be used to exchange 2D photographic

imagery and related metadata. Textual and analytic information pertinent to the digitized

image is also contained in this record type. Visible light photography is the basis for Type10 image data. [<2013a][2013d>] If non-visible light is required to produce the image,

then a Type-22 record shall be used in lieu of a Type-10 record (such as infrared or Xray). It is also possible to send 3D imagery using a Type-22 record. Other specialized

imaging techniques are likewise handled in a Type-22 record.[<2013d]

[2013d>] The 2013 Update includes modifications to the Type-10 image record to allow

transmission of images of intra-oral origin and images of the oral region of the body and a

new field for cheiloscopy (lip prints). 

Source images used to derive intra-oral and extra-oral photographs in a Type-10 record

are contained in a Type-20 record. An example would be a group image including a

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smiling person who could be a disaster victim. The mouth region (showing the alignment

of the front teeth) could be extracted from that first photograph, be magnified and be

transmitted in a Type-10 record. [<2013d]

5.3.11 Type-11 records

[2013v>] Type-11 records support the transmission and / or descriptions of audio

recordings containing vocalizations by one or more speakers. Type-11 records support

transactions related to detecting and recognizing speakers, extracting speech segments

from an audio recording that are attributable to a single speaker, and linking speech

segments by speaker. These functions can be accomplished through automated means

(computers), human experts, or hybrid human-assisted systems. This standard does not

specify which techniques will be used and does not specify the form of the examination

report. Type-11 does not define the transmission of features or models extracted from

voice data, but does allow the user to use specific fields to contain such information.

This record type does not support streaming transactions. [<2013v]

5.3.12 Type-12 records

[2013d>] The Type-12 record shall be used to exchange information concerning an

individual's dental or oral characteristics. It is designed to use the lexicon of ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1058 – Forensic Dental Data Set. 

A Type-12 record is typically used in conjunction with a Type-22 record, which can

convey dental radiographs and other related imagery useful in forensic dental

procedures. Type-10 intra-oral and extra-oral photographs are also used in conjunction

with a Type-12 record. [<2013d]

5.3.13 Type-13 records

Type-13 image records shall contain and be used to exchange variable-resolution latent

friction ridge image data (fingerprint, palm print and/or plantar) together with fixed and

user-defined textual information fields pertinent to the digitized image. In all cases, the

scanning resolution for latent images shall be at least 39.37 ppmm (1000 ppi). The variableresolution latent image data contained in the Type-13 record shall be uncompressed or may

be the output from a lossless compression algorithm. The number of latent records in a

transaction is only constrained by the total number of records that may be contained in a

transaction (See Section 5.2). 

5.3.14 Type-14 records

Type-14 image records shall contain fingerprint image data. Fixed and user-defined textual

information fields pertinent to the digitized image may also be included. While the Type-14

record may be used for the exchange of 19.69 ppmm (500 ppi) images, it is strongly

recommended that the resolution for fingerprint images be 39.37 ppmm (1000 ppi). It

should be noted that as the class resolution is increased, more detailed ridge and structure

information becomes available in the fingerprint image. However, in all cases the class

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resolution shall be at least 19.69 ppmm (500 ppi). 

The variable-resolution fingerprint image data contained in the Type-14 record may be in a

compressed form. 

Some domains specify a set number of Type-14 records for an enrollment. An example

is ten rolled impressions of the individual fingers, two plain impressions of the thumbs

or one plain impression of the thumbs simultaneously, and two plain impressions of the

remaining fingers of each hand. Some transactions may also include rolled tip images

and either one entire joint image or one full finger rolled image and left, center and

right full finger plain impressions, [2013n>] and / or plain images of the fingertips and

thumb tip taken simulatanously for each hand. [<2013n] Most domains and application

profiles require information if fewer than 10 fingers were printed. Type-14 contains a

field to specifically convey this information (Field 14.018: Amputated or bandaged /

AMP). 

5.3.15 Type-15 records

Type-15 image records shall contain and be used to exchange palm print image data

together with fixed and user-defined textual information fields pertinent to the digitized

image. While the Type-15 record may be used for the exchange of 19.69 ppmm (500 ppi)

images, it is strongly recommended that the class resolution for Type-15 images be 39.37

ppmm (1000 ppi). It should be noted that as the resolution is increased, more detailed ridge

and structure information becomes available in the image. However, in all cases the class

resolution shall be at least 19.69 ppmm (500 ppi). 

The variable-resolution palm print image data contained in the Type-15 record may be in a

compressed form. A typical transaction for some agencies includes: a writer's palm with an

upper and lower palm from each hand and two full palm prints. 

5.3.16 Type-16 records

The Type-16 image record is designed for developmental purposes. This record shall

contain and be used to exchange image data together with textual information fields

pertinent to the digitized image. [2013n>] The Type-16 record shall not be used for

images that can be specified or described in any other record type in this standard.

[<2013n] With the exception of the fields at the start of the record and the descriptors

for the image data, the remaining details of the Type-16 record are undefined by this

standard and shall be agreed upon between the sender and recipient. [2013a> An

example of the use of a Type-16 record is transmission of an image of a subject's ear or

of the subject's elbow creases. These images may be useful in establishing or verifying

identity, but there are no specific fields in any existing record types of this standard to

characterize the features of these images. [<2013a]

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5.3.17 Type-17 records

Type-17 image records shall contain iris image data. This record type was developed to

provide a basic level of interoperability and harmonization with the ANSI INCITS 379-2004

Iris image interchange format and the ISO/IEC 19794-6 Iris image data interchange

format. It also contains optional descriptive data fields and image markup fields. Generic iris

images may be exchanged using the mandatory fields of this record type. Field 17.018

(Global unique identifier) from the 2007 and 2008 version of the standard has been

deprecated. 

5.3.18 Type-18 records

The Type-18 record shall contain and be used to exchange DNA and related data. It was

developed to provide a basic level of interoperability with the draft format of the ISO/IEC

19794-14 DNA data interchange format.

21 With full consideration to privacy, this standard

only uses the non-coding regions of DNA. The regions of the DNA that encode phenotypic

information are deliberately avoided.

5.3.19 Type-19 records

Type-19 image records shall contain and be used to exchange variable-resolution plantar

print image data together with fixed and user-defined textual information fields pertinent to

the digitized image. While the Type-19 record may be used for the exchange of 19.69

ppmm (500 ppi) images, it is strongly recommended that the class resolution for plantar

images be 39.37 ppmm (1000 ppi). It should be noted that as the resolution is increased,

more detailed ridge and structure information becomes available in the image. However, in

all cases the scanning resolution used to capture a plantar image shall be at least as great as

the minimum scanning resolution of 19.69 ppmm (500 ppi). The variable-resolution plantar

image data contained in the Type-19 record may be in a compressed form. 

5.3.20 Type-20 records

The Type-20 record shall contain the source representation(s) from which other Record

Types are derived. Typically, one Type-20 source representation is used to generate one or

more representations for use in other record types. When a source representation (in a

Type-20 record) is processed and the derived representation is to be used as the source for

further derivations, then the derived representation is contained in a Type-20 record. In

some cases, several Type-20 records may be processed to derive a single Type-20 record.

Some possible uses of the Type-20 record are shown here: `

• From a group photo stored in a Type-20 record, a subject’s face is segmented and

stored in a Type-10 record. 

• From a high-resolution color image in a Type-20 record, two latent fingerprint

21 [2013a>] ISO finalized its DNA data interchange standard in March, 2013. It is ISO/IEC 19794-

14:2013 and is available at www.iso.org [<2013a]

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images are segmented, rescaled and gray-scaled for separate Type-13 records.

• From a series of off-angle face images stored in separate Type-20 records, a

single 2D face image is generated (using fusion) that is stored in a Type-10

record [2013a>] after being cropped from the fused image which is stored as an

original source image in a Type-20 record. [<2013a]

5.3.21 Type-21 records

The Type-21 record shall contain an associated context image, audio / visual recording or

other related data. This record type does NOT contain information used to derive

biometric information contained in other records. Record Type-20 serves that function.

Record Type-21 may be used to convey contextual information, such as an image of the

area where latent fingerprints were captured. 

5.3.22 Type-22 records

[2013d>] The Type-22 record is designed to transmit forensic imagery and associated

data that is not included in the Type-10 record – which contains 2D visible light (380-780

nm) images. This record type is used for imagery data, replicating data or any of the raw

data that can be used to render the imagery data or 3D replicating data. Type-22 images

may be very useful in Disaster Victim Identification incidents and for the identification

of Unknown Deceased or living persons unable to identify themselves (such as an

amnesiac or a person in a coma). Note that 2D iris images are handled in Type-17

records and 2D friction ridge images are handled in Type-4, Type-13, Type-14, Type15 and Type-19 records; they should not be included in a Type-22 record.

Type-22 record images and raw data can be generated from many types of sources and

instrumentation, including imagery obtained via an illuminative, transilluminative,

reflective or transmitive process using radiation or nuclear sources, and / or those

images relying upon sonic, ultrasonic or positronic instruments. Type-22 records shall

be used for non-iris and non-friction ridge images if alternative lighting (such as ultraviolet or infra-red light) is required to produce the image. Examples of Type-22

imagery data include (but are not limited to) the images and or the raw data for all 2D

and 3D radiographs, CT scans, cone beam scans, PET Scans, MRI scans, data for 3D

printing (such as used for orthodontic cast models), fiber-optic angioplasty, and

sonograms. Note that still images, video and sequential / combined imagery is allowed

in this record type as long as the data format is properly specified. 

This record type may also be used to transmit electronic medical records, such as those

stored in conformance with the DICOM standard. The format of the data is specified in

the record and the data may be included directly in the record or the record may

reference an external storage location.[<2013d]

5.3.23 Type-98 records

The Type-98 record shall contain security information that allows for the assurance of the

authenticity and/or integrity of the transaction, including such information as binary data

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hashes, attributes for audit or identification purposes, and digital signatures. 

5.3.24 Type-99 records

Type-99 records shall contain and be used to exchange biometric data that is not supported

by other ANSI/NIST-ITL record types. This provides a basic level of interoperability and

harmonization with other biometric interchange formats. This is accomplished by using a

basic record structure that is conformant with ANSI INCITS 398-2005, the Common

Biometric Exchange Formats Framework (CBEFF) and a biometric data block specification

registered with the International Biometrics Industry Association (IBIA)22. 

5.4 Backward compatibility

Backward compatibility is important, since organizations adhering to earlier versions of the

standard may create transactions according to that version, and these transactions may still

be received by organizations that have updated to a newer version of the standard. 

[2013a>] Type-1 records are required in all transactions. Since a receiving agency

may have software installed that is based upon a previous version of the ANSI/NIST-ITL

standard, the only modifications allowed to Type-1 are new fields that may be added to

the end of the record (in Traditional encoding). Systems should be designed to ignore

information items, subfields, fields and records that they were not designed to recognize

and process. [<2013a]

The fields and format of Type-4 (fingerprint images) and Type-8 (signature) records cannot

change between versions of the standard due to restrictions in the Traditional encoding

format. (In Traditional encoding, they are ‘binary’ data with a fixed structure.) Since the

time when these record types were defined, users have needed more flexibility in defining

the metadata associated with the fingerprint image data. Thus, Type-14 was developed to

replace Type-4 fingerprint image records. However, since several systems exist that use

Type-4 to transmit fingerprint images, that record type is retained in the standard. Type-2

(user-defined descriptive text entries), Type-7 (user-defined image) and Type-16 (userdefined testing image) records are further defined in application profile-specific

documentation (See Section 6 Implementation domain and application profiles).

Record Types 9 through 99 may be updated, expanded or introduced with new versions of

the standard. New fields in existing records may be added, as well as new data record types.

If it is determined by the canvassees that a record type, field, subfield, information item

or value is not used or needed, it may be declared ‘deprecated.’ The deprecated record

type, field, or information item is not included in the updated version of the standard.

Deprecated records [2013a>] from versions of the standard prior to 2011 [<2013a] are

Record Types 3, 5 and 6. Field 17.018 is deprecated. There are two deprecated values

22 For more information, go to http://www.ibia.org .

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[2013a>] from the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard [<2013a] in Field 17.016:

Image property code / IPC (2: for interlace frame, and 3: for interlace field). 

There are also certain items that are noted in the standard as being discouraged for use in

new applications, but that have not yet been agreed upon by the canvassees to be deprecated.

There is a special category called 'legacy' for a record type, field, subfield, information

item or value that was valid in previous versions of the standard, but shall not be used for

new data. 'Legacy' indicates that if there is existing data using this record type, field,

information item or value it may still be transmitted in a transaction conformant to this

version of the standard. In this version 'legacy' applies to Fields 9.005 through 9.012, Field

10.022.

23

When a data definition is introduced that causes potential problems with backward

compatibility, it is noted in the standard. An example is the definition of ‘color space.’ See

Section 7.7.10.3. NIEM-conformant XML encoding has inherent backward compatibility

issues due to the need to develop new schemas. See Annex C: NIEM-conformant

encoding rules for details. [2013a>] Normally, the rule is that once an item is mandatory,

it remains mandatory. However, there have been some exceptions made in order to

respond to the operational needs of the canvassees. All such cases are clearly highlighted

in the text of the standard. [<2013a] 

Some fields and information items were made optional in the 2011 version of the standard

that were mandatory in previous versions. Examples are the second and third information

items of Field 9.135: M1 friction ridge quality data / FQD. A significant change is that

Field 999 in Record Types 14, 15, and 17 was made [2013a>] dependent (optional if it is

indicated that the body part is amputated or unable to be captured). [<2013a]

[2015n>] In 2015, Field 10.999: Body part image / DATA in Record Type 10 was

made dependent upon whether Field 10.994: External file reference / EFR occurred

in the record – thus allowing the storage location of the image to be referenced rather

than being required to be transmited in the record. This same type of change was

introduced to Type-13, Type-14, Type-15 and Type-19.[<2015n]

5.5 Character types

The data contained in an information item may be of the following types:

• A Alphabetic: 26 English letters (both upper and lower case)24

23 [2013a>] The 2011 Version also allows a legacy value of 1 for the character encoding index / CSI in

Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS. This had been specified in the 2007 and 2008 versions of the

standard as '8-bit Latin'. [<2013a]. 

24 [2013a>] Note that the code definition for 'Alphabetic' is modified to not include spaces.

Spaces are listed as Special Characters (code S) in the three fields affected: 10.023, 10.026, and

10.040. This was done to conform to the standard programming definition of alphabetic

characters being limited to the letters of the English alphabet. The character codes in Table 70

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• AN Alphanumeric: Alphabetic and numeric 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 

• ANS Alphanumeric and special characters that are specifically stated in the 

description of the data (such as period or comma)

• AS Alphabetic and special characters that are specifically stated in the 

description of the data (such as period or comma)

• B Binary for Traditional encoding (See Annex B: Traditional encoding) or 

Base64 for XML (See Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules)

• Base64 Base-64 encoded (exclusively)

• H Hexadecimal representation: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

• N Numeric: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

• NS Numeric with special characters that are specifically stated in the description 

of the data (such as period or comma)

• U Unicode characters: Latin and extended Latin characters like ü, Ñ, ç, Þ, ß, 

ł, ặ, and special characters like ₤, €, TM, +, * , ‡, and non-Latin characters 

like ᆄ, ๐ཏ, ᐂ, Ⴤ, ж, ཏ, 句, ע , ت , and の.

At the beginning of each Section describing the contents of a record type, there is a table

listing the layout for that record type. Each data location in the tables lists the character

type, the minimum and maximum number of characters, the data constraints, and the

number of times that it may appear. 

[2013a>] The special characters “STX”, “ETX”, “F

S”, “G

S”, “R

S”, and “U

S” are reserved and

shall not be included in any data (except data marked as character type B). See Section

5.6, Annex A: Character encoding information, and Annex B: Traditional

encoding. The remaining control characters should not be used (except data marked as

character type B). These characters are: NUL, SOH, EOT, ENQ, ACK, BEL, BS, HT, LF, VT, FF, CR, SO,

SI, DLE, DC1, DC2, DC3, DC4, NAK, SYN, ETB, AN, EM, SUB, ESC and DEL. [<2013a] 

5.6 Character encoding

In order to ensure that the transaction description information can be read by all systems,

data for all fields in Record Type-1 shall always be recorded in all encodings using the

characters that can be represented by the 7-bit American National Standard Code for

Information Interchange (ASCII) found in Table 128 with the exception of the reserved

values.

Base-64 shall be used for converting non-ASCII text into ASCII form, where required and

noted in the standard. (See Annex A: Character encoding information for a description of

Base-64).

Table 4 Character encoding

Character

encoding

index

Character

encoding name Description

Type-10 record layout for these two fields were changed to AS, with the special character

listed as a space. [<2013a]

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0 ASCII 7-bit (Default) with zero added in high bit position

(See Annex A: Character encoding information)

2 UTF-16 25 16 bit

(See ISO/IEC 10646-1 and The Unicode standard)

3 UTF-8 8-bit

(See NWG 3629 and The Unicode standard)

4 UTF-32 32-bit

(See The Unicode standard)

5-127 ------------- Reserved for future use

128-999 ------------- User-defined character encoding sets

Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS is an optional field that allows the user to

specify an alternate character encoding. The default character encoding for Traditional

encoding is 7-bit ASCII. For XML, the default is UTF-8. Field 1.015: Character

encoding / DCS contains three information items: the character encoding set index /

CSI, the character encoding set name / CSN, and the character encoding set version /

CSV. The first two items (CSI and CSN) are selected from the appropriate columns of

Table 4. CSV specifies the specific version of the character encoding set used, such as

UTF-8 version 1.0. 

Note that the value “1” does not appear in the table. It is a legacy value, which should not

be used for newly generated transactions. The 2007 and 2008 versions of this standard

referred to it as “8-bit ASCII” and it was used to indicate the Latin-1 character set

(ISO/IEC 8859-1).

The 2007 version of the standard allowed users to switch any data (except that contained

in the Type-1 record) to an alternative character encoding using a mechanism employing

special control characters. This capability is retained in this version of the standard for

Traditional encoding to ensure backward compatibility. See Annex B: Traditional

encoding. However, the 2007 version stated that for certain fields, UTF-8 could be used

for the data without having to include the special control characters. Fields where this is

possible in this version of the standard are marked with 'U' or 'user-defined' in the

'character type' column of the record layout tables for each record type. Users are

encouraged to choose the option of UTF-8 for 'U' and 'user-defined' character types that

do not require the use of special control characters in Traditional Encoding. It is not

possible to switch character encodings in XML, but users are encouraged to state the

character encoding (normally UTF-8) and version (1.0) in Field 1.015: Character

encoding / DCS. See Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules.

6 Implementation domain and application profiles

25 In the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard, this was called Unicode. It has been changed here for 

clarity, since Unicode can be expressed in UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32 and code 2 only referred to UTF16.

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An implementation domain, coded in Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM of a Type-1

record as an optional field, is a group of agencies or organizations that have agreed to use

pre-assigned data fields with specific meanings (typically in Record Type-2) for exchanging

information unique to their installations. The implementation domain is usually understood

to be the primary application profile of the standard. Field 1.016: Application profile

specifications / APS allows multiple application profiles to be referenced. The organization

responsible for the profile, the profile name and its version are all mandatory for each

application profile specified. A transaction must conform to each profile that is included in

this field. It is possible to use Field 1.016 and / or Field 1.013. It is recommended that

when only one profile is applicable, that Field 1.013 be used and it be called the

implementation domain. 

 

An example of an implementation domain is the one maintained by the Criminal Justice

Information Services (CJIS) Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It is the

North American Domain subscribed to by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the

FBI, and several state and Federal agencies in North America. The default value for this

field shall be the North American Domain implementation and shall appear as “NORAM”.

The transaction may include user-defined fields that are not described in any specified

application profile or the specified domain. However, when any part of a transaction is

defined by one or more application profiles, it must conform to the requirements of all of the

relevant application profiles. 

7 Information associated with several records

7.1 Record header

The record header appears as the first field in each Record Type. It contains information

particular to the encoding format chosen, in order to enable proper reading of the record.

In Traditional encoding, this field [2015a>](xx.001) contains the record length in bytes

(including all information separators) and has a mnemonic of LEN. Table 5 lists the

minimum and maximum permitted lengths of the field in Traditional encoding. In NIEMconformant XML encoding, this field contains the RecordCategoryCode, which is the

numeric representation of the Record Type.

Table 5 Record header field restrictions

Record Type Minimum Field Length Maximum Field Length

1 1

26 Unrestricted

2 1 Unrestricted

4,7,8 4

27 427

26[2015a>] In cases where there is no minimum specified, 1 is used since there must be some data present

for the field to be specified. [<2015a]

27 [2015a>] For binary types, the length refers to the number of bytes, not characters. [<2015a]

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Record Type Minimum Field Length Maximum Field Length

9 2 Unrestricted

10 and above 2 8 characters

[<2015a]

7.2 Data

Field xx.999 is reserved in Record Types 10 and above for data associated with the

record that is described in the other fields of the record. [2013a>] It does not appear in

Type-18 or Type-98. In many record types it is possible for Field xx.999 to be optional

if Field xx.994 is present, which states the external storage location of the data. [<2013a]

[2013d>] In Type-12 records, the field Field 12.999: Dental chart data / DATA is only

present if the information item dental history ADA reference code / HARC in Field

12.009: Dental history data detail / HDD has been set to indicate the presence of a dental

chart in the record. [<2013d]. 

[2015n>] In Type-14, Type-15 and Type-19 records, neither Field xx.994 nor Field

xx.999 need appear if the field Amputated or bandaged / AMP in that record has a value

of “UP”. [<2015n]

7.3 Indexes used to link records

In order to track relationships among instances of records in a transaction, some special

pointer indexes are used within the Record Types. The information designation

character / IDC (called image designation character in previous versions of the

standard) occurs in each instance of a record, except Record Type-1. It occurs as Field

xx.002 in those records. If two records have the same IDC value, they are closely linked,

as explained in Section 7.3.1. There are restrictions on the use of the IDC. Historically,

it has been principally used to link a fingerprint image record to the minutiae record with

data derived from that fingerprint image. 

There is an upper limit of 100 IDC values, since they are numbered from 0 to 99.

[2013a>] There may be no gaps in numbering the IDC values; that is, they must be

sequential. However, there is no requirement that the values must be in increasing

numeric order. The only restrictions on order is that the Type-1 record shall be the first

record in the transaction, and that the records must appear in the order indicated in

Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. The restriction on the upper limit [<2013a] is

based upon limiting the IDC to 2 ASCII characters (resulting in a maximum value of

99) in Field 1.003 of the 2007 version of the standard. There was no restriction in the

2008 version. The upper limit of 99 is retained in this version to preserve backward

compatibility with the 2007 version of the standard. Field 1.003: Transaction

content / CNT therefore has the same character counts for IDC as the 2007 version. 

Pointer indexes are used in the standard, such as to a Source Representation record

(Type-20) and another index to one or more Associated Context records (Type-21).

[2013n>] Another pointer exists to relate a particular instance of a record to a specific

Type-2 record. [<2013n]

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• The first index (to a Type-20 record) is described in Section 7.3.2. It is stored in

Field xx.997, which is an optional field. Type-20 records (if in the transaction)

contain the source from which the biometric sample in another record or records was

obtained. An example is a photograph of many people, with the image of the subject

of the transaction segmented out of the original photo and placed in a Type-10

record. The source representation number/ SRN (See Section 7.3.2.1)

information item is this index to the particular Type-20 record containing the source

representation from which the biometric data was derived that is included in the

particular instance of Record Type xx. Also in the Field xx.997 is an optional

second information item reference segment position / RSP, described in Section

7.3.2.2. It contains the index to a particular set of segmentation coordinates of the

source representation. 

• The second index (to a Type-21 record) is described in Section 7.3.3. It is stored in

Field xx.995, which is an optional field. Type-21 records (in the transaction)

contain images, or audio / visual recordings that may be associated with the

collection of the biometric sample, but are NOT the actual source of the sample. An

example might be a general picture of where the latent prints were captured. The

index to Field 21.021: Associated context number / ACN, (See Section 7.3.3.1) is

contained in an information item in Field xx.995. There may be multiple subfields

in Field xx.995 for a particular instance of a record, with each containing a different

ACN. A second information item is the associated segment position / ASP

described in Section 7.3.3.2. It contains the index to a particular set of segmentation

coordinates of the associated context data.

• The third index (to a Type-2 record) is described in Section 7.3.1.1. It is stored in

Field xx.992, which is an optional field.

There are two fields that contain indexes to link instances of a particular Record Type. 

• Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10 explicitly handles Type-10 images

that are of the same body part, such as a larger image and zoomed-in images. (See

Section 7.3.4).

• Field 14.026: Simultaneous capture / SCF explicitly links finger images that were

captured simultaneously on non-contiguous platens or other image capture

technologies that do not capture the finger images in a manner preserving full

relative position of the finger tips to each other, if placed in a single image. (See

Section 7.3.5).

7.3.1 Information designation character / IDC

Each of the records present in a transaction, with the exception of the Type-1 record, shall

include a field (xx.002) containing the information designation character / IDC28. The

value of the IDC shall be a sequentially assigned integer starting from zero and incremented

28 This was called the image designation character in earlier versions of the standard. The mnemonic is 

the same.

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by one up to a maximum of 99. IDC references are stated in Type-1 Field 1.003:

Transaction content / CNT and shall be used to relate information items in the CNT field

of the Type-1 record to the other records in the transaction. Two or more records may share

a single IDC solely to identify and link together records that pertain to different

representations of the same biometric trait. 

• Most frequently, IDCs are used to link a particular finger/palm/plantar image (in a

Type - 4, 13, 14, 15, 19 record) with the corresponding Type-9 minutiae record.

When different images of a single finger/palm/plantar are captured, each is given a

separate IDC, to ensure that the minutiae records correspond to a specific image

record.

• Two or more image records may share a single IDC only when they are

enhancements of a single image; such transformations shall have identical

dimensions, and shall not be distorted with respect to each other (i.e., a feature at a

given position in one image shall be in the same position in the other image). This

means that if a friction-ridge image is captured at 1000 ppi (saved in Type 13, 14, 15,

or 19) and down-sampled to 500 ppi (for transmission in a Type-4 record), then each

would have different IDCs. 29 Multiple images of a face, encoded in Record Type10, shall each have a unique IDC. SMT images also each have a unique IDC. In the

case when one is a different image of the same SMT, Field 10.039: Type-10

reference number / T10 is used to link those SMT images. 

Some examples of the use of IDC are: 

• A criminal arrest transaction that might, for some agencies, include fingerprints,

palm prints, and a mugshot would include distinct records with IDCs ranging from

“0” to “21”: a Type-1 record, a Type-2 record (IDC 0), 14 Type-14 fingerprint

image records (IDCs 1-14), six Type-15 palm print records (IDCs 15-20), and a

Type-10 facial image (IDC 21).

• A latent print search transaction, which for some agencies could include two latent

images with minutiae markup, the original source image from which the latent prints

were derived, and a crime scene image would include distinct records with IDCs

ranging from “0” to “4”: a Type-1 record, a Type-2 record (IDC 0), 2 Type-13

latent image records (IDCs 1-2), two Type-9 minutiae records (IDCs 1-2, referring

to the Type-13 latent image records), a Type-20 source representation image record

(IDC 3), and a Type-21 associated context record (IDC 4). 

• A 'raw' image and the same image stored with WSQ compression would have the

same IDC. Both share the same image dimension and the features would occur at

the same location. 

29 [2013a>] When down-sampling a fingerprint image from 1000 ppi to 500 ppi, the guidance provided in

NIST Special Publication 500-289 should be followed in order to produce a 500 ppi image with the

minimal effect on the image contesnts and quality (It is available at http://www.nist.gov/publicationportal.cfm Enter “500-289” in the 'Simple text search' to retrieve the document). [<2013a] 

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Three fields ( Field 9.360: EFS area of correspondence / AOC, Field 9.362: EFS

examiner comparison determination / ECD and Field 9.362: EFS examiner

comparison determination / ECD ) use IDCs as references to define the relationship

between two different prints.

7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

[2013n>] This field exists in Record Types 10, 12, 18 and 22. It is used to link an

instance of a record type to a particular Type-2 record when multiple Type-2 records for

different individuals are contained in a single transaction. In a Type-11 record, this crossreference is an information item placed in Field 11.037: Vocal segment speaker

characteristics / SCC in order to refer to the speakers in a specific segment of a

recording. 

The value for T2C is the IDC of the Type-2 record pertaining to the subject of that

particular record instance.

Field 10.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

Field 12.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

Field 18.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

Field 22.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

[<2013n]

7.3.2 Source representation / SOR

Optional field xx.997 is allowed in biometric data sample Record Types 10 and above

that have the biometric sample derived from a source representation in Record Type-20.

The biometric data is stored in Field xx.999 (See Section 7.2 Data). Record Type-18

(DNA) does not contain a Field xx.997, since it does not contain a Field 18.999. [2013d>]

Record Type-12 also does not have SOR, since the only data that can reside in Field

12.999: Dental chart data / DATA is not biometric data. [<2013d] Record Type-98 does

not contain this field, since that is not a biometric data record type. Record Type-21 does

not contain biometric data and thus does not include field xx.997. This field is comprised

of one mandatory and one optional information item, as described below. An example of

the use of this field would be when data is extracted from a representation, such as a group

photograph, which is stored in a Type-20 record. The facial image of the subject of the

transaction may be segmented and placed in a Type-10 record. 

Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between a data record and the source representation

contained in a Record Type-20. 

7.3.2.1 Source representation number / SRN

The first information item contains the source representation number / SRN. This is

mandatory for each Field xx.997. It contains an index to a particular instance of a Type-20

record in the transaction. This same index value appears in the appropriate instance of

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Record Type-20 as Field 20.021: Source representation number / SRN. The value of the

SRN shall be a sequentially assigned positive integer starting from one and incremented by

one, not to exceed 255.

7.3.2.2 Reference segment position / RSP

The second information item in Field xx.997 is optional. It is the reference segment

position / RSP. It contains the index to a particular set of segmentation coordinates of the

source representation. (There may be more than one segment, such as from an audio / visual

recording, with different frames yielding input for separate biometric data record instances

in the same transaction). This same segmentation index value appears in Record Type-20

as the reference segment position / RSP in Field 20.016: Segments / SEG. There may be

up to 99 segments listed in Field 20.016, but only the segment used to produce the biometric

data contained in Field xx.999 of the particular instance of Record Type-xx is identified in

Field xx.997. 

Figure 1: Source Representation Indices

 RECORD TYPE-20

 DATA RECORD WITH THE APPROPRIATE

SOURCE REPRESENTATION

Field xx.997 / SOR

 Subfield k (there can be multiple

source representations)

 information item SRN value = a ← Field 20.021 / SRN value = a

 information item RSP value = z ← Field 20.016 / SEG

Subfield j (for the proper segment)

 information item RSP value = z

7.3.3 Associated context / ASC

Optional field xx.995 is contained in biometric data sample Record Types 10 and above

that may have instances of Record Type-21 linked to it. Record Type-21 stores images

and/or recordings that are not the actual source of the biometric data contained in another

Record Type, but do show the context of the biometric data. An example would be a crime

scene photograph showing the location of a glass that had latent prints on it. However, the

close-up image of the latent prints could appear in a Type-20 record (since that is the image

that the individual fingerprint images are derived from), with the segmented individual

images appearing in Type-13 records. This field consists of a maximum of 255 repeating

subfields, each of which contains two information items, as described below. There may be

multiple instances of associated context records associated with a single biometric sample.

Figure 2 illustrates relationships of the fields and information items.

7.3.3.1 Associated context number / ACN

The first information item contains the associated context number / ACN for a particular

Record Type-21. This is mandatory for each Field xx.995, when the field is used. It

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contains an index to a particular instance of a Type-21 record in the transaction. This same

index value appears in the appropriate instance of Record Type-21 as Field 21.021:

Associated context number / ACN. The value of the ACN shall be a sequentially assigned

positive integer starting from one and incremented by one, not to exceed 255. 

7.3.3.2 Associated segment position / ASP

The second information item in Field xx.995 is optional. It is the associated segment

position / ASP. It contains the index to a particular set of segmentation coordinates of the

associated context data. This same segmentation index value appears in Record Type-21 as

the associated segment position / ASP in Field 21.016: Segments / SEG. There may be

up to 99 segments listed in Field 21.016, but only the relevant segment is contained in

Field xx.995.

Figure 2: Associated Context Indices

 RECORD TYPE-21

 DATA RECORD WITH THE APPROPRIATE

SOURCE REPRESENTATION

Field xx.995 / ASC

 Subfield k (there can be multiple

source representations)

 information item ACN value = a ← Field 21.021 / ACN value = a

 information item ASP value = z ← Field 21.016 / SEG

 Subfield j 

(for the proper segment)

 information item ASP value = z

7.3.4 Type-10 reference

There may be several Type-10 images of a particular part of the body. For instance, a

photograph of a tattoo may cover the entire tattoo. Another may be a zoom-in shot of a

portion of the tattoo. In order to link these two images, the same index number is assigned

to Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10. Note that these images would have

different IDC values. 

7.3.5 Simultaneous capture

In order to accommodate the emergence of technology that can simultaneously capture

fingerprint images on separate platens or other technology that does not preserve the full

relative position of the fingers to each other, Field 14.026: Simultaneous capture / SCF

allows the user to specify the same reference number for all images that were

simultaneously captured. With this field included in a record, the transmitter states that

sequencing errors definitely did not occur on the finger images. Multi-finger images

generated within a single device based upon adjacent platens are considered a single capture

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and thus are not marked as simultaneous capture in this field. 

7.4 Data Processing Logs

There are several capabilities to record operations performed to process the biometric sample.

7.4.1 Annotation information / ANN

Optional field xx.902 is used to store annotation, logging, or processing information

associated with one or more processing algorithms, [2013a>] processes [<2013a] or

workstations. If present, this text field shall consist of one or more subfields comprised of

a set of information items. Four mandatory information items comprise a subfield:

• The first information item is the Greenwich Mean Time / GMT when the

processing occurred. (See Section 7.7.2.2)

•The second information item (processing algorithm name - version / NAV) shall

contain text30 identifying the name and version of the processing algorithm /

application / process or workstation. [2013a>] This may also be a name of a

process or procedure, such as placing teeth found with a skeleton into a jaw.

[<2013a]

•The third information item (algorithm owner / OWN) shall contain text of up to 64

characters listing the organization that developed / maintains the processing

algorithm / application or latent workstation. [2013a>] When there is no 'algorithm

owner' (such as the case of placing teeth into a jaw) enter N/A. [<2013a] 

•The fourth information item (process description / PRO) shall contain text

describing a process or procedure applied to the sample in this Type-XX record. 31

[2013a>] Some examples of annotations are:

• Markup of latent friction ridge image using the universal latent workstation

(ULW): 

 > GMT = 2013-08-01T02:23:44Z (in XML notation)

 > NAV = ULW 2011

 > OWN = FBI

 > PRO = Used ULW Comparison Tool (CT) to prepare Type-9 input.

Original image in Type-13.

• Indicating the pre-processing of an audio file and related data for Type-11:

 Subfield 1:

30 [2013n>] In 2011, this text was limited to 64 characters. That restriction has been removed. [<2013n]

31 [2013n>] This was limited to 255 characters in 2011. That upper limit has been eliminated. [<2013n]

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 > GMT = 2013-02-04T15:23:02Z (in XML notation)

 > NAV = GarageBand '11

 > OWN = Apple

 > PRO = Edited out when helicopter flew overhead. 

Subfield 2: 

 > GMT = 2013-02-04T17:02:00Z (using XML notation)

 > NAV = Manual translation

 > OWN = N/A

 > PRO = Transcript in English developed manually. Based upon transcript

of discussion in English, manually translated into Spanish. [<2013a]

7.4.2 Universal latent workstation (ULW) annotation information / LAI

This optional field exists only in Record Type-9. The ULW has been extensively used and

logs generated from it were routinely transmitted in user-defined Field 9.901 prior to the

2011 version of this standard. Field 9.901: Universal latent workstation annotation

information / ULA records latent processing logs formatted according to the ULW.

7.4.3 Information assurance audit logs

If a user wishes to maintain a log of differences between transmissions, Field 98.900: Audit

log / ALF may be used to indicate how and why a transaction was modified. The ALF is

of particular use when a transaction is sent from one location to a second, where additional

information is included, before sending to a final destination. 

7.4.4 Comment

The optional Comment field appears in many record types and may be used to insert free

text information. It is not reserved exclusively for log-related information but has

historically often been used for this purpose. It is limited to a maximum of 126 characters.

This maximum size was established in order to maintain consistency across encodings. The

maximum size differed in the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard. The comment fields

[2013a>] with a 126 character maximum [<2013a] are:

Field 10.038: Comment / COM

Field 13.020: Comment / COM

Field 14.020: Comment / COM

Field 15.020: Comment / COM

Field 16.020: Comment / COM

Field 17.021: Comment / COM

Field 18.022: Comment / COM

Field 19.020: Comment / COM

Field 20.020: Comment / COM

Field 21.020: Comment / COM

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The EFS comment field in Record Type-9 is limited to 200 characters. It is:

 Field 9.351: EFS comments / COM

[2013v>] [2013d>] The comment field for Types 11, 12 and 22 are unrestricted in size.

 Field 11.051: Comment / COM

 Field 12.020: Comment / COM

 Field 22.020: Comment / COM [<2013d] [<2013v] 

7.5 Data Protection

7.5.1 Information assurance

The Record Type-98: Information assurance record allows special data protection

procedures to ensure the integrity of the transmitted data. Field 98.003: IA data format

owner / DFO and Field 98.005: IA data format type / DFT define the information

assurance regime that is employed to store data in Field 98.200-899: User-defined fields /

UDF.

7.5.2 Data hash / HAS

Optional field xx.996 is designed for use in Record Types 10 and above that have a Field

xx.999 [2013a>] or a Field xx.994 (if it exists for that record type), which is used to

indicate the location of digital data stored external to the transaction. [<2013a] Field

xx.996 is comprised of 64 characters representing hexadecimal values. Thus, each

character may be a digit from “0” to “9” or a letter “A” through “F”. See the latest version

of the Federal Information Processing Standard 180, Secure Hash Standard for

information on computing SHA-256 hashes. Use of the hash enables the receiver of the

data to perform quick searches of large databases to determine if the data already exist in

the database. It is not intended as an information assurance check. That is handled by

 Record Type-98: Information assurance record.

7.6 Agency codes

In the 2007 version of the standard, Record Type-1 fields for agency identification were

comprised of one information item {destination}{originating} agency identifier / DAI or

ORI. The 2008 version of the standard added a second optional information item

{destination}{originating} agency name / DAN or OAN, and is a text description of the

organization name. In this version of the standard, the agency names (DAN and OAN) are

contained in a new field (Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM) since information items

cannot be added to existing fields in Traditional encoding and still preserve backward

compatibility. DAN and OAN have an unlimited maximum number of characters in this

version. XML encoding is not dependent upon the field number, so there is no change

required for compatibility with the 2008 version. Both information items in ANM are

optional and may be encoded using alphanumeric characters with any special characters

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allowed in ASCII. The affected fields are: 

• Field 1.007: Destination agency identifier / DAI

• Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI

• Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM

In many Record types, Field xx.004 contains the SRC. This is the identifier of the agency

that actually created the record and supplied the information contained in it. (The ORI

specified in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI is the organization that

created the transaction, which may be assembled from record(s) received from another

agency or agencies). SRC is unlimited in size and is “U” character type.

In order to maintain backward compatibility with the 2007 version while maintaining

backward compatibility with the 2008 version, a new optional Field xx.993 has been added

for the Source agency name / SAN. SAN is up to 125 characters and in “U” character type

(unlike the information items in Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM which only allow the

characters that can be represented in ASCII). For example, in Record Type-13, there are

two fields: 

• Field 13.004: Source agency/ SRC

• Field 13.993: Source agency name / SAN

In Record Type-18 there is an information item, the name of the organization / NOO (in

Field 18.003: DNA laboratory setting / DLS) that processed the DNA data. This may be

different from the agency in Field 18.004: Source agency / SRC and from the agency listed

in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI.

[2013v>] Field 11.005: Voice recording source organization / VRSO contains

information about the site or agency that created the voice recording referenced in the

record. It may be different from the Field 11.004: Source agency / SRC and the Field

1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI.[<2013v]

[2013n>] Field 12.047: Capture organization name / CON describes the group or

organization that collected the forensic dental data, such as a disaster recovery team. That

group may be different from the group that created the record (Field 12.004: Source

agency identification ID / SRC) and from the Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI. Field xx.047 has also been added to Record Types 10, 11, 18 and 22.

[<2013n]

7.7 Metadata describing the biometric sample

7.7.1 Biometric acquisition device identification

Several record types contain fields describing the biometric acquisition device32:

32 Notice that Field 17.018 (Global unique identifier / GUI) is deprecated in this version of the standard.

It did not conform to the standard GUI usage in information technology.

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7.7.1.1 Device unique identifier / DUI

The DUI shall contain a string uniquely identifying the device or source of the data33. This

field shall be one of:

• Host MAC address, identified by the first character “M”34, or

• Host processor ID, identified by the first character “P”.

Fields containing the DUI are:

Field 9.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 10.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 13.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 14.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 15.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 16.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 17.017: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 19.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

Field 20.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

[2013d>] Field 22.903: Device unique identifier / DUI [<2013d]

7.7.1.2 Make/model/serial number / MMS

The MMS contains the make, model and serial number for the capture device. It shall

consist of three information items. The information items are:

make / MAK,

model / MOD, and 

serial number / SER.

Each information item shall be 1 to 50 characters. Any or all information items may indicate

that information is unknown with the value “0”. Fields containing the MMS are:

Field 9.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 10.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 13.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 14.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 15.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 16.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 17.019: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 19.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

Field 20.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

33 This version of the standard deletes the options for “Serial number or No serial number” from Field 17.017, 

since it is available in the Make / Model / Serial Number field.

34 The MAC address takes the form of six pairs of hexadecimal values (0 through 9 and A through F). They

are represented without separators in this standard for a total of 13 characters. The processor ID may be up

to 16 characters.

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[2013d>] Field 22.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS [<2013d] 

7.7.1.3 Device monitoring mode / DMM

This field describes the level of human monitoring that was associated with the biometric

sample capture. Alphabetic values are selected from Table 6. These are the corresponding

fields in the standard:

Field 10.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

Field 14.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

Field 15.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

Field 16.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

Field 17.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

Field 19.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

Table 6 Device monitoring mode

Condition Description

 CONTROLLED Operator physically controls the subject to acquire the biometric sample

 ASSISTED Person available to provide assistance to subject submitting the biometric

 OBSERVED Person present to observe operation of the device but provides no assistance

 UNATTENDED No one is present to observe or provide assistance

 UNKNOWN No information is known

7.7.1.4 Medical device information / MDI

[2013d>] Field 21.006: Medical device information / MDI is designed to transmit

information concerning medical devices found on or with an unidentified person. It is

contained in record Type-21 since it is not a biometric, but is nonetheless of value in

the identification process.[<2013d]

7.7.2 Date and time

Date and time are used in several fields and information items throughout the standard. 

They are handled differently for each encoding (See Annex B: Traditional encoding

and Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules).

7.7.2.1 General

YYYY designates the four-digit year; MM designates the month (01 through 12); DD

represents the day of the month (01 through 31); hh represents the hour (00 through 23); mm

represents the minute (00 through 59); and ss represents the seconds (00 through 59).

Midnight is expressed as all zeros in the time portion of the date and time. The time and date

fields are handled differently for each encoding. The Traditional encoding represents the

time and date as a numeric value (such as “20110308” representing March 8, 2011). NIEMconformant encoding places the date in an element formatted as “2011-03-08”. The value is

shown as “2011-03-08T05:25:00Z” in the case of Greenwich Mean Time (See Section

7.7.2.2). The “T” is a fixed character that indicates the separation of the date and the time in

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the alphanumeric string. In all cases, the content shall be identical, regardless of the

encoding. See Annex B: Traditional encoding and Annex C: NIEM-conformant

encoding rules for details.

7.7.2.2 Greenwich Mean Time (coordinated universal time – UTC) / GMT

UTC has replaced GMT as the main reference time scale terminology, but the older

terminology is retained in this standard for existing record types. In this standard, Field

1.014: Greenwich Mean Time / GMT shall be taken to mean the UTC value. Some newer

record types using this format refer to the data as UTC (such as in Field 18.013: Sample

collection date / SCD). This time is independent of the actual time zone where the time

and date is recorded. The data is YYYYMMDDhhmmssZ, where the Z is indicates the

zone description of 0 hours. This data is handled differently for each encoding.

7.7.2.3 Local date

The local date is recorded as YYYYMMDD. It may be a different date than the GMT, due

to time zone differences. It is handled differently for each encoding.[2015a>] The local

date and time is recorded as YYYYMMDD for Traditional encoding and YYYY-MMDD for XML. 

It may not be possible to know the exact date of imagery capture. In such a case,

specify the date to the level known. For traditional encoding, fill the unknown portions

of the date with zeros. For XML, use a date element with the correct level of precision.

The fields where zeros are allowed are:

Field 10.005: Photo capture date / PHD

Field 12.006: Dental subject information / DSI

Field 20.005: Source representation date / SRD

Field 21.005: Associated context date / ACD 

Field 22.003: Imagery capture date / ICD

 [<2015a]

7.7.2.4 Local date & time

[2015a>] The local date and time is recorded as YYYYMMDDhhmmss for Traditional

encoding and YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss for XML. This may be a different date than

the corresponding GMT, due to time zone differences. It is reflective of the local time,

such as Daylight Savings Time. This data is handled differently for each encoding.

It may not be possible to know the exact date and time of imagery capture. In such a

case, specify the date and time to the level known. For traditional encoding, fill the

unknown portions of the date and time with zeros. For XML, use a date and time

element with the correct level of precision. [<2015a]

7.7.2.5 Time index / TIX – measured in milliseconds

For Type-20 or Type-21 records containing video or audio, this field shall contain two 

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information items, time index start /TIS and time index end / TIE for the start and end 

times of segments within a video or audio file, measured in hh:mm:ss.sss where ss.sss refers

to the seconds and milliseconds. Thus, the allowed special characters are the colon and 

the period. TIX is comprised of one or more subfields. Each subfield corresponds to a 

single segment, with a starting and end time as separate information items. This data is 

handled differently for each encoding. The zero time index shall be clearly indicated on the 

source, unless it is the absolute beginning of the file.

7.7.2.6 Relative start time / RST, relative end time / RET and voice recording time / TIM --

measured in microseconds

[2013v>] In Record Type-11, Field 11.022: Redaction diary / RDD, Field 11.024:

Discontinuities diary / DCD and Field 11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD have

information items relative start time / RST and relative end time / RET that are

encoded in microseconds. These information items indicate the time in microseconds 

from the beginning of the voice recording to the start and end, respectively, of the snip.

These information items may contain integers of up to 11 digits. 

Field 11.011: Total recording duration / TRD has an information item voice recording

time / TIM that is measured in microseconds. It also is an integer of up to 11 digits.

[<2013v]

7.7.2.7 Date offset

[2015a>] This is a date measurement representing an offset from a specific date. The

format is handled differently in each encoding. See B.1.5 Date offset and Annex C:

NIEM-conformant encoding rules.

7.7.2.8 Date and time offset

This represents an offset from a particular date and time. The format is handled differently

in each encoding. See B.1.6 Date and time offset and Annex C: NIEM-conformant

encoding rules. [<2015a]

7.7.3 Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field (xx.998) is used in most Record Types 10 and above. It specifies the

coordinated universal time (UTC) and the location where the biometric sample was

collected. [2013v>] Record Type-11 contains a field, Field 11.032: Vocal segment

geographical information / SGEO that resembles GEO. The information items in

SGEO that are in addition to those of GEO are:

segment identifiers / SID

segment cell phone tower code / SCT 

The following refers to the order of the standard information items for the field. [<2013v]

There are multiple possible formats for specifying the geographic location in this field

(longitude and latitude, geographic coordinate universal transverse Mercator, and alternate

coordinate systems). 

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• The first information item is optional. It is the coordinated universal time entry /

UTE. See Section 7.7.2.2.

The next eight information items comprise the Geographic Coordinate

Latitude/Longitude. As a group, they are optional. However, latitude degree value /

LTD and longitude degree value / LGD are co-conditional, so they shall both be

present if either is present. Further, “minutes” values LTM and LGM can only be

present if their corresponding “degrees” values are present. [2013a>] Also, “seconds”

values [<2013a] LTS and LGS can only be present if their corresponding “minutes”

value is present. The other entries are optional. 

Geographic coordinate latitude is measurement of the angular distance between a point on

the earth and the equator. Geographic coordinate longitude is a measurement of the angular

distance between a point on the earth and the prime meridian. If a decimal value is used in a

particular information item, the more granular information item shall be empty (e.g., if

Longitude minutes equals 45.27, Longitude seconds shall be empty). 

• The second information item is latitude degree value / LTD. This is a value that

specifies the degree of latitude. The value shall be between -90 (inclusive) and +90

(inclusive). The degrees may be expressed as an integer (without a decimal) or a

real number including decimals. If decimals are present, then minutes and seconds

shall be empty. The allowed special characters are the negative sign and the period.

Examples are:

• Buenos Aires, Argentina: -34 (with minutes LTM = 36)

• NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland: 39.137627 (no LTM or LTS)

• The third information item is latitude minute value / LTM. This is a value that

specifies a minute of a degree. The value shall be between 0 (inclusive) to 60

(exclusive). The minute value may be expressed as an integer (without a decimal) or

as a real number including decimals. If decimals are present then seconds shall be

empty. Thus, the allowed special character is a period. The minute value can be

empty, even if the degree value is an integer. LTM and LGM are co-conditional, so

they shall both be present if either is present.

•The fourth information item is the latitude second value / LTS. This is a value that

specifies a second of a minute. The value shall be 0 (inclusive) to 60 (exclusive).

Thus, the allowed special character is a period, [2013a>] since LTS may be

expressed as an integer (without a decimal) or as a real number including decimals

[<2013a]. The second value can be empty, even if the minute value is an integer.

LTS and LGS are co-conditional, so they shall both be present if either is present.

• The fifth information item is the longitude degree value / LGD. It is a value that

specifies the degree of a longitude. The value shall be between -180 (inclusive) and

+180 (inclusive). If LTD is present, then LGD shall be present.The degrees may be

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expressed as whole numbers (without a decimal) or real numbers including

decimals. The allowed special characters are the negative sign and the period. If

decimals are present, then minutes and seconds are empty. Examples are:

• Buenos Aires, Argentina: -58 (with minutes LGM = 22)

• NIST, Gaithersburg, Maryland: -77.216032 (no LGM or LGS)

•The sixth information item is the longitude minute value / LGM. It is a value that

specifies a minute of a degree. The value shall be from [2015e>] 0 (inclusive)

[<2015e] to 60 (exclusive).The minute value may be expressed as an integer

(without a decimal) or as a real number including decimals. If decimals are present

then seconds shall not appear. The minute value can be empty, even if the degree

value is an integer.Thus, the allowed special character is a period. LTM and LGM

are co-conditional, so they shall both be present if either is present.

• The seventh information item is the longitude second value / LGS. This is a

value that specifies a second of a minute. The value shall be 0 (inclusive) to 60

(exclusive). Thus, the allowed special character is a period, [2013a>] since LGS

may be expressed as an integer (without a decimal) or as a real number (including

decimals) [<2013a]. The second value can be empty, even if the minute value is an

integer. LTS and LGS are co-conditional, so they shall both be present if either is

present.

• The eighth information item is elevation / ELE. It is expressed in meters. It is a

numeric value. It is between -422 meters (Dead Sea) and 8848 meters (Mount

Everest). Allowed special characters are the negative sign and the period.

• The ninth information item is the geodetic datum code / GDC35. It is an

alphanumeric value of 3 to 6 characters in length. This information item is used to

indicate which coordinate system was used to represent the values in information

items 2 through 7. If no entry is made in this information item, then the basis for the

values entered in the first eight information items shall be WGS84, the code for the

World Geodetic Survey 1984 version - WGS 84 (G873). See Table 7 for values. 

The tenth, eleventh and twelfth information items are treated as a group and are optional.

These three information items together are a coordinate which represents a location with a

Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate. If any of these three information items is

present, all shall be present. 

• The tenth information item is the geographic coordinate universal transverse

Mercator zone / GCM36. It is an alphanumeric value of 2 to 3 characters. This is a

one or two digit UTM zone number followed by the 8 degree latitudinal band

designator (which is a single letter). Valid latitudinal band designators include C

35 See the Glossary maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for information 

on commonly used terms. http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS-Proxy/Glossary/xml/NGS_Glossary.xml 

36 The UTM zone numbers and designators are described at

 http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/grids/utm.html

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through X, omitting I and O.

• The eleventh information item is the geographic coordinate universal transverse

Mercator easting / GCE. It is an integer of 1 to 6 digits.

• The twelfth information item is the geographic coordinate universal transverse

Mercator northing / GCN. It is an integer of 1 to 8 digits.

The following item is used for instances when GPS or other coordinate systems may not be

readily available:

• The thirteenth information item is optional. It is the geographic reference text /

GRT. This information item is an alphanumeric entry of up to 150 characters. It is a

free form text describing a street address or other physical location (such as ‘Corner

of Washington and Madison, Geneva, NY’). 

The following two information items should be used when an alternate system had been

utilized for recording position:

• A fourteenth optional information item geographic coordinate other system

identifier / OSI allows for other coordinate systems. This information item

specifies the system identifier. It is up to 10 characters in length. Examples are:

• MGRS37 (Military Grid Reference System) 

• USNG37 (United States National Grid) 

• GARS37 (Global Area Reference System) 

• GEOREF37 (World Geographic Reference)

• LANDMARK landmark and position relative to the landmark, for example:

Landmark: hydrant 143 sector 5 Position: 5.2 meters directly E

• A fifteenth optional information item is the geographic coordinate other system

value / OCV. [2013a>] It shall only be present if OSI is present in the record and

OSI is set to LANDMARK. OCV is free text and may be up to 126 characters.

[<2013a] For details on the formatting of OCV for the other coordinate systems

shown in OSI as examples, see Table 7 Geographic coordinate datum code

values.

Table 7 Geographic coordinate datum code values

Geodetic Datum Code Value

Airy AIRY

Australian National AUST

Bessel 1841 BES

37 For a description, see http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/grids/referencesys.html

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Geodetic Datum Code Value

Bessel 1841 (Namibia) BESN

Clarke 1866 CLK66

Clarke 1880 CLK80

Everest EVER

Fischer 1960 (Mercury) FIS60

Fischer 1968 FIS68

GRS 1967 GRS67

Helmert 1906 HELM

Hough HOUG

International INT

Krassovsky KRAS

Modified Airy AIRYM

Modified Everest EVERM

Modified Fischer 1960 FIS60M

South American 1969 SA69

WGS-60 WGS60

WGS-66 WGS66

WGS-72 WGS72

WGS-84 / NAD-83 WGS84

Other <entry up to 6 characters>

7.7.4 Metadata specific to friction ridge records

7.7.4.1 Impression type / IMP 

This field contains a code from Table 8 for how the friction ridge sample was collected. 

[2015n>] In 2013 and earlier versions of this standard, this field indicated both the

impression types and capture technology: now this field retains the impression types but

capture technology is indicated in Friction ridge capture technology (FCT), as described in

section 7.7.4.5 (Table 11). Values from previous versions of this standard for impression

types are still allowed for use but are considered to be 'legacy'. For example, the legacy

value 21 indicated a rolled fingerprint using an optical livescan; now this would be

indicated using IMP=1 (rolled contact) and FCT=3 (optical bright field TIR livescan. For a

full list of those legacy values, see Table 7 Geographic coordinate datum code values

of the 2013 Update of the standard. Note that the legacy values ranged from 0 to 39. This

updated table includes new codes for exemplar prints captured from moving subjects

(codes 41 and 42). [<2015n]

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Table 8 Friction ridge impression types

Exemplar Prints

Contact Impressions

Plain Contact 0 Finger(s) presented on platen or paper 

without rolling

Rolled Contact 1 Finger rolled on platen or paper

Live-scan swipe38 8 Finger swiped on platen

Contactless Acquistions

Plain contactless – stationary subject 24 Finger(s) / palm / plantar presented 

stationary, in view of a stationary sensor and 

sensor captures plain contact equivalent.

Rolled contactless – stationary 

subject

25 Finger(s) / palm / plantar presented 

stationary, in view of a stationary sensor and 

sensor captures rolled equivalent.

Rolled contactless – moving subject 41 Finger(s) / palm / plantar move through the 

capture volume of a sensor and sensor 

captures rolled equivalent.

Plain contactless – moving subject 42 Finger(s) / palm / plantar move through the 

capture volume of a sensor and sensor 

captures plain equivalent.

System integration exceptions

Other 28

Unknown 29

Latent prints

Latent image 4 Image or impression of friction skin deposited 

on a surface

7.7.4.2 Friction ridge generalized position / FGP

FGP is used in Record types dealing with friction ridges. It specifies which friction ridge 

biometric sample was collected. Note that for codes 1 - 40 and 60 - 84, the Table 9

specifies recommended MAXIMUM width and height. (Individual implementation 

domains and application profiles may use different values). In versions of this standard prior

to 2011, FGP was used for finger position, and PLP for palm print position. They are now 

in one table, along with the codes added in the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1a-2009 amendment. Plantar

codes are included in the table. In order to cover all of these cases, the name was changed to

friction ridge generalized position / FGP. 39

[2013a>] Codes 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 40-54 do not apply to latent prints. In addition,

Code 19 is not used in the Extended Feature Set of Record Type-9. Field 9.134: M1

38 [2015a>] Renamed to “live-scan swipe” to harmonize with ISO. [<2015a]

39 [2013a>] Deleted unclear paragraphs that followed this text in the base 2011 text [<2013a]

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friction ridge generalized position / FGP uses codes 1-10 and does not allow multiple

finger, unknown print, extra digit, palm or plantar codes in order to maintain consistency

with INCITS 178. [<2013a]

If the type of friction skin is unknown, each of the possible positions shall be included as

separate data entries. Codes “0” (Unknown fingerprint) and “20” (Unknown palm) together

address all friction ridge areas on the hands; codes “60” (Unknown sole of foot) and “63”

(Unknown toe) together address all friction ridge areas on the feet. Code “18” denotes an

unknown friction ridge, from hand or foot. 

Table 9 Friction ridge position code & recommended image dimensions

Finger Position Codes

Finger Position Finger

Code

 Max Width

(mm) (in)

 Max Height

(mm) (in)

 Unknown finger 0 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right thumb 1 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right index finger 2 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right middle finger 3 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right ring finger 4 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right little finger 5 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left thumb 6 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left index finger 7 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left middle finger 8 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left ring finger 9 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left little finger 10 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Plain right thumb 11 25.4 1.0 76.2 3.0

 Plain left thumb 12 25.4 1.0 76.2 3.0

 Plain right four fingers (may include extra digits) 13 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

 Plain left four fingers (may include extra digits) 14 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

 Left & right thumbs 15 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

 Right extra digit40 16 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left extra digit40 17 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

40 These rules shall be used in dealing with subjects with extra fingers or thumbs: the four fingers closest to

the thumb shall be labeled with the index/middle/ring/little position codes; the thumb closest to the fingers

shall be labeled with the thumb position code; additional fingers shall be labeled with the extra finger

position code for the appropriate hand. The comment field (Field 13.020: Comment / COM or Field

14.020: Comment / COM) should be used to describe specifics for the finger location. In the case of

conjoined fingers, the image of the entire conjoined finger shall be included using the finger position

closest to the thumb, and the next finger position shall be used for the next fully separable finger. The

comment field (Field 13.020: Comment / COM or Field 14.020: Comment / COM) should be used to

describe specifics of the conjoined fingers.

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Finger Position Finger

Code

 Max Width

(mm) (in)

 Max Height

(mm) (in)

 Unknown friction ridge41 18 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 EJI or tip 19 114.3 4.5 127.0 5.0

Palm Position Codes 41

Palm Position Palm

Code

Max Width

(mm) (in)

Max Height

(mm) (in)

 Unknown palm 20 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Right full palm 21 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Right writer’s palm 22 44.5 1.8 127.0 5.0

 Left full palm 23 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Left writer’s palm 24 44.5 1.8 127.0 5.0

 Right lower palm 25 139.7 5.5 139.7 5.5

 Right upper palm 26 139.7 5.5 139.7 5.5

 Left lower palm 27 139.7 5.5 139.7 5.5

 Left upper palm 28 139.7 5.5 139.7 5.5

 Right other 29 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Left other 30 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Right interdigital 31 139.7 5.5 76.2 3.0

 Right thenar 32 76.2 3.0 114.3 4.5

 Right hypothenar 33 76.2 3.0 114.3 4.5

 Left interdigital 34 139.7 5.5 76.2 3.0

 Left thenar 35 76.2 3.0 114.3 4.5

 Left hypothenar 36 76.2 3.0 114.3 4.5

 Right grasp 37 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Left grasp 38 139.7 5.5 213.0 8.5

 Right carpal delta area 81 139.7 5.5 114.3 4.5

 Left carpal delta area 82 139.7 5.5 114.3 4.5

 Right full palm, including writer's palm42 83 165.0 6.5 213.0 8.5

Left full palm, including writer's palm42 84 165.0 6.5 213.0 8.5

 Right wrist bracelet43 85 165.0 6.5 213.0 8.5

41 [2015a>] Code 18 applies to all friction ridge types and is technically not solely a “Finger Code”

[<2015a]

42 The subject's hand is rolled so that the full palm and writer's palm are captured in a single impression. 

 [2013e>] the mm entry had a typo in the original 2011 version [2013e] 

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Palm Position Palm

Code

Max Width

(mm) (in)

Max Height

(mm) (in)

 Left wrist bracelet 43 86 165.0 6.5 213.0 8.5

Plantar Position Codes 41

Plantar Position

Plantar

Code

Max Width

(mm) (in)

Max Height

(mm) (in)

 Unknown sole 60 139.7 5.5 330.2 13.0

 Sole – right foot 61 139.7 5.5 330.2 13.0

 Sole – left foot 62 139.7 5.5 330.2 13.0

 Unknown toe 63 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Right big toe 64 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Right second toe 65 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Right middle toe 66 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Right fourth toe 67 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Right little toe 68 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Left big toe 69 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Left second toe 70 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Left middle toe 71 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Left fourth toe 72 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Left little toe 73 44.5 1.8 76.2 3.0

 Front / ball of right foot 74 139.7 5.5 139.7 5.5

 Back / heel of right foot 75 139.7 5.5 139.7 5.5

 Front / ball of left foot 76 139.7 5.5 152.4 6.0

 Back / heel of left foot 77 139.7 5.5 152.4 6.0

 Right middle of foot44 78 139.7 5.5 152.4 6.0

 Left middle of foot44 79 139.7 5.5 152.4 6.0

Table 9 is extended with recommended minimum dimensions for common 2 finger and 3

finger combinations. Note that mobile devices may use the codes defined in the above table,

as well as those presented below. No maximum dimensions are included, but there are

practical maximum upper limits to the image size. The minimum areas for codes 42, 45, 48

and 50 may not be sufficient for practical use. The actual size will depend upon the

43 [2013n>] Added in 2013 Update [<2013n]

44 The codes for the middle of the feet correspond to the arch and/or outside (fibular hypothenar) areas of 

the feet.

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equipment used. It should be noted that codes 13-15 and 40-50 are for simultaneous 2 and 3

and 4 – finger combinations. The titles of the finger combinations are given from the thumb

outwards (that is, left to right for the right hand and right to left for the left hand). Code 46

“Right index / Left index” means that the right index placed on the right portion of the

imaging area and the left index on the left portion of that same imaging area.

Multiple Finger Position Codes 

Finger position Finger

code

 Min Width

(mm) (in)

 Min Height

(mm) (in)

2-Finger Combinations

Note code 15

 Right index/middle 40 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right middle/ring 41 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right ring/little 42 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left index/middle 43 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left middle/ring 44 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Left ring/little 45 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

 Right index / left index 46 40.6 1.6 38.1 1.5

3-Finger Combinations

 Right index/middle/ring 47 63.5 2.5 38.1 1.5

 Right middle/ring/little 48 63.5 2.5 38.1 1.5

 Left index/middle/ring 49 63.5 2.5 38.1 1.5

 Left middle/ring/little 50 63.5 2.5 38.1 1.5

4-Finger Combinations

Note codes 13 & 14

 Fingertips 43

 (4 fingers simultaneously –

no thumb – right hand - plain) 

51 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

Fingertips 43

 (4 fingers simultaneously – 

no thumb – left hand - plain) 

52 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

5-Finger Combinations

Fingertips 43

 (4 fingers and thumb 

simultaneously – right hand - 

plain)

53 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

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Finger position Finger

code

 Min Width

(mm) (in)

 Min Height

(mm) (in)

Fingertips 43

 (4 fingers and thumb 

simultaneously – left hand - 

plain)

54 81.3 3.2 76.2 3.0

7.7.4.3 Print (or search) position descriptors / PPD or SPD

These fields are used to define fingerprints that include all or part of the lower joints (medial

or proximal segments), or extreme tips. 

For exemplar fingerprints contained in Type-14 records, if the impression is known to be

an entire joint image (EJI), full finger view (FFV), [2013a>] rolled [<2013a] extreme tip

(TIP), [2013n>] or flat extreme tip (TPP) [<2013n] then Field 14.013: Friction ridge

generalized position / FGP shall be set to 19, and Field 14.014: Print position

descriptors / PPD shall be specified; Field 14.015: Print position coordinates / PPC

may be (optionally) specified.

For latent prints contained in Type-13 records, if all or part of the impression should be

compared against the medial or proximal segments or the extreme tips, then Field 13.013:

Friction ridge generalized position / FGP shall be set to 19, and Field 13.014: Search

position descriptors / SPD shall be specified; Field 13.015: Print position coordinates /

PPC may be (optionally) specified.

Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate the positions of the distal, medial and proximal portions of

a finger. Table 10 lists the finger views (FV1 through FV4) shown in Figure 4. The

position descriptor, in Field 13.014: Search position descriptors / SPD or Field 14.014:

Print position descriptors / PPD contains two mandatory information items: 

• For a Type-13 record (latent prints), the first information item (probable decimal

finger position code / PDF) (0-10, 16 or 17) is taken from Table 9. A “0” indicates

that all the fingers of a possible candidate should be searched. For a Type-14 record

(known exemplars), the first information item is the decimal finger position code /

DFP. It is also taken from Table 9 with a value of 1 to 10, inclusive or 16 or 17.

• The second information item (finger image code / FIC) is the code taken from

Table 10 to indicate the portion of the database to search. Full-length finger joint

images use codes FV1 through FV4. Figure 4 is an illustration of the Entire Joint

Image for a middle finger with each of the full finger views and constituent parts

identified. Multiple portions of the EJI may be listed in a separate subfield.

Field 13.014: Search position descriptors / SPD, Field 14.014: Print position

descriptors / PPD, Field 13.015: Print position coordinates / PPC and Field 14.015:

Print position coordinates / PPC are included to make the standard flexible enough to

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accommodate many different scenarios and applications. These fields facilitate searching of

latents formatted within Type-13 records against Type-14 records contained in the various

databases. The search of a database by a latent can be narrowed with the use of additional

information such as finger position, finger segment, or full finger view. It is unlikely that an

entire EJI will ever be left at the scene of a crime. But a latent may be searched against the

EJIs based on a specific finger segment or full finger view. This may be accomplished for a

portion of the latent described by the X and Y coordinates.

Multiple portions of the EJI may be listed, each as a subfield with the same value for

PDF and a different value for FIC, such as one subfield with PDF of 2 and FIC of DST

and another subfield with PDF of 2 and FIC of MED. There need not be more than one

subfield. For latents in Type-13 records, Field 13.014: Search position descriptors /

SPD defines the set of all areas against which the latent should be compared. To indicate

that the latent may have come from any part of the finger, FIC should include both EJI

and TIP (in different subfields). Since EJI is a superset of FV1-FV4, DST, MED and

PRX, it is therefore redundant to specify any of the latter if EJI is included in FIC. If a

latent in a Type-13 record is to be compared against different segments of a finger but

can be specified more precisely than simply listing EJI, multiple portions of the EJI may

be listed – in which the information item FIC indicates the appropriate area of the field.

One subfield may, for example, have a PDF of 0 and FIC of DST and another subfield

with PDF of 0 and FIC of MED. It is possible to include any combination of PDF and

FICs, such as: PDF = 2 and FIC = MED; PDF = 2 and FIC = DST; PDF = 3 and FIC =

MED; and PDF = 3 and FIC = DST. 

7.7.4.4 Print position coordinates / PPC

If Field 13.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP or Field 14.013: Friction

ridge generalized position / FGP is set to 19 then Field 13.015: Print position

coordinates / PPC or Field 14.015: Print position coordinates / PPC may optionally

contain offsets to the locations for the bounding box of the EJI, each of the full finger views,

or segments within the EJI. When used, this field shall consist of six (6) mandatory

information items describing the type or portion of the image contained in this record and its

location within an EJI. This information will describe either the location of the entire joint

image, one full finger view, or segment. Individual full finger or segment definitions may

be repeated as repeating sets of information items:

• The first information item is the full finger view / FVC with values of “FV1”

through “FV4”. Values of “FV1” to “FV4” specify the perspective for each full

finger view. For a fingertip, the first information item shall be “TIP” [2013n>] or

“TPP” (used in Type-14 only)45 [<2013n]. FVC will contain the code “NA” if

only a proximal, distal or medial segment is available.

• The second information item is used to identify the location of a segment / LOS

within a full finger view. LOS will contain the not applicable code “NA” if the

45 [2013n>] For latent prints, TIP has been used historically for any type of impression of a fingertip.

This has been maintained for backwards compatibility in Type-13 records. However, in Type-14

records, TPP is specified for use as plain impressions and TIP for rolled fingertip exemplars (which were

the only types of fingertip exemplars allowed prior to the 2013 Update). [<2013n] 

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image portion refers to a full finger view, tip or to the entire joint image locations.

Otherwise, it shall contain “PRX”, “DST”, “MED” for a proximal, distal, or medial

segment, respectively.

• The third information item is the left horizontal coordinate / LHC. It is the

horizontal offset in pixels to the left edge of the bounding box relative to the origin

positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The fourth information item is the right horizontal coordinate / RHC. It is the

horizontal offset in pixels to the right edge of the bounding box relative to the origin

positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The fifth information item is the top vertical coordinate / TVC. It is the vertical

offset (pixel counts down) to the top of the bounding box.

• The sixth information item is the bottom vertical coordinate / BVC. It is the

vertical offset from the upper left corner of the image down to the bottom of the

bounding box. It is counted in pixels.

Table 10 Joint image segments, tip code and finger view codes

Type of Image Image Code

Entry allowed for FIC only

Entire joint image EJI

Entries for FVC or FIC

Rolled tip image (Type-14) ; 

latent fingertip (Type-13) 46

TIP

Plain tip image 47 (Type-14 only) TPP

Full finger rolled image FV1

Full finger plain image – left side FV2

Full finger plain image – center FV3

Full finger plain image – right side FV4

Entry for FVC only

46 [2013a>] These are the same conditions as existed in versions prior to the 2013 Update; this just makes

the restrictions explicit. [<2013a] 

47 [2013n>] New in 2013 Update to allow fingertip plain impressions as exemplars. [<2013n]

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Type of Image Image Code

Only a proximal, distal or medial segment is 

available

NA

Entries for LOS or FIC 

Proximal segment PRX

Distal segment DST

Medial segment MED

Entry for LOS only

Image portion refers to a full finger view, tip or to

the entire joint image locations

NA

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Figure 3: Palm and finger segment positions

Note: Upper palm and lower palm images shall include the interdigital area as overlap for verification. Therefore, the lower and

upper palm locations have approximate boundaries in this illustration. It is described in Section 8.15. The carpal delta area is at the

base of the palm, at the wrist. The wrist bracelet is the series of lines/creases below and parallel to the carpal delta and thenar /hypothenar

areas of the palm.

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Figure 4: Entire joint image

[2015n>]

7.7.4.5 Friction ridge capture technology

The codes in Table 11 can optionally be entered in fields Field 13.901: Friction ridge

capture technology / FCT, Field 14.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT,

Field 15.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT and / or Field 19.901:

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Distal

Medial

Proximal

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Friction ridge capture technology / FCT. Note that there is no capability to encode

this information in a Type-4 record. In 2013 and earlier versions of this standard, the

IMP field (Impression type / IMP , Table 8 Friction ridge impression types)

indicated both the impression types and capture technology. Now, the IMP field

retains the impression types, but capture technology is indicated in the FCT fields, new

to the 2015 version of the standard.

Table 11 Friction Ridge Capture Technology

Technology Code Description 

Unknown 0 Capture technology not provided by sensor 

manufacturer.

Other 1 Capture technology not sufficiently characterized by 

table.

Scanned ink on paper 2 Ink applied to friction ridge skin,, and then applied to 

paper, typically with assistance from a trained technician.

Optical – Total Interal 

Reflection (TIR) – bright 

field

3 Using optical angle of incidence effects, a contact 

livescan device captures ridge information such that 

ridges absorb light, and absence of ridges reflects light 

back to the sensor (dark ridges on a white background).

Optical – TIR – dark field 4 Using optical angle of incidence effects, a contact 

livescan device captures ridge information such that 

ridges reflect light, and absence of ridges absorb light 

(white ridges on a dark background).

Optical direct imaging - 

native

5 Light reflected from the friction ridge is imaged, resulting 

in a light gray on darker gray image. This may be 

performed contact or contactless, and may incorporate 

merging images from multiple sensors or rocking or 

swaying sensors / subjects. 

Optical direct imaging – 

low frequency 

unwrapped

6 Light reflected from the friction ridge is imaged onto one 

or more sensors. This may be performed contact or 

contactless, and utilizes the low frequency 3D detail to 

“unwrap” or project the image texture onto a 2D 

grayscale image.

3-dimensional imaging – 

high frequency 

unwrapped

7 High frequency friction ridge information is collected 

(optically, acoustically, etc.) and then “unwrapped” to 

create a 2D image from the 3D point cloud or mesh.

Reserved 8

Capacitive 9 A contact technology in which the capacitance of the 

friction ridge skin is assessed via a conducted AC signal.

Capactive – radio 

frequency (RF)

10 A contact technology in which the capacitance of the 

friction ridge skin is assessed via a radiated RF signal.

Electro-luminescent (EL) 

optical direct imaging

11 A contact technology in which the ridges and an 

alternating current (AC) signal cause an EL panel to emit 

light which is captured by an imaging system.

Reflected ultrasonic 

image

12 A contact technology in which the friction ridge reflects 

ultrasonic energy which is assessed by the sensor.

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Technology Code Description 

Ultrasonic impediography 13 A contact technology in which the absorption of ultrasonic

energy is measured by changes in the impedance of a 

piezo-electric material.

Thermal imaging 14 A contact technology in which the sensor measures the 

heat reflected from the friction ridge skin in contact with 

the sensor.

Direct pressure sensitive 15 A contact technology in which the pressure of the 

fingerprint ridge skin against a material is measured.

Indirect pressure 16 A contact technology in which the pressure of the 

fingerprint ridge skin against a deformable material is 

assessed optically to produce a friction ridge image. 

Live tape (one time use) 17 A technology in which tape is used on friction ridge skin 

to collect friction ridge detail and the tape is then 

subsequently imaged by traditional photography.

Latent impression 18 A capture process in which the digital image of the latent 

impression is acquired directly from the latent impression,

using a scanner or digital camera.

Latent photo 19 Physical photograph of the latent impression 

subsequently scanned using a flatbed scanner or digital 

camera.

Latent molded / cast 

impression

20 A capture process in which a mold / cast is taken from a 

latent friction ridge and then subsequently a “duplicate” is

generated from moldable / printable material and imaged.

Latent tracing 21 An older legacy latent friction ridge capture process in 

which a hand-drawn or computer-drawn tracing would 

subsequently be imaged by a flatbed scanner or 

photographed.

Latent lift 22 A process in which powder or a chemical is applied to a 

latent friction ridge print, subsequently transparent tape is

applied to lift the print from the latent surface, and the 

tape is then placed on paper to be imaged. 

7.7.5 Subject acquisition profile / SAP/ FAP / IAP / TAP / PAP

A subject acquisition profile is used to describe a set of characteristics concerning the

capture of the biometric sample. These profiles have mnemonics SAP for face, FAP

for fingerprints, IAP for iris records, [2015n>] PAP for palm print and TAP for toe

and foot (plantar).

SAP codes are mandatory in Type-10 records with a face image. FAP is optional in

Type-14. IAP is optional in Type-17 records. TAP is optional in Type-19 records.

PAP is optional in Type-15 records. 

The values do not have the same meaning for different modalities. As is explained in

the Mobile ID Best Practice Recommendation, Version 248, a multi-biometric capture

48 It is available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/mobileid.cfm 

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device could, for example, have a SAP level of 42, FAP level of 45, and an IAP level

of 40. With the exception of mobile device SAP levels, the higher the value, the

stronger the acquisition requirements. 

For friction ridge images, these profiles may apply to images collected using livescan

devices or ink on paper.

[<2015n]

7.7.5.1 Subject acquisition profile for face / SAP

Field 10.013: Subject acquisition profile / SAP has the SAP level code for face in

Table 12. The SAP codes 32, 42 and 52 were new for the 2011 version of the standard. 

Table 12 Subject acquisition profiles for face

Subject Acquisition Profile SAP Level

 Unknown acquisition profile

[2015n>] or other source not mentioned in this table

[<2015n]

0

 Surveillance facial image 1

 Driver’s license image (AAMVA) 10

 ANSI Full Frontal facial image (ANSI 385) 11

 ANSI Token facial image (ANSI 385) 12

 ISO Full Frontal facial image (ISO/IEC 19794-5) 13

 ISO Token facial image (ISO/IEC 19794-5) 14

 PIV facial image (NIST SP 800-76) 15

 Legacy Mugshot 20

 Best Practice Application – Level 30 30

 Mobile ID Best Practice - Level 32 32

 Best Practice Application – Level 40 40

 Mobile ID Best Practice - Level 42 42

 Best Practice Application – Level 50 50

 Best Practice Application – Level 51 51

 Mobile ID Best Practice - Level 52 52

7.7.5.1.1 Level 0 (Unknown profile)

This level denotes any case when the SAP is unknown [2015n>] or from another source

[<2015n]. This value may be used to alert systems that the profile of the face image

needs to be determined manually or via advanced face image quality evaluation

techniques. 

7.7.5.1.2 Level 1 (Surveillance facial image)

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This SAP value denotes a surveillance facial image: a face image captured without

specific regard to scene, photographic, or digital requirements. For example, an image of

a face from commonly available surveillance video equipment is generally considered a

surveillance facial image. Typically surveillance facial images are of relatively poor

quality compared to mugshots, including significant pose angle used for the frontal view,

poor image resolution, poor image contrast, etc. 

7.7.5.1.3 Levels 10-15 (Other application profiles)

Levels 10-15 shall denote transaction associated with capture under the guidance of other

facial standards or application profiles as defined below. Note that the facial images of

Level-13 and Level-14 may come from travel documents as described in “Deployment of

Machine Readable Travel Documents’’, ICAO Technical Report, version 2.0.

• Level-10 denotes a driver license facial portrait described in the AAMVA

International Specification – DL/ID Card Design.

• Level-11 denotes an ANSI facial image that meets requirements of the Full Frontal

Image type defined in ANSI INCITS 385-2004.

• Level-13 denotes an ISO facial image that meets the requirements of the Full

Frontal Image defined in International standard ISO/IEC 19794-5.49

• Level-14 denotes an ISO facial image that meets the requirements of the Token

Face Image type defined in International standard ISO/IEC 19794-5.49

• Level-15 denotes a PIV facial image that meets requirements of Biometric Data

Specifications for Personal Identity Verification defined in NIST SP 800-76.50

See Section 3 Normative references for information about the references cited above.

7.7.5.1.4 Level 20 (Legacy mugshot)

A facial image conforming to this application profile level shall be a mugshot formatted

according to ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000, but not necessarily conforming to the best practice

requirements given in level-30. The subject pose(s) may be Frontal, Profile, or Angled.

7.7.5.1.5 Level 30 (Basic mugshot)

These mugshots shall adhere to strict background, lighting, and resolution requirements. 

In particular, the background is 18% gray, the lighting is three-point, and the image size 

is at least 480 x 600 pixels with an aspect ratio of 1:1.25. Annex E: Facial Capture – 

49 [2013a>] Both the 2005 and 2011 version of ISO 19794-5 are consistent for purposes of SAP Level-13

and SAP Level-14 definition. [<2013a]

50 [2013a>] This document was updated as NIST SP 800-76-2 in 2013. The document is available at 

 http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-76-2 . The specifications relevant for SAP 9o9Level-15 did not

change. [<2013a]

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SAPs 30 and above for more information about Level 30.

7.7.5.1.6 Level 32 (Mobile device basic mugshot)

The requirements for level 32 are based on those of level 30, but not fully inclusive of all

of those requirements. For instance, relative centering error and 18% grayscale with

appropriate lighting may not be realistic for a mobile application. Use of this SAP

number indicates that the image was captured with a mobile device. See Table 13 for the

complete requirements for SAP level 32. 

7.7.5.1.7 Level 40 (Higher resolution mugshot)

A facial image conforming to the level-40 application profile can be captured with an offthe-shelf 1-megapixel camera. Requirements for conformance with level-40 facial image

capture include the following (See Annex E: Facial Capture – SAPs 30 and above: 

· The image shall conform to the minimum requirements for the capture of level-30

facial images 

· At least one full frontal face image shall be captured.

· The minimum number of pixels in the digital image shall be 768 x 1024 pixels, and 

· Facial images shall conform to the “head and shoulders” composition detailed 

requirements shown in Annex E: Facial Capture – SAPs 30 and above. 

It should be noted that the resolution aspect of the captured facial images are improved as

the number of pixels in both directions are increased. As images are captured with an

increased number of pixels, the 3:4 (Width : Height) aspect ratio shall be maintained. 

7.7.5.1.8 Level 42 (Mobile device higher resolution mugshot)

The requirements for level 42 are based on those of level 40, but not fully inclusive of

those requirements. For instance, relative centering error and 18% grayscale with

appropriate lighting may not be realistic for a mobile application. Use of this SAP

number indicates that the image was captured with a mobile device. See Table 13 for the

complete requirements for SAP level 42.

7.7.5.1.9 Levels 50 and 51 (Best practice mugshots)

A facial image conforming to the level 50 and level 51 application profiles shall include

“face image capture requirements”. See Annex E: Facial Capture – SAPs 30 and

above. These profile levels are intended to allow for examination of up to forensic-level

(10 ppmm) detail on a subject’s face. The only difference between level-50 and level-51

is that level-50 specifies the “head and shoulders” composition requirements while level51 specifies the “head only” composition requirements. 

For a level-50 image capture profile, the minimum number of pixels in the digital image

shall be 3300 pixels in the horizontal direction by 4400 pixels in the vertical direction. 51

51 Identification applications require approximately 1700 pixels wide by 2515 pixels high on the face for the

99th percentile male in the U.S. population. Allocating 50% of the image width for the head requires

approximately 3400 pixels for a “head and shoulders photo” image width. 

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Off-the-shelf 15 (or more) megapixel digital cameras satisfy this requirement. As an

alternative, allocating 70% of the image width for the head requires approximately 2400

pixels for the “head only” facial capture. For a level-51 image capture profile, the

minimum number of pixels in the digital image shall be 2400 pixels in the horizontal

direction by 3200 pixels in the vertical direction. Off-the-shelf 8 megapixel digital

cameras satisfy this requirement. 

The levels-50 and 51 SAPs allow for the encoding of face images that are consistent with

the discussion above and with the “face image capture requirements”. It should be noted

that the resolution aspect of the captured facial images might be improved as the number

of pixels in both directions are increased. Figure 5 illustrates the improvement in image

quality from levels 30 to 50/51. As images are captured with an increased number of

pixels, the 3:4 (Width : Height) aspect ratio shall be maintained.

7.7.5.1.10 Level 52 (Mobile device best practice mugshots)

The requirements for level 52 are based upon those of level 50, but are not fully inclusive

of all of those requirements. For instance, relative centering error and 18% grayscale with

appropriate lighting may not be realistic for a mobile application. Specific roll, pitch and

yaw requirements are not included in Level 52. See Table 13 for the complete

requirements for SAP level 52.

Figure 5: Examples of resolution for face SAP levels 30/32, 40/42, & 50/51/52

Table 13 Mobile device face SAP levels

Capture Comments

Levels

32 42 52

Image resolution 

(size)

Lower resolution may

reduce accuracy

> 480 x 600 > 786 x 1024 > 2400 x 3200

Capture device sensor Progressive scan (no 

interlace)

Progressive scan (no 

interlace)

Progressive scan (no 

interlace)

Capture device color 

space

Minimum of 24-bit 

RGB color space or a 

minimum of 8-bit 

monochrome color 

space

Minimum of 24-bit 

RGB color space or a 

minimum of 8-bit 

monochrome color 

space

Minimum of 36-bit 

RGB color space or a 

minimum of 12-bit 

monochrome color 

space

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Capture Comments

Levels

32 42 52

Capture device 

controls

Auto gain and auto 

shutter, optional: 

control loop for 

camera parameter 

(shutter speed / flash 

intensity) based on 

face area on-board

Auto gain and auto 

shutter, optional: 

control loop for 

camera parameter 

(shutter speed / flash 

intensity) based on 

face area on-board 

(requires continuous 

face detection)

Auto gain and auto 

shutter, optional: 

control loop for 

camera parameter 

(shutter speed / flash 

intensity) based on 

face area on-board 

(requires continuous 

face detection)

Capture distance in 

cm

Lower distance may 

reduce accuracy

60-200 cm (~ 2 – 6 

feet), the longer 

distance is preferred

60-200 cm (~ 2 – 6 

feet), the longer 

distance is preferred

60-200 cm (~ 2 – 6 

feet), the longer 

distance is preferred

Illuminator type – 

optional feature

Xenon flash or LED / 

fill-in flash

Xenon flash or LED / 

fill-in flash

Xenon flash or LED / 

fill-in flash

Ambient light

Minimum light level 

at which flash 

becomes required

4 lux 4 lux 4 lux

Wavelength range Visible light. 

380-780 nm

Visible light.

 380-780 nm

Visible light. 

380-780 nm

Exposure time Capability to freeze 

motion

< 1/100s (10 ms) < 1/100s (10 ms) < 1/100s (10 ms)

Inter-eye distance Lower resolution may

reduce accuracy

> 90 pixels > 150 pixels > 300 pixels

Frame rate For positioning (live 

view)

> 12 frames per 

second (fps)

> 12 fps > 12 fps

7.7.5.2 Subject acquisition profile for fingerprint / FAP

The profile levels for fingerprint acquisition are optional and are based upon those

listed in the [2015n>] Mobile ID Best Practice Recommendation, Version 2. [<2015n]

They are entered in Field 14.031: Subject acquisition profile – fingerprint / FAP,

which was new for the 2011 version of the standard.

[2015n>] New FAP codes have been included for 1000 ppi devices. Note that JPEG

2000 is required for compression of 1000 ppi images. WSQ was designed for 500 ppi

only. FAP codes of 100 or greater are used for 1000 ppi. 

The minimum image dimension for FAP 50 has been changed to reflect the

marketplace. No devices were made at the previous specification of 2.5” x 1.5”.

Although technically possible to capture four slap fingers on a FAP 50 device, it

requires angling of the fingers, which may be problematic for certain systems. Some

application profiles actively discourage slanted fingers, such as the FBI which states

“All friction ridge prints should be captured as closely as possible to an upright

position.” 

FAP 45 and higher may be used for images collected using livescan devices or ink on

paper. FAP 40 and lower only apply to livescan.

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Table 14 Subject acquisition profiles for fingerprint 

CAPTURE FAP 10 FAP 20 FAP 30 FAP 40

Acquire Flat Images Yes Yes Yes Yes

Acquire Rolled Images No No No Optional

Minimum Gray Levels 256 256 256 256

Acceptable Image Resolution 500 +- 2% 500 +- 2% 500 +- 2% 500 +- 2%

Minimum Image Dimension 

(w x h) in inches

.5” x .65” .6” x .8” .8” x 1.0” 1.6” x 1.5”

Maximum Compression Ratio 10:1 10:1 10:1 10:1

Compression Algorithm WSQ 2.0+ WSQ 2.0+ WSQ 2.0+ WSQ 2.0+

Simultaneous # of Fingers 1 1 1 1 - 2

Sensor Certification PIV PIV PIV PIV

CAPTURE FAP 45 FAP 50 FAP 60 FAP 145 FAP 150 FAP 160

Acquire Flat Images Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Acquire Rolled Images Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional Optional

Minimum Gray Levels 256 256 256 256 256 256

Acceptable Image 

Resolution

500 +- 1% 500 +- 1% 500 +- 1% 1000

 +- 1%

1000

 +- 1%

1000

 +- 1%

Minimum Image 

Dimension 

(w x h) in inches

1.6” x 1.5” 3.2”x 2” 3.2” x 3” 1.6” x 1.5” 3.2” x 2” 3.2” x 3”

Maximum 

Compression Ratio

15:1 15:1 15:1 10:1 10:1 10:1

Compression Algorithm WSQ 2.0+ WSQ 3.1+ WSQ 3.1+ JPEG

2000

JPEG

2000

JPEG

2000

Simultaneous # of 

Fingers

1 - 452 1 - 4 1 - 4 1 - 4 1 - 4 1 - 4

Sensor Certification Appendix 

F

Appendix

F

Appendix

F

Appendix 

F

Appendix

F

Appendix

F

[<2015n]

7.7.5.3 Subject acquisition profile for iris / IAP

The profile levels for iris acquisition are entered in Field 17.031: Subject acquisition

profile – iris / IAP. 

[2015n>] A device used to capture iris images shall be based upon near-infrared

wavelength capture, approximately 700 to 900 nm. Some systems may use a portion of

this range, which is acceptable. 

52Up to four fingers may be allowed by some systems, if stitched images are acceptable according to the

Organization’s Application Profile. Some capture units may be capable of taking two images and

stitching them into one output image. 2 fingers fit without stitching on one image for this size platen.

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Iris image capture devices typically provide infrared lighting using LEDs to illuminate

the iris. The illumination is in a range partly visible to the human eye. Illumination shall

be compliant with illumination standard IEC 825-1 and safety specification ISO 60825-

1. The illumination wavelengths shall have > 90% of energy within the 700-900 nm

band; and > 35 % of energy in the 800-900 nm. band. 

Many contemporary iris imagers are capable of capturing both left and right iris images

simultaneously or quasi-simultaneously (within a few milliseconds). Others only

capture one iris at a time. For mobile applications, both images should be captured

simultaneously or quasi-simultaneously. This reduces the possibility of mislabeling of

the individual images (right or left). It also allows for more accurate estimation of the

roll angle and potentially higher accuracy and comparison speed. 

In order to achieve acceptable time-to-capture and Failure to acquire (FTA) rates, the

iris image sampling frequency must be at least 5 frames per second. The iris image

capture sensor shall use progressive scanning. The ability for an iris image capture

device to suppress motion blur and to freeze motion, is a function of exposure time.

The maximum allowable value for the exposure time, expressed in milliseconds,

reduces as Iris acquisition profile (IAP) levels increase, from a maximum of 33 ms. at

IAP 20 to a maximum of 10 ms at IAP 40, as shown in Table 15. Standard ISO/IEC

19794-6:2011 adopted the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) specification of 0.6

with a spatial frequency of 2 cycles / mm.

In order to achieve accurate recognition accuracy, the iris acquisition sensor must

achieve a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 36dB.

The new IAP levels state spatial sampling rate instead of minimum pixels. Since a

typical iris is 10.2-13.0mm, a sampling rate of 10ppmm would result in an iris diameter

of 102-103 pixels, lessthan the minimum requirement for IAP 20. This revision

corresponds to ISO/IEC 19794-6:2011.

Table 15 Subject acquisition profiles for iris

Capture IAP 10 IAP 11 IAP 12 IAP 20 IAP 30 IAP 40

Iris Diameter in true, 

non-upscaled pixels ≥ 140 ≥ 170 ≥ 210

Spatial sampling rate 

(pixels / mm) 10 10 10

Number of (quasi-) 

simultaneously 

captured eyes

≥ 1 ≥ 1 2

Exposure time ≤ 33 ms ≤ 15 ms ≤ 10 ms ≤ 33 ms ≤ 15 ms ≤ 10 ms

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7.7.5.4 Subject acquisition profile for palm print / PAP

The capture of palm print exemplars is similar in concept to that of fingerprints. The

principal differences are:

· The area of the print is larger

· The palm is not usually rolled.

This is reflected in the equipment specifications. The minimum platen area is 5.0” x

5.0” corresponding to a PAP 70 level. As with the fingerprint Acquisition Profiles,

there are levels corresponding to 500 and to 1000 ppi outputs, with corresponding

differences in compression ratio and compression algorithm to be used.

All PAP levels require the ability to capture flat images. Capture of rolled images is

optional. The minimum grayscale level is 256.

All PAP levels may be used for images collected using livescan or ink on paper.

Table 16 Subject acquisition profiles for palm print

Capture PAP 70 PAP 80 PAP 170 PAP 180

Acceptable Image 

Resolution 500 +- 1% 500 +- 1% 1000 +- 1% 1000 +- 1%

Minimum Image 

Dimension 

(w x h) inches

5.0” x 5.0” 5.0” x 8.0” 5.0” x 5.0” 5.0” x 8.0”

Maximum Compression

Ratio 15:1 15:1 10:1 10:1

Compression Algorithm WSQ 3.1+ WSQ 3.1+ JPEG 2000 JPEG 2000

7.7.5.5 Subject acquisition profile for Toe print and plantars / TAP

The capture of toe and sole (plantar) exemplars is similar in concept to that of

fingerprints. The principal differences are:

· The area of the print is larger

· The foot is not usually rolled. 

This is reflected in the equipment specifications. The minimum platen area is 5.0” x

5.0” corresponding to a TAP 70 level. As with the fingerprint Acquisition Profiles,

there are levels corresponding to 500 and to 1000 ppi outputs, with corresponding

differences in compression ratio and compression algorithm to be used.

Not included in these basic specifications are others that will be of interest to the

procuring agency, including (but not limited to):

· Weight of the unit

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· Ability to capture images outdoors (protection from too much sunlight)

· Ability to withstand environmental conditions typical of the conditions in which

the unit will be used (dust, heat / cold exposure, humidity, etc.)

· Routine maintenance requirements

All TAP levels require the ability to capture flat images. Capture of rolled images is

optional. All TAP levels require the ability to capture flat images. Capture of rolled

images is optional. The minimum grayscale level is 256. All TAP levels may be used

for images collected using livescan or ink on paper.

Table 17 Subject acquisition profiles for toe and foot (plantar)

Capture TAP 70 TAP 80 TAP 170 TAP 180

Acceptable Image 

Resolution 500 +- 1% 500 +- 1% 1000 +- 1% 1000 +- 1%

Minimum Image 

Dimension 

(w x h) inches

5.0” x 5.0” 5.0” x 8.0” 5.0” x 5.0” 5.0” x 8.0”

Maximum 

Compression Ratio 15:1 15:1 10:1 10:1

Compression 

Algorithm WSQ 3.1+ WSQ 3.1+ JPEG 2000 JPEG 2000

[<2015n]

7.7.6 Resolution

[2013d>] This section does not apply to Type-22 imagery. [<2013d]

 Many of the record types in this standard include images as the data field. Each image

formatted in accordance with this standard shall appear to have been captured in an

upright position and approximately centered horizontally in the field of view. The

scanning sequence (and recorded data) shall appear to have been from left-to-right,

progressing from top-to-bottom. For the purpose of describing the position of each pixel

within an image to be exchanged, a pair of reference axes shall be used. The origin of the

axes, pixel location (0,0), shall be located at the upper left-hand corner of each image.

The x-coordinate (horizontal) position shall increase positively from the origin to the

right side of the image. The y-coordinate (vertical) position shall increase positively from

the origin to the bottom of the image. 

Many of the record types in this standard use the term “resolution”, in the record type

name, field names or in the text describing characteristics about the fields. Generally, the

usage shares the commonality of describing pixels per unit of measure. In many cases, a

qualifier is used before the term, such as “scanning” resolution or “transmitting”

resolution.

All record types containing images are variable resolution except for Type-4, which has a

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fixed resolution. Record Type-4 shall not be used for anything but the 500 ppi class. The

scanner resolution is specified for Record Types 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 using 

Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS (See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel 

scale / SHPS) and Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS (See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned 

vertical pixel scale / SVPS) 

Record Type-7 does not include a field to specify resolution. In previous versions, Field

1.011: Native scanning resolution / NSR and Field 1.012: Nominal resolution / NTR

applied to Record Type-4 and Record Type-7: User-defined image record. In this

version, NSR and NTR only apply to Record Type-4: Grayscale fingerprint image,

unless specifically stated otherwise in a domain's specifications. This allows users to use

different resolutions for the Type-7 record. Since Type-7 records are user-defined, the

sender and receiver must exchange information concerning the resolution of the data. In

many cases, it is contained in the data record headers. 

As used within this standard, and consistent with the definitions in Section 4, the

following categorization of terms related to resolution is provided to assist the reader in

clearly understanding and interpreting these terms:

· Acquisition related – “scanning resolution”, “native scanning resolution”

· Image related – “nominal resolution”, “transmitting resolution”

· Either acquisition or image related – “class resolution”, “tolerance”

Most of the complexity related to resolution pertains to the friction ridge (particularly

fingerprints) as described in the following subclauses.

7.7.6.1 Friction ridge resolution requirement

For Appendix F53 certified devices, resolution accuracy shall not vary more than 1% from

the class resolution. A class resolution of 19.69 ppmm (500 ppi) has a lower bound of 19.49

ppmm (495 ppi) and an upper bound of 19.89 ppmm (505 ppi). See Table 18. For Personal

Identity Verification (PIV)54 certified devices with fingerprint subject acquisition profile

(FAP)

55 Levels 10 to 40 only (see Section 7.7.5.2), resolution accuracy shall not vary more

than 2% from the class resolution (see Table 18). For example, a class resolution of 19.69

ppmm (500 ppi) has a lower bound of 19.30 ppmm (490 ppi) and an upper bound of 20.08

ppmm (510 ppi). The 2% tolerance for class resolution applies only to verification /

authentication applications – not to identification applications. FAP 10 is a minimum

requirement and any FAP level below 10 is not covered by this standard. See Table 14 for

a description of the FAP levels. 

Table 18 Class resolution with defined tolerance

Certification Maximum Tolerance Class Resolution

53 IAFIS-DOC-01078-9.1 Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Electronic Biometric Transmission

Specification (EBTS) May 25, 2010 – Appendix F - CJIS Image Quality Specifications

54 Personal Identity Verification (PIV): Image Quality Specifications For Single Finger Capture Devices. 

55 [2015n>] NIST Special Publication 500-280 V2, Mobile ID Device Best Practice Recommendation

Version 2.0[<2015n]

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500 1000

Appendix F ±1% ±5 ppi ±10 ppi

PIV ±2% ±10 ppi Not Applicable

Tolerance requirements shall apply to the class and nominal resolution requirements

throughout this standard.

[2015n>] Palm print application profiles, PAP are shown in Table 16 Subject

acquisition profiles for palm print and TAP profiles are shown in Table 17 Subject

acquisition profiles for toe and foot (plantar). Both of them are subject to Appendix

F testing.

Note that latent prints in Type-13 records are not subject to these tolerance restrictions,

since they may be generated by several different means, including direct photography.

There is no field corresponding to FAP, PAP or TAP for a Type-13 record.[<2015n]

7.7.6.2 Friction ridge scanner resolution requirement

The following clauses address the scanner or acquisition process requirements for friction

ridge acquisition devices.

7.7.6.2.1 Exemplar scanner resolution requirement

Exemplar images shall have a minimum scanning resolution of the 500 ppi class. If Type-4

records are included in the transaction, Field 1.011: Native scanning resolution / NSR

contains five characters specifying the native scanning resolution in pixels per millimeter. It

is expressed as two numeric characters followed by a decimal point and two more numeric

characters (e.g., 19.69). This field is set to “00.00” if no Type-4 records are present in the

transaction. An implementation domain or application profile may specify that NSR may be

used to apply to Type-7 records. Record Type-14 shall be used if scanning a fingerprint

image at the 1000 ppi class or above. It can also be used for the 500 ppi class. 

7.7.6.2.2 Latent image scanner resolution requirement

Latent images shall have a minimum scanning resolution of the 1000 ppi class.

7.7.6.2.3 Scanner resolution migration path

The migration path to higher scanning resolutions for image capturing devices with a native

scanning resolution of the 500 ppi class shall be at a rate of 100% of the current native

scanning resolution. The recommended migration path progresses from 19.69 ppmm to

39.37 ppmm (500 ppi class to 1000 ppi class), from 39.37 ppmm to 78.74 ppmm (1000 ppi

class to 2000 ppi class), etc. Capture devices with native scanning resolutions not in step

with this migration path shall provide (through subsampling, scaling, or interpolating

downward) a nominal resolution that matches the next lower interval in the migration path.

For example, a device with native scanning resolution of 47.24 ppmm (1200 ppi) shall

provide a class resolution of 39.37 ppmm (1000 ppi).

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7.7.6.3 Friction ridge transmitting resolution requirement

Each image to be exchanged shall have a specific resolution associated with the transmitted

data. This transmitting resolution does not have to be the same as the scanning resolution.

However, the transmitting resolution shall be within the range of permissible resolution

values for that record type.

7.7.6.3.1Record Type-4 transmitting resolution requirement

When an image is captured at a scanning resolution greater than the permissible upper limit

of the transmitting resolution of 500 ppi class, the image shall be subsampled, scaled, or

interpolated down.56 This processing to reduce the scanning resolution to a lower nominal

resolution shall be performed before the transmission occurs. Processing to increase the

resolution above scanning resolution is not permitted. Field 1.012: Nominal resolution /

NTR shall specify the transmitting resolution in pixels per millimeter. It is expressed as two

numeric characters followed by a decimal point and two more numeric characters (e.g.,

19.69). The transmitting resolution shall be within the range 19.30 ppmm (490 ppi) to 20.08

ppmm (510 ppi) for a Type-4 record . This range reflects the 2% tolerance from 500 ppi

allowed for PIV certified devices. (See Table 18). For example, a sensor that scans natively

at 508 ppi would list both NSR and NTR as 20 ppmm ( = 508 ppi). These images should

not be sampled down to exactly 500 ppi. This field is set to “00.00” if no Type-4 records are

present in the transaction. Given that the transmitting resolution shall not be greater than the

scanning resolution, images meant for identification applications, such as those from

Appendix F certified devices (See Table 3) are restricted to a 1% tolerance from 500 ppi. 

With the deprecation of Record Types 3, 5 and 6, NTR in this version only directly applies

to Record Type-4. NTR does not apply to Type-7 records, unless so specified by an

implementation domain.

7.7.6.3.2 Variable-resolution Record Types transmitting resolution

requirement

For variable-resolution friction ridge images (those in Record Types 13, 14, 15, 19 and

possibly in Record Types 16 and 20), the transmitting resolution shall be at least as great

as the class resolution of 500 ppi. There is no upper limit on the variable-resolution rate

for transmission. However, the transmitting resolution shall not be greater than the

scanning resolution. For variable resolution records the Transmitted horizontal pixel

scale / THPS and the Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS shall be specified. (See

Sections 7.7.8.4 and 7.7.8.5). Before transmitting variable-resolution records, the

operational capabilities of the sending and receiving systems should be addressed, and

prior agreement should be made with the recipient agency or organization before

56

 [2013a>] When down-sampling a fingerprint image from 1000 ppi to 500 ppi, the guidance provided

in NIST Special Publication 500-289 (available at http://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/specpubs/sp500.htm)

should be followed in order to produce a 500 ppi image with the minimal effect on the image contesnts

and quality. [<2013a] 

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transmitting the image.

The migration path to higher transmitting resolutions is the same as for the scanning

resolutions, i.e., from 500 ppi class to 1000 ppi class; from 1000 ppi class to 2000 ppi

class, etc. For images captured at a native scanning resolution greater than the

permissible upper limit of a transmitting resolution step in the migration path, it may be

necessary to subsample, scale, or interpolate down. The result of this processing is to

obtain a nominal scanning resolution that conforms to a step in the transmission

migration path. 56

7.7.7 Sample quality 

Many of the Record Types contain optional quality metric information. In addition to the

three information items described here, a quality field may contain other information

items. Each of the information items is contained in a subfield. Multiple subfields may

be present, each indicating a different quality algorithm, up to a maximum of 9 times.

This upper limit has been stated to maintain consistency across all encodings and record

types. (In some places in the 2008 version, it was unlimited; another was limited to 1;

some had 9. In 2007, some were limited to 4; others to 9.)

The meaning attributed to this metric shall be defined and interpreted by the producer of

the scoring algorithm or by the person or system used to assign the metric to the sample.

The metric may be a predictor of false rejection performance or another metric indicating

a value associated with the quality of the sample for a particular function. 

[2013a>] Some quality fields have information items preceding the following three

information items. [<2013a]

The first information item [2013a>] of this grouping of 3 [<2013a] shall be a

quantitative expression of the predicted matching performance of the biometric sample,

which is a quality value / QVU. This information item shall contain the integer image

quality score between 0 and 100 (inclusive) assigned to the image data by a quality

algorithm57. Higher values indicate better quality. An entry of “255” shall indicate a

failed attempt to calculate a quality score. An entry of “254” shall indicate that no

attempt to calculate a quality score was made. 

A second information item [2013a>] of this grouping of 3 [<2013a] shall specify the

ID of the vendor of the quality algorithm used to calculate the quality score, which is an

algorithm vendor identification / QAV. This 4-digit hex value (See Section 5.5

Character types) is assigned by IBIA and expressed as four characters. The IBIA

maintains the Vendor Registry of CBEFF Biometric Organizations that map the value

in this field to a registered organization.

A third information item [2013a>] of this grouping of 3 [<2013a] shall specify a

numeric product code assigned by the vendor of the quality algorithm, which may be

57 The sample quality fields described in this section are not related in structure or values to Field 14.022: 

NIST quality metric / NQM. That field is used to enter the NIST fingerprint image quality (NFIQ) scores

on a scale of 1 to 5, unlike the quality fields described here that have a quality score between 0 and 100. 

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registered with the IBIA, but registration is not required. This is the algorithm product

identification / QAP that indicates which of the vendor’s algorithms was used in the

calculation of the quality score. This information item contains the integer product code

and should be within the range 1 to 65,535.

Fields using this structure are:

 Field 9.135: M1 friction ridge quality data / FQD

(in this field, the second and third information items are optional in 

order to have consistency with the 2004 version of INCITS 378)

 Field 9.316: EFS friction ridge quality metric / FQM

 Field 10.024: Subject quality score / SQS

 [2013v>] Field 11.033: Vocal segment quality values / SQV [<2013v]

 Field 13.024: Latent quality metric / LQM

 Field 14.023: Segmentation quality metric / SQM

 Field 14.024: Fingerprint quality metric / FQM

 Field 15.024: Palm quality metric / PQM

 Field 16.024: User-defined image quality metric / UQS

 Field 17.024: Image quality score / IQS

 Field 19.024: Friction ridge - plantar print quality metric / FQM

 Field 99.102: Biometric data quality / BDQ

7.7.8 Image scale values

[2013d>] This section does not apply to Type-22 imagery. [<2013d]

[2015a>] For record types where it is possible that an image is unprintable (i.e. if the

friction ridge area has been amputated or bandaged), then these values do not appear in

the record. [<2015a]

7.7.8.1 Horizontal line length / HLL

HLL defines the number of pixels contained on a single horizontal line of

the image. The maximum horizontal size is limited to 65,535 pixels in

Record Types-4 and 8, and to 99,999 for other record types. The

minimum value is 10 pixels58. [2015a>] For Traditional encoding, the

record size is limited by the maximum allowed value for Field xx.001

and the total image size in bytes must be able to be accommodated in

that field. [<2015a] See Section 7.1.

These are the HLL fields:

Field 4.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

58 Some places in the 2007 standard restricted the maximum to 4 digits (9,999). Others allowed up to

65,535. The 2007 version restricted the minimum to three digits (100) in some places. The 2008 version

gave examples using 2 digits in Record Type-10. To maintain consistency across encodings and record

types, the minimum and maximum are set to 2 digits and 5 digits. This equates to a maximum of 99,999 for

most record types, except for 4 and 8 which are restricted to 2 bytes in traditional format (65,535)

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Field 8.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 9.128: M1 horizontal line length /HLL

Field 10.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 13.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 14.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 15.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 16.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 17.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 19.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

Field 20.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

7.7.8.2 Vertical line length / VLL

VLL defines the number of [2013>a] pixels contained in a single vertical [<2013a] line in

the image. The maximum vertical size is limited to 65,535 pixels in Record Types-4 and 8,

and to 99,999 for other record types. The minimum value is 10 pixels. 58 These are the VLL

fields:

Field 4.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 8.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 9.129: M1 vertical line length / VLL

Field 10.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 13.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 14.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 15.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 16.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 17.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 19.007: Vertical line length / VLL

Field 20.007: Vertical line length / VLL

7.7.8.3 Scale units / SLC

The image sampling frequency (pixel density). A value of “1” shall indicate pixels per inch.

A value of “2” shall indicate pixels per centimeter. A value of “0” in this field indicates that

no scale is provided, and the quotient of THPS/TVPS shall provide the pixel aspect ratio. 

For contact exemplar friction ridge images, a value of 1 or 2 shall be specified. For a value

of 1 or 2, the transmitted horizontal and vertical scales shall be the same. A value of 1 or 2

shall also be specified for latent friction ridge prints if the lifted latent print is transmitted

directly from a scanner. If the latent print is contained in a photograph, a value of 1 or 2

shall be entered only if the image of the latent was captured with a scale measurement

visible in the image and the pixels across an inch or centimeter can be calculated – given the

known characteristics of the camera and its distance from the latent print. A value of 0 for a

latent print indicates that the true ppi value of the image is not known.

For non-contact images of body parts, SLC shall be set to 0 unless the object being imaged

is a fixed distance from the capture device and the ppi or ppmm values for the capture

device are accurately known at that fixed distance. (An example might be an iris capture

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device with a very small effective capture zone). 

These are the SLC fields:

Field 9.130: M1 scale units / SLC

Field 10.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 13.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 14.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 15.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 16.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 17.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 19.008: Scale units / SLC

Field 20.008: Scale units / SLC

7.7.8.4 Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This is the integer pixel density used in the horizontal direction of the image if SLC has a

value of “1” or “2”. If SLC has a value of “0”, this field shall contain the horizontal

component of the pixel aspect ratio, up to 5 integer digits. For example, if the SLC value = 1,

then the value of THPS could be ‘1000’ for a 1000 ppi sensor.

[2013a>] When using certain formats, such as PNG, conversion from ppm (or other

scales) may result in a decimal value. Since these fields require integer values, rounding

should be used. For example with the values 1.3, 1.5 and 1.8 the resulting THPS values

would be 1, 2, and 2. Any value greater than x.0 and less than x.5 would be rounded down

to x, regardless of the number of significant digits to the right of the decimal. [<2013a]

These are the THPS fields:

Field 9.131: M1 transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 10.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 13.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 14.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 15.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 16.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 17.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 19.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

Field 20.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

7.7.8.5 Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This is the integer pixel density used in the vertical direction of the image if SLC has a

value of “1” or “2”. If SLC has a value of “0”, this field shall contain the vertical

component of the pixel aspect ratio, up to 5 integer digits. If SLC is 1 or 2, then TVPS

shall equal THPS.

[2013a>] When using certain formats, such as PNG, conversion from ppm (or other

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scales) may result in a decimal value. Since these fields require integer values, rounding

up at .5 should be used. For example with the values 1.3, 1.5 and 1.8 the resulting TVPS

values would be 1, 2, and 2. [<2013a]. 

These are the TVPS fields:

Field 9.132: M1 transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 10.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 13.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 14.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 15.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 16.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 17.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 19.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

Field 20.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

7.7.8.6 Bits per pixel / BPX

Some record types have a mandatory field Bits per pixel / BPX. This contains the number

of bits used to represent a pixel. This field shall contain an entry of “8” for normal grayscale

values of “0” to “255”. Any entry in this field greater than “8” shall be used to represent a

grayscale pixel with increased proportion. A maximum of 2 digits is allowed for this field. 

For color, BPX represents the total number of bits per pixel (not per color). For instance,

BPX=24 represents a 24-bit RGB image using 8 bits for each color.

These are the BPX fields:

Field 13.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

Field 14.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

Field 15.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

Field 16.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

Field 17.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

Field 19.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

Field 20.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

The horizontal pixel density used for the scanning of the original image / impression

providing that the SLC field contains a “1” or “2”. Otherwise, this shall indicate the

horizontal component of the pixel aspect ratio, up to 5 integer digits. This field is used if the

transmission pixel scale differs from the original image scale, as listed in Transmitted

horizontal pixel scale / THPS. Note that density is directly related to resolution.

These are the SHPS fields:

Field 10.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

Field 13.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

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Field 14.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

Field 15.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

Field 16.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

[2015a>] Field 17.022: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS [<2015a]

Field 19.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

Field 20.017: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

The vertical pixel density used for the scanning of the original image / impression providing

that the SLC field contains a “1” or “2”. Otherwise, this shall indicate the vertical

component of the pixel aspect ratio, up to 5 integer digits. This field is used if the

transmission pixel scale differs from the original image scale, as listed in Transmitted

vertical pixel scale / TVPS. Note that density is directly related to resolution. If SLC is 1 or

2 and SHPS is entered, then SVPS shall equal SHPS. 

These are the SVPS fields:

Field 10.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

Field 13.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

Field 14.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

Field 15.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

Field 16.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

[2015a>]Field 17.023: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS [<2015a]

Field 19.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

Field 20.018: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

7.7.9 Compression algorithms

[2013d>] This section does not apply to the specialized imagery transmitted in a Type-22

record. [<2013d] [2013a>] This section provides for a set of acceptable compression

algorithms (See Table 19 Compression codes below). 

Table 19 Compression codes

Code Label Algorithm Name Fidelity Standard Used

0 NONE Uncompressed Lossless NA

1 WSQ20 WSQ59 (Wavelet Scalar Quantization) Lossy Version 3.1:2010

2 JPEGB JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts 

Group)

Lossy ISO/IEC 10918, JFIF 1.02:1992

3 JPEGL JPEG Lossless ISO/IEC 10918, JFIF 1.02:1992

4 JP2 JPEG 2000 Lossy ISO 15444-1:2004

5 JP2L JPEG 2000 Lossless ISO 15444-1:2004

6 PNG PNG (Portable Network Graphics) Lossless ISO/IEC 15948:2004

59 Usage of WSQ 2.0 is allowable for rolled prints. Versions prior to 3.1 shall not be used for other 

impression types.

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Lossy recompression: Only one lossy compression pass is allowable per image. If an

image is received in a lossy compressed format, it shall not be uncompressed and recompressed in the same or different lossy format. 

Grayscale: Grayscale images shall be encoded to represent the luminance channel of the

image (not pallette-defined grayscale) without an alpha channel. For additional

information on Grayscale encoding, see Section 7.7.10.2. 

Color: See Section 7.7.10.3. 

Coordinate Origin: Images shall be organized in row-major order, with the lowest

address corresponding to the upper left corner of the image.

Type-4 records use the code60 in Table 19 Compression codes. Others record types

use the label. [<2013a]

7.7.9.1 Use of compression algorithms for friction ridge images

1000 ppi friction ridge imagery (including but not limited to latent imagery, palm

and Mobile ID): The specifications in NIST Special Publication 500-28961 shall apply.

500 ppi friction ridge imagery (not including latent imagery): The specification in

WSQ Gray-scale Fingerprint Image Compression Specification Version 3.1 shall apply.

The FBI maintains a list62 of certified WSQ implementations, based upon testing

performed at NIST63.

latent imagery64: All latent imagery, [2013a>] if compressed, shall be compressed using

a lossless compression algorithm. Uncompressed imagery is recommended for all65 latent

prints. [<2013a] 

legacy systems: Legacy systems may use JPEGB or JPEGL for compressing 500 ppi

[2015a>] exemplar class images, but no new system shall be built using JPEGB and

JPEGL. JPEGB and JPEGL shall not be used for any exemplar class other than 500 ppi.

[<2015a]

WSQ caveats: Any certified WSQ software is able to decode images with an encoder

certified for WSQ specification versions 2.0, 3.0 or 3.1. Field 4.008: Compression

algorithm / CGA only allows the Code values of 0 and 1 (See Table 19 Compression

60 [2013a>] In versions of the standard prior to 2011, Field 4.008 was given the mnemonic GCA,

meaning Grayscale Compression Algorithm. However, beginning with 2011, this was changed to CGA,

to have the same mnemonic for compression fields in all record types. [<2013a] 

61 [2013a>] It is available at http://www.nist.gov/publication-portal.cfm Enter “500-289” in the

'Simple text search' to retrieve the document. [<2013a]

62 The list is available at https:// www. fbibiospecs.cjis.gov

63 The conformance testing is described at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/wsq.cfm

64 [2015a>] This section has been expanded to be applicable to all latent prints, not just 500 ppi.

[<2015a]

65 [2015a>] the 2013 version only mentioned 500 ppi prints, but uncompressed imagery is acceptable for

all prints. [<2015a]

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codes) for new systems, since for such systems only uncompressed or WSQ compressed

500 ppi images may be transmitted in Type-4 records. [<2013a]

For each of these fields, the entry corresponds to the appropriate entry in Table 19

Compression codes:

Field 13.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

Field 14.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

Field 15.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

Field 16.011: Compression algorithm / CGA (when appropriate but not limited to

those values)

Field 19.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

Field 20.011: Compression algorithm / CGA (when appropriate but not limited to

those values)

[2015a>] There are currently no lossy compression methodologies recommended for

resolutions greater than 1000 ppi. Until studies have been performed on compression

algorithms and methodologies available, it is a best practice not to use lossy

compression on such images, despite the large size of the files. Lossless compression

(see Table 22), by definition has no effect on the images, and therefore may be used

safely. It is recommended to follow guidance from NIST special Publication 500-289.

[<2015a]

7.7.9.2 Summary of image compression and resolution for friction ridge records

The following tables summarize the requirements associated with compression for the

various record types:

Table 20 Type-4 Transmitted Image Compression 

Transmitting

Resolution

None WSQ2.0 WSQ3.

1 or

higher

JPEG-B

Lossy

JPEGLosslessJPEG

2000

Lossy

JPEG

2000

Lossless

PNG Other

500 ppi P P59 P

Legacy

prints

only

Legacy

prints

only

O O O O

Other ppi O O O O O O O O O

Note that Type-4 ONLY allows 500 ppi transmissions (See Section 8.1.12)

Table 21 Type-4 Resolution Constraints

Minimum Maximum Tolerance

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Transmitting 490 ppi – Specified in

Field 1.012: Nominal 

resolution / NTR

510ppi – Specified in

Field 1.012: Nominal 

resolution / NTR, not 

to be greater than 

scanning resolution

500 ppi ± 2%. For 

transmitting 

resolutions within 

Appendix F 

specification, 500 ppi ±

1%.

Scanning 490 ppi - Specified in

Field 1.011: Native 

scanning resolution /

NSR

Unbounded - Specified

in Field 1.011: Native 

scanning resolution /

NSR

For scanning 

resolutions within 

Appendix F 

specification (+/- 5%: 

495 to 505 ppi) enter 0

in Field 4.005: Image 

scanning resolution /

ISR. Otherwise a value

of 1 is entered.

Table 22 Type-13 Transmitted Image Compression

Transmitting

Resolution

None WSQ2.0 WSQ3.1

or higher

JPEG-B

Lossy

JPEGLosslessJPEG

2000

Lossy

JPEG

2000

Lossless

PNG Other

500 ppi Legacy

only O O O

Legacy

only O

Legacy

only

Legacy

only O

1000 ppi P O O O O O P P O

2000,

4000 ppi P O O O O O P P66 O

Other ppi O O O O O O O O O

Allowable values for compression entered in Field 13.011: Compression algorithm /

CGA are NONE, JPEGL, JP2L, or PNG (See Table 19 Compression codes). 

Table 23 Type-13 Resolution Constraints

Minimum Maximum Tolerance

Transmitting (For 

both scanned and 

camera images)

500 ppi for legacy 

systems only. 1000 

ppi for new systems.

1000 ppi. ± 2%. For resolutions

within Appendix F 

specification, ± 1%

66 PNG is an acceptable algorithm, however, it is important to that the compression efficiency compared

to JPEG 2000 at these resolutions results in images more than twice as large.

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Scanning 1000 ppi67 No maximum (shall be 

down sampled to 1000

ppi) 

± 2%. For 

resolutions within 

Appendix F 

specification, ± 1%

Photographic 

(camera) capture

1000 ppi No maximum (shall be 

down sampled to 1000

ppi) 

± 1%. 

Note that it is highly recommended that latent print images be scanned and transmitted

at 1000 ppi. Some older systems may only be able to receive 500 ppi images, and that is

allowed by the standard. 

Photos may be taken of a latent image and transmitted. The original image may be in

color, or at a resolution higher than 1000ppi. Type-13 records are designed to

accommodate systems that typically assume that the image is either 500 or 1000 ppi.

The image shall be post processed prior to transmission to generate a grayscale image

of 1000 ppi, and may be cropped to have the friction ridge impression occupying a

majority of the image. It is recommended that the resultant Type-13 image be stored in

lossless JPEG 2000.. It is highly recommended that the original image be conveyed in

a Type-20 record.

Table 24 Type-14, Type-15 and Type-19 Transmitted Image Compression

Transmitting

Resolution

None WSQ2.0 WSQ3.1

or higher

JPEG-B

Lossy

JPEGLosslessJPEG

2000

Lossy

JPEG

2000

Lossless

PNG Other

500 ppi P

Only If

from a

small

platen

P

Legacy

prints

only

Legacy

prints

only

O P O O

1000 ppi P O O O O P P O O

2000,

4000 ppi68 P O O O O O P O O

Other ppi O O O O O O O O O

67 See Section 7.7.6.2.2

68 Very few systems can accept 2000 or higher ppi. The sending organization should verify that the 

receiving organization can accept such images. If not, they shall be downsampled to the highest ppi that 

the receiving agency can accept.

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Table 25 Type-14 Resolution Constraints

Minimum Maximum Tolerance

Transmitting 500 ppi Scanning resolution 500ppi: 

 FAP 10, 20, 30, 40 = 2%

FAP 45, 50, 60 = 1%

Other: 2%

1000 ppi:

FAP 145, 150, 160 = 1%

Other: 1%

Scanning 500 ppi Shall be on migration 

path of 500, 

1000, 2000, ...

 500ppi: 

 FAP 10, 20, 30, 40 = 2%

FAP 45, 50, 60 = 1%

Other: 2%

1000 ppi:

FAP 145, 150, 160 = 1%

Other: 1%

Table 26 Type-15 Resolution Constraints

Minimum Maximum Tolerance

Transmitting 500 ppi Scanning resolution 500ppi: 

 PAP 70, 80 = 1%

Other: 2%

1000 ppi:

PAP 170, 180= 1%

Other: 1%

Scanning 500 ppi Shall be on migration 

path of 500, 1000, 2000,

...

 500ppi: 

 PAP 70, 80 = 1%

Other: 2%

1000 ppi:

PAP 170, 180= 1%

Other: 1%

Table 27 Type-19 Resolution Constraints

Minimum Maximum Tolerance

Transmitting 500 ppi Scanning resolution 500ppi: 

 TAP 70, 80 = 1%

Other: Not specified

1000 ppi:

TAP 170, 180= 1%

Other: 1%

Scanning 500 ppi Shall be on migration 

path of 500,1000, 

2000, ...

 

[<2015a] 

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7.7.9.3 Use of compression algorithms for iris images

For iris images, images may be uncompressed or compressed. The compression code shall

be one of the following, entered in Field 17.011: Compression algorithm / CGA:

• NONE – An entry of “NONE” indicates that the data contained in this record is

uncompressed. The image shall be represented as an array of n rows by m columns.

Each pixel in a monochrome image shall be represented by eight or more bits. Color

images shall be represented as a sequential sample of a red, green, and blue intensity

for each pixel (if using RGB - See Section 7.7.10.3). The image shall be organized

in row-major order, with the lowest address corresponding to the upper left corner of

the image.

• PNG – This supports lossless compression. PNG is formally standardized (ISO/IEC

15948) and implementations are freely available.69

• JP2 and JP2L - As with other biometrics, while lossless compression is preferred,

iris images can be lossy-compressed. The image type (Field 17.032: Iris storage

format / ISF) should be selected appropriately, and the compression ratio should be

set to satisfy some known quantified storage or transmission bandwidth limitation.

The baseline JPEG algorithm (ISO/IEC 10918) is not acceptable for iris images and shall

not be used. It has been shown that false match rates increase due to the presence of tiling

artifacts. While JPEG was allowed in prior versions of this standard for iris compression, it

is not allowed for this version. Implementers may want to support JPEG decoding for

handling legacy images.

7.7.9.4 Use of Compression algorithms for facial images

Field 10.011: Compression algorithm / CGA is a mandatory field containing the

compression algorithm for Record Type-10. When Record Type-10 contains a facial

image, the conditions described in Annex E: E.6.1 Compression algorithm apply. 

7.7.9.5 Use of Compression algorithms for other data

Many image record types contain a mandatory field Compression algorithm / CGA. An

entry of “NONE” in this field indicates that the data contained in this record is

uncompressed. If a restriction on compression is required for the image type, it is

referenced in that Section. 

For non-facial images contained in Record Type-10, Field 10.011: Compression 

algorithm / CGA may be set to any value in Table 19 Compression codes except WSQ20.

[<2015a>]The compression used in Record Type-7: User-defined image record is not

specified in the standard. It is incumbent upon the sender and receiver of the record to

ensure that the data contained in Record Type-7: User-defined image record can be

decoded properly. [<2015a]

69 See http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html

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[2013d>] Data stored in a Type-22 record may be compressed, as appropriate for the type

of imagery or representational data. Field 22.101: Non-photographic imagery type

code / ITYP specifies the type of imagery, while Field 22.102: Non-photographic

imagery data format code / IFMT specifies the image format. [<2013d]

7.7.10 Color, black-and-white, and grayscale image requirements

[2013d>] This section is not applicable to imagery stored in a Type-22 record.

[<2013d]

7.7.10.1 Black and white images (no grayscale)

[2013a>] Black and white (binary representation) image data may be transmitted in

either compressed or uncompressed form. The uncompressed binary images shall

consist of pixels, each of which shall be quantized to one of two levels (binary

representation). A value of zero shall be used to represent a white pixel and a value of

one shall be used to represent a black pixel. For uncompressed binary images, eight

pixels shall be left justified and packed into a single unsigned byte; the most significant

bit of the byte shall be the first of the eight pixels scanned. Compressed binary images

use the ANSI/EIA-538-1988 facsimile standard, as explained in Section 8.8.8.2. The

Type-8 signature record is the only record that uses this data type for images, which

was previously used by several deprecated record types in previous versions of this

standard. [<2013a] 

7.7.10.2 Grayscale image data

Grayscale image data may be transmitted in either compressed or uncompressed form. The

transmission of uncompressed grayscale images shall consist of pixels, each of which shall

normally be quantized to eight bits (256 gray levels) and held in a single unsigned byte.

Increased precision for pixel values greater than 255 shall use two unsigned bytes to hold

sixteen-bit pixels with values in the range of 0-65535. For grayscale data, a zero shall

represent a true black pixel. A true white pixel shall have all of its bits of precision set to

“1”. Therefore, true white pixels quantized to eight bits shall have a value of “255”, while a

value of “1023” shall be used for pixels quantized to ten bits. Grayscale values requiring less

than 8 or 16 bits shall be expressed as one or two bytes, right justified and zero padded on

the left. For grayscale images, in Record types with the mandatory field Color space /

CSP, the value shall be “GRAY” (See Table 28). The transmission of compressed

grayscale images shall be the output of the appropriate grayscale compression algorithm

specified. Upon reconstruction of a compressed image the grayscale value for each pixel

shall be the same (for lossless algorithms) or nearly the same (for lossy algorithms) as pixels

in an uncompressed image. 

[2013a>] The images stored in Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM are PNG

images quantized to a depth of 1 bit, and therefore 0 = black and 1 = white. See also

F.6.7.1 Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM instructions. [<2013a]

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7.7.10.3 Color image data

Scanned images shall consist of nominal 24 to 48-bit RGB pixels. Color image data may be

transmitted in either compressed or uncompressed form in certain record types. The

transmission of uncompressed color images shall consist of RGB pixels, each component of

which shall be quantized to at least 256 levels (8 bits). For each pixel, the three components

shall be sequentially formatted for transmission on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Table 28 lists the

codes and their descriptions for each of the available color spaces used within this standard.

All other color spaces are to be marked as undefined.

Table 28 Color spaces

Code Description

UNK Undefined

GRAY Grayscale (monochrome)

RGB Undetermined color space for an RGB image

SRGB sRGB (IEC 61966-2-1)

YCC YCbCr (legacy)

SYCC YCbCr (JPEG 2000 compressed)

Several image record types have a field Color space / CSP. It shall contain an entry from

the CODE column of Table 28. If the color image type cannot be determined, an entry of

“RGB” shall be entered in this field. 

These are the CSP fields:

Field 10.012: Color space / CSP

Field 16.013: Color space / CSP

Field 17.013: Color space / CSP

Field 20.013: Color space / CSP

In versions of this standard prior to 2007, the term “color space” referred to devicedependent color information with a particular sequence and range for the three color

channels. The choice was either RGB or an RGB-derivative space known as YCC. Neither

space provides an objective definition of a particular color or relates to the way in which

humans perceive color. For JPEG-compressed color images stored in the JFIF format, the

preferred (external) color space is sRGB and an entry of “SRGB” shall be used. Although

sRGB is the preferred color space for compressed images for this version, in the 2000

version of this standard, it was stated that “the preferred color space for compressed images

using baseline JPEG and JFIF is YCbCr to be coded as ‛YCC’,” while the color space for

uncompressed color images was to be labeled RGB. Therefore, for backward compatibility

purposes, new systems shall accommodate JPEG images that have been labeled as using the

YCC color space. Systems conforming to this standard shall accept an entry of YCC and

interpret it as meaning a (device-dependent) RGB color space. 

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For JPEG 2000 images stored in the JP2 file format, the available enumerated color spaces

are sRGB, sYCC, and grayscale. The preferred (external) color space for color images is

sRGB. If a photo acquisition device uses another International Color Consortium70 (ICC)

color profile, the acquisition system shall convert the image data to the sRGB, sYCC, or

grayscale color space before the JP2 file may be embedded in a record.

To ensure that color images exchanged between differing systems can be correctly displayed

or printed, images should be converted to the device-independent color space, sRGB, before

compression or transmission to another system. As defined by IEC 61966-2-1, sRGB is a

non-linear display profile that accommodates the voltage-to-color response characteristics of

most high quality CRT monitors. The colors of the red, green, and blue phosphors

(primaries) and the white point setting of an sRGB-conformant monitor are specified in the

IEC document. For uncompressed color images containing non-interleaved red, green and

blue pixels in that order, the preferred color space is sRGB. Typically, modern digital

cameras, desktop scanners, LCD monitors, and printers, although they do not inherently

operate in sRGB space, are designed with circuitry or software to produce sRGB output or

to accommodate sRGB as an input space. If an image acquisition device’s color space is

unknown, sRGB is usually a reasonable choice. If an acquisition device and its software

cannot provide sRGB output, various color management products are available

commercially that use its color profile, often available from its manufacturer, to convert

images in its native color space to sRGB.

7.7.11 Eye color

This information appears in Field 10.027: Subject eye color / SEC and in Field 17.020:

Eye color / ECL. The eye color describes the eye color of the subject as seen in the image.

If unusual or unnatural, such as is the case when colored contact lenses are present and the

‘real’ eye color cannot be ascertained, then the color shall be labeled as “XXX”. Values for

these fields shall be the alphabetic entries in the “Attribute code” column of Table 29.

Table 29 Eye color codes

Eye Color Attribute Attribute Code

Black BLK

Blue BLU

Brown BRO

Gray GRY

Green GRN

Hazel HAZ

Maroon MAR

Multicolored MUL

Pink PNK

Unknown XXX

70 See http://www.color.org/

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7.7.12 Paths

Some paths in Record Type-17: Iris image record can be a circle or ellipse (Field 17.033:

Iris pupil boundary / IPB, Field 17.034: Iris sclera boundary / ISB, and Field 10.015:

Face image path coordinates in full image / FPFI). 

[2015e>]

A path is a filed containing a set of coordinates, Paths can be defined as a cricle, ellipse,

closed path (polygon), or open path: (See Table 31: Boundary definition codes). 

• A circle only requires 2 points to define it

• An ellipse requires 3 points to define it.

• Open paths (also called contours or polylines) and closed paths (polygons) on an

image are comprised of a set of vertices. For each, the order of the vertices shall

be in their consecutive order along the length of the path, either clockwise or

counterclockwise. (A straight line of only two points may start at either end). A

path may not have any sides crossing. No two vertices shall occupy the same

position. There may be up to 99 vertices. 

◦ An open path is a series of connected line segments that do ot close or overlap.

An open path shall have at least 2 vectices.

◦ A closed path (polygon) completes a circuit. The closed path side defined by the

last vertex and the first vertex shall complete the polygon. A polygon shall

have at least 3 vertices.

There are two different approaches to the paths in this standard. The 2007 and 2008

version of the standard.

• The 2007 and 2008 version of the standard used paths for Field 14.025: Alternate

finger segment position(s) / ASEG. That approach used repeating pairs of

information items to indicate each x,y coordinate, so that the number of

information items varies with the number of vertices. That approach has been

retained in this version for all paths except in the Type-9 extended feature set

(EFS) paths.

• The EFS adopted an approach expressing the path in a single information item,

which is similar to the representation of lists (see Section 7.7.13).

 [<2015e]

Note that bounding boxes, such as in Field 14.021: Finger segment position / SEG are not

considered paths in this terminology.

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7.7.12.1 Type-9 extended feature set (EFS) paths

The vertices for paths in the EFS Type-9 records are defined in a single information item71

for each of the following fields (See Table 42 Type-9 Fields for EFS). If multiple paths are

present, they are stored within separate subfields. Each vertex is expressed as an (X,Y) pair

of non-negative72 integers in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm). The Extended Feature Set

used in the Record Type-9: Minutiae data record was developed as a separate encoding

structure that has been incorporated into this standard. In order to avoid conflicts with

systems that had already programmed using the EFS method of specifying paths, that

structure is retained in this standard. 

EFS fields using closed paths, and requiring at least 3 vertices, are:

• Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI

• Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP

• Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS

• Field 9.357: EFS local quality issues / LQI

• Field 9.360: EFS area of correspondence / AOC

An open path is a series of connected points in which there is not an implicit connection

between the last and first vertices. Within EFS, open paths are used in Field 9.373: EFS

ridge path segments / RPS. 

7.7.12.2 All other fields specifying paths

[2015>e]For each of these fields, the first one or two information items are dependent

upon the Record type and Field. The next information item specifies the number of

vertices. The remaining information items are pairs of x and y coordinates of vertices.

[<2015e]

• In Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC which is an open path, the first

information item is the feature contour code / FCC, selected from the “Code”

column of Table 30.

• In Record Type-17 Fields 17.033 through 17.036, and in Field 10.015: Face image

path coordinates in full image / FPFI the first information item is the boundary

code / BYC, with an alphabetic value selected from the “Code” column of Table

31.

• For Field 10.045: Occlusions / OCC and Field 17.037: Non-eyelid occlusions /

NEO, the first information item is the occlusion opacity / OCY, selected from the

“Code” column of Table 32.

• In Field 14.025: Alternate finger segment position(s) / ASEG and Field 19.019:

71 In Traditional encoding, it is entered as a single string of “x1,y1-x2,y2-...-xN,yN” where xK indicates

the Kth vertex, up to the total number of vertices. A comma “,” shall be entered between the X and Y

coordinates of a vertex in this string, and a dash “-“ shall be entered between coordinate pairs.

72 [2013e>] Error correction from first edition: positive integers → non-negative integers [<2013e]

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Friction ridge - toe segment position(s) / FSP the first information item contains a

friction ridge generalized position / FGP, an integer from Table 9. 

• In Field 20.016: Segments / SEG the first information item is the reference

segment position / RSP. This provides a unique index to a segmentation. (See

Section 7.3.2.2 for its use in Field xx.997 in other record types.)

• In Field 21.016: Segments / SEG the first information item is the associated

segment position / ASP. This provides a unique index to a segmentation. (See

Section 7.3.3.2 for its use in Field xx.995 in other record types.). 

 For Field 10.045, Field 17.037, Field 20.016, and Field 21.016, the second information

item is described below.

• For Field 10.045: Occlusions / OCC and Field 17.037: Non-eyelid occlusions /

NEO, the second information item is the occlusion type / OCT. It is one character

containing a code from Table 33.

• For Fields 20.016 and 21.016 only, the second information item is the internal file

reference pointer/ IPT. It is set to 0 if the source representation is a single file. If

the external file referenced in Field 20.994: External file reference / EFR or

Field 21.994: External file reference / EFR is a PDF, video, or presentation file,

or has multiple locations where a sample may be located, this information item is

the reference to the particular instance, such as page, video frame, or slide number

used to derive the image transmitted in other record types. If a particular frame is

chosen and there is no further image segmentation needed, [2015a>] NOP and the

repeating pairs of information items (HPO and VPO) shall not be present. In this

case, an information item separator shall be present for NOP in Traditional

encoding, but no information item separators are required for HPO and VPO pairs.

[<2015a] [2013a>] This entry is free text with any special characters allowed,

except for the reserved characters and the control characters listed in Section 5.5

Character types. [<2013a]

The second (or third in the case of Field 10.045, Field 17.037, Field 20.016, or Field

21.016 ) information item (number of points / NOP) shall specify the number of vertices.

The next information items are pairs of x and y coordinates of vertices. The horizontal

offsets (X) are the pixel counts to the right, and the vertical offsets (Y) are the pixel counts

down from the origin. The first information item in this pairing is the horizontal point

offset / HPO. The second information item in this pairing is the vertical point offset /

VPO. Pairings are inserted for each vertex, up to the NOP. 

Table 30: Feature contour code descriptions

Code Contour Description

eyetop Bottom of upper eye lid

eyebottom Top of lower eye lid

upperliptop Top of upper lip

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upperlipbottom Bottom of upper lip

lowerliptop Top of lower lip

lowerlipbottom Bottom of lower lip

rightnostril Subject’s right nostril

leftnostril Subject’s left nostril

lefteyebrow Curvature of top of subject’s left eye socket

righteyebrow Curvature of top of subject’s right eye socket 

chin Chin

faceoutline Face outline includes the entire head, all facial hair, and ears

Table 31: Boundary definition codes

Type Code Number of

Points Description

Circle C 2

The boundary is defined by two points: the center is

defined in the first point, and any point on the circle is

defined as the second point.

Ellipse E 3

The boundary is defined by three points: both endpoints

of one of the ellipse's axes are defined in the first and

second points, and one endpoint from the other axis is

defined in the third item.

Polygon P N (up to 99)

The boundary is defined as a n-vertex, where 'n' is

between 3 and 99. The order of the vertices must be in

consecutive order around the perimeter of the polygon,

either clockwise or counterclockwise. No two vertices

may occupy the same location. The polygon side

defined by the last point and the first point shall

complete the polygon. The polygon must be a single

plane figure with no sides crossing and no interior holes.

Table 32: Occlusion opacity

Type Code Description

Total T There is no detail in the area of the occlusion. 

Interference I The occlusion contains interfering texture such as eyelashes, hair or reflection.

Partial light L There is detail in the area of the occlusion that is lighter than the rest of the face or 

iris.

Partial 

shadow

S There is detail in the area of the occlusion that is darker than the rest of the face or 

iris.

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Table 33: Occlusion type

Type Code Description

Lashes L Eyelashes or reflections of eyelashes (iris only)

Head covering H Hair, hat, veil, burka, or other head covering (face only)

Specular S Specularity, reflection of light 

Shadow C Shadow cast 

Reflection R Reflection of an object

Other O Any other occlusion, such as eyeglass frames blocking the image 

[2013n>]

7.7.13 Lists of values in a single information item

In record Types 10, 11 and 12, some information items are defined as lists of values.

These are similar in concept to paths, as described in Section 7.7.12. In XML encoding,

these information items are represented by a group of elements, each with an individual

value in the list. In Traditional encoding, the list of values is entered as a single string,

with individual values delimited by “|” (vertical bar). 

[2015e>]The fields containing information items defined as lists are: [<2015e]

•Field 10.049: Cheiloscopic image data / CID

•Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO

•Field 11.024: Discontinuities diary / DCD

•Field 11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD

•Field 11.028: Other content diary / OCD

•Field 11.032: Vocal segment geographical information / SGEO

•Field 11.033: Vocal segment quality values / SQV

•Field 11.035: Vocal segment processing priority / PPY

•Field 11.036: Vocal segment content description / VSCD

•Field 11.037: Vocal segment speaker characteristics / SCC

•Field 11.038: Vocal segment channel / SCH

•Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD

•Field 12.011: Mouth data detail / MDD

[<2013n]

[2015n>]

7.8 External File References

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Record types 10-16 and 19-22 all provide for including data (usually an image) within 

the record in field xx.999 / DATA, or in an external file, as indicated in the External file

reference field (xx.994 / EFR). EFR allows the storage location of the image to be 

referenced rather than being required to be transmitted in the record. EFR contains the 

URL/URI or other unique reference to a storage location for the image. The use, 

restrictions and content of EFR fields is the responsibility of the application profile, 

which would define the specifics of how EFR refers to the external data, and may 

restrict the conditions under which EFR can be used.

The DATA and EFR fields are conditional: 

• If DATA is present, EFR shall not be used, and vice versa. 

• The same metadata fields within a record are used to describe the data regardless 

of whether EFR or DATA is used.

• EFR or DATA shall always be present in record types 10,13,16, 20,21,22. In 

record types 11,12,14,15,19, there are specific conditions in which both EFR

and DATA should be omitted, such as for amputations; see those record 

descriptions for details.

[<2015n]

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8 Record type specifications

At the beginning of each Section describing a Record Type, there is a record layout table.

The Character type is defined in Section 5.5 Character types. Note that when the character

type U is allowed, the character set encoding specified in Field 1.015: Character

encoding / DCS (if present) is used for the data; otherwise the default is UTF-8. 

Cond Code (condition code)73: 

• M = Field's, subfield's or information item's presence with data is mandatory;

• O = Field's, subfield's or information item's presence with data is optional;

• M↑ = Mandatory presence with data, of subfield / information item within the

optional field / subfield;

• O↑ = Optional presence with data, of subfield / information item within the

optional field / subfield;

• D = Field, subfield or information item's presence and/or its data is dependent upon

certain conditions stated in the text.

The 'Character count' does NOT include special information separator74 characters in

Traditional encoding. When “*” appears it means that the limit is undefined. When 0 is

shown as a valid value (such as “0 < IDC < 99 integer”), a zero shall be entered as data.

This shall not be interpreted as a null (empty) value. For data with leading zeros, (such as

“0101”), the encodings (Traditional and NIEM-conformant XML) may handle them

differently. The leading zeros shall be included in the Traditional encoding as ASCII

characters, but need not be included in XML encoding. However, the leading zero(s) shall

be shown when displaying the data in printed format. The following contain leading zeros:

Field 1.002: Version number / VER 

Treated as an integer in NIEM-conformant XML encoding and as ASCII 

characters in Traditional encoding.

Field XX.003: Information Designation Character / IDC

73 [2013a>] In Traditional format for non-binary record types (See Table 132 Logical record types), the

presence with data of a field, subfield and information item is determined by the sequential position of data

and separators (with fields being indicated by the field number followed by a colon). Subfields and

information items are defined by their sequential position between a record separator (F

S). Only if data is

present in the location in the file indicated by the appropriate separator is a mandatory (M) or positive

presence dependence (D) condition fulfilled. See Annex B: Traditional encoding, How the separators are

used.

Note that Record Types 4, 7 and 8 are binary records, with the structure defined by byte offset, with all bytes

being necessarily present. For the user-defined fields in Type-7, the receiving organization must know prior

to receipt of the data which fields are present and what their structure is. 

In NIEM-conformant XML, a field, subfield or information item does not meet the mandatory or positive

presence dependence condition if the corresponding element tag and associated data is not in the Information

Exchange Package. [<2013a]

74 [2013a>] added the words 'information separator' for clarity. [<2013a]

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For all records, Treated as an integer in NIEM-conformant XML encoding and in 

Traditional encoding.

Field 1.011: Native scanning resolution / NSR

Treated as a decimal number in NIEM-conformant XML encoding and as ASCII 

characters in Traditional encoding.

Field 1.012: Nominal resolution / NTR

Treated as a decimal number in NIEM-conformant XML encoding and as ASCII 

characters in Traditional encoding.

Field 99.100: CBEFF header version / HDV

Treated as a character string in NIEM-conformant XML encoding and as ASCII 

characters in Traditional encoding.

Field 99.101: Biometric type / BTY

Treated as an enumerated set of integers in NIEM-conformant XML encoding 

and as ASCII characters in Traditional encoding.

 [2015a>] Numeric values (values contained in fields with a numeric character type)

shall not contain leading zeros, other than those listed above. Application profiles may

permit or require leading zeros in user-defined fields.. [<2015a]

[2013a>]The record layout tables indicate the requirements for condition code,

character constraints (type and count), value constraints, and occurrences for field

structures found in Traditional and NIEM-conformant XML encodings. However, the

structure of the fields as shown in the record layout tables applies only to the

Traditional encoding. See Annex G: Mapping to the NIEM IEPD for the XML

element names, order and structure. Note that the NIEM encoded structure may insert

elements that do not have a direct correspondence to the record layout tables (such as

biom:FaceImage (when a Type-10 record instance contains a face image) and

biom:PhysicalFeatureImage (for all other images). In some cases, there is a mapping of

a value to two elements in XML. An example is Field 1.002: Version number / VER

which is split into the elements biom:TransactionMajorVersionValue and

biom:TransactionMinorVersionValue. [<2013a]

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8.1 Record Type-1: Transaction information record

Record Type-1 is mandatory. Only one Type-1 record is present per transaction. Table 34

contains the fields associated with this Record Type. Note that since the alternate character

encoding is specified in this record, there must be specified characters agreed upon in order

to read this Record Type, particularly with Traditional encoding, and the characters that can

be represented by the 7-bit ASCII code are those characters (See Table 128 for these

characters). There are no character types defined as 'U' for any fields in this Record Type.

(See Section 5.5 for a description of the character types). This provides for backward

compatibility with previous versions of the standard. This is particularly important for

Traditional Encoding. See Annex B: Traditional encoding for details.

[2013n>] Field 1.018: Geographic name set / GNS has been added in the 2013 Update.

It allows the user to select whether GENC or ISO 3166-1 is used in the transaction to

define country codes. [<2013n]

Table 34 Type-1 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

1.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding orAnnex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding orAnnex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

1.002 VER VERSION NUMBER M N

T

=

4;

X

=

1

75

4

VER = 0500 or

0501 [2015n>]

or 0502

[<2015n] 76

1 1

1.003 CNT TRANSACTION CONTENT M 1 1

75 Traditional encoding (T) requires a leading zero. XML (X) encoding does not. 

[2015a>] The Min # of characters for XML is shown as 1 because each of the two XML elements may

have a one character value (biom:TransactionMajorVersionValue and

biom:TransactionMinorVersionValue). [<2015a]

76 [2013n>] Transactions conforming to the 2013 update shall specify VER = 0501 in Traditional

encoding. In XML, biom:TransactionMajorVersionValue is 5 and biom:TransactionMinorVersionValue

is 1.[<2013n] 

 [2015n>] Transactions conforming to the 2015 update all specify VER = 0502 in Traditional encoding.

In XML, biom:TransactionMajorVersionValue is 5 and biom:TransactionMinorVersionValue is 2

[<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 

 Subfield: Single set of 

information items

 M 1 1

 FRC first record category code M N 1 1

FRC = 1 

integer

1 1

 CRC content record count M N 1 3

CRC = count of

record Types 2

through 99; min =

1; max = 999;

positive integer

1 1

 

Subfields: Repeating pairs of 

information items

 M

CRC

value

CRC

value

 REC record category code M N 1 2

REC = 2 or 4; or

7 < REC < 22;

or REC = 98 or

99; integer 77

1 1

 IDC

 information designation 

character

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99 

non-negative

integer

1 1

1.004 TOT TYPE OF TRANSACTION M A 1 16 user-defined 1 1

1.005 DAT DATE M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

1.006 PRY PRIORITY O N 1 1

1 < PRY < 9

positive integer

0 1

1.007 DAI

DESTINATION AGENCY 

IDENTIFIER

M ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

77 [2013n>] New record types added so range of allowable values is extended. [<2013n][2015>a] See

Table 3 Record types[<2015a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

1.008 ORI 

ORIGINATING AGENCY 

IDENTIFIER

M ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

1.009 TCN

TRANSACTION CONTROL

NUMBER

M

A

N

S

78

1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

1.010 TCR

TRANSACTION CONTROL

REFERENCE 

NUMBER O ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

1.011 NSR

NATIVE SCANNING 

RESOLUTION

M NS

T=5

X=4

5

NSR = 00.00 if no

Type-4 records in

transaction;

otherwise xx.xx75

1 1

1.012 NTR NOMINAL RESOLUTION M NS

T=5

X=4

5

NTR = 00.00 if no

Type-4 records in

transaction;

otherwise xx.xx75

1 1

1.013

DOM DOMAIN NAME O 0 1

 DNM domain name M↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

 DVN domain version number O↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

78 [2013e>] Typographical correction from 2011 edition: AN → ANS [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

1.014 GMT Greenwich Mean Time O

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

1.015

DCS CHARACTER ENCODING O 0 1

 

Subfield: A single set of 

information items(The 2007

version allowed multiple 

character encoding sets, 

but with XML this is not 

possible and was not 

included in the 2008 

version. To maintain 

consistency in encodings, 

only one subfield instance

is now allowed.)

 M↑ 1 1

 CSI

 character encoding set 

index

M↑ N 1 3

0 < CSI < 4 or 

128 < CSI < 999

non-negative

integer

See Table 4

1 1

 CSN

 character encoding set 

name 

M↑ ANS 1 16 See Table 4 1 1

 CSV

 character encoding set 

version

O↑ ANS 1 16

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

1.016

APS

APPLICATION PROFILE 

SPECIFICATIONS

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 99

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 APO

 application profile 

organization 

M↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

 APN application profile name M↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

 APV

 application profile 

version number 

M↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

1 1

1.017

ANM AGENGY NAMES O 0 1

 DAN destination agency name O↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

 OAN originating agency name O↑ ANS 1 *

Any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

1.01879

GNS GEOGRAPHIC NAME SET O AN 3 4

GNS = ISO,

GENC

0 1

8.1.1 Field 1.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding used. See the 

relevant annex of this standard for details. See Section 7.1.

8.1.2 Field 1.002: Version number / VER

This mandatory four-character ASCII value shall be used to specify the current version

number of the standard implemented by the software or system creating the transaction.

The format of this field shall consist of four numeric characters. The first two

characters shall specify the major version number. The last two characters shall be used

79 [2013n>] Field added to allow transactions to use the GENC country codes rather than the country

codes from ISO 3166. [<2013n]

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to specify the minor revision number. [2013n>] The 2011 version of the standard

without any of the record types or fields introduced for the 2013 Update has the entry

“0500”. The 2013 Update uses “0501”. [2015n>] The 2015 Update uses “0502”.

76[<2015n]

8.1.3 Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT

This mandatory field80 shall specify and identify each of the records in the transaction by

record type and its IDC value. It also specifies the order in which the remaining records

shall appear in the file. It shall consist of two or more subfields. The first subfield shall

relate to this Type-1 record.

• The first information item (first record category code / FRC) within this

subfield shall be “1”. This indicates that the first record in the transaction is a

Type-1 record consisting of header information. 

• The second information item of this subfield (content record count / CRC)

shall be the sum of the Type-2 through Type-99 records contained in this

transaction. This number is also equal to the count of the remaining subfields of

Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. The maximum for CRC is 999.

Each of the remaining subfields of Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT corresponds to

a single Type-2 through Type-99 record contained in the transaction. Two information

items shall comprise each of these subfields: 

• The first information item (record category code / REC), shall contain a

number chosen from the “record identifier” column of Table 3.

• The second information item (information designation character / IDC) shall

be an integer equal to or greater than zero and less than or equal to 99. See

Section 7.3.1.

8.1.4 Field 1.004: Type of transaction / TOT

This mandatory field shall contain an identifier, which designates the type of transaction and

subsequent processing that this transaction should be given. This shall be a maximum of 16

alphabetic characters. The TOT shall be in accordance with definitions provided by the

domain or application profile. Versions of this standard prior to 2011 specifically restricted

the character length of TOT to 4 characters. 

8.1.5 Field 1.005: Date / DAT

This mandatory field shall contain the local date that the transaction was submitted. See 

Section 7.7.2.3. 

80 This was called File content in earlier versions of the standard.

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8.1.6 Field 1.006: Priority / PRY

This optional field shall contain a single information character to designate the urgency with

which a response is desired. The values shall range from 1 to 9, with 1 denoting the highest

priority. The default value shall be defined by the agency receiving the transaction.

8.1.7 Field 1.007: Destination agency identifier / DAI

This mandatory field shall contain the identifier of the administration or organization

designated to receive the transmission. The size and data content of this field shall be userdefined and in accordance with the application profile. See Section 7.6. The name of the

destination agency may be entered in Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM. A valid value

for this field is “Not Specified.” All characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type'

column of Table 128 Character encoding set values may be used.

8.1.8 Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI

This mandatory field shall contain the identifier of the administration or organization

originating the transaction. The size and data content of this field shall be user-defined and

in accordance with the application profile. See Section 7.6. The name of the originating

agency may be entered in Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM. A valid value for this field

is “Not Specified.” All characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table

128 Character encoding set values may be used.

8.1.9 Field 1.009: Transaction control number / TCN

This mandatory field shall contain the transaction control number as assigned by the

originating agency. A unique (for the originating agency) control number shall be

assigned to each transaction. For any transaction that requires a response, the

respondent shall refer to this number in communicating with the originating agency.

[2013a>] All characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128

Character encoding set values may be used. [<2013a]

8.1.10 Field 1.010: Transaction control reference / TCR

This optional field shall be used for responses that refer to the TCN of a previous

transaction involving an inquiry or other action that required a response. [2013a>] All

characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128 Character

encoding set values may be used. [<2013a]

8.1.11 Field 1.011: Native scanning resolution / NSR

This mandatory field shall be set to “00.00” if there are no Type-4 records in the

transaction. See Section 8 for information concerning leading zeros. [2013a>] This

field may be used to apply to Type-7 records if specified by the domain or application

profile. [<2013a] The special character that is allowed is “.” (the period).When there are

Type-4 records present, this field is used to specify the native scanning resolution of the

friction ridge image capture device. This field shall specify the resolution in pixels per

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millimeter. The resolution shall be expressed as two numeric characters followed by a

decimal point and two more numeric characters. If Record Type-4 is used and images are

scanned at greater than the class of 500 ppi, they shall be subsampled, scaled down, or

interpolated down to produce a class resolution of 500 ppi for transmission. Users shall

utilize Record Type-14 if transmitting a fingerprint image at greater than the limits of the

500 ppi class. Images with scanning resolution greater than or equal to the 1000 ppi class

[2013n>] should not [<2013n] be transmitted using Record Type-4 [2013a>] unless being

transmitted at 500 ppi class to a system incapable of receiving Type-14 records at 1000

ppi class or greater.”. 81 [<2013a]

8.1.12 Field 1.012: Nominal resolution / NTR

This mandatory field shall be set to “00.00” if there are no Type-4 records in the

transaction. See Section 8 for information concerning leading zeros. [2013a>] This field

may be used to apply to Type-7 records if specified by the domain or application profile.

[<2013a] The special character that is allowed is “.” (the period).

When there are Type-4 records present, this field specifies the nominal resolution for the

image(s) being exchanged. This field shall specify the resolution in pixels per millimeter

(ppmm). The resolution shall be within the range 19.30 ppmm (490 ppi) to 20.08 ppmm

(510 ppi). For example, a sensor that scans natively at 508 ppi would show both NSR and

NTR as 20 ppmm (508 ppi). These images should not be sampled down to exactly 500 ppi.

See Section 7.7.6.3. This field was called “Nominal transmitting resolution” in earlier

versions of the standard. The mnemonic is still retained as NTR in this version. 

The 2007 version of the standard stated: “Any transmitting resolution within the range of

the minimum scanning resolution to a value of 20.47 ppmm plus or minus 0.20 ppmm

(520 ppi plus or minus 5 ppi) is permitted for the processing of high resolution records.”

[2013a>] This version of the standard specifically prohibits transmission resolution above

510 ppi (the upper limit of the 500 ppi class) for Type-4 records; a higher transmission

resolution for Type-7 records may be specified by the application profile. [<2013a] (See

Table 18 Class resolution with defined tolerance)

8.1.13 Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM

This optional field identifies the domain name for the user-defined Type-2 record

implementation. The domain name may only appear once within a transaction. It shall

consist of one or two information items. See Section 6 for more information and the

relationship to Field 1.016: Application profile specifications / APS. All characters

marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128 Character encoding set values

may be used.

• The mandatory first information item (domain name / DNM) will uniquely identify

81

 [2013a>] When down-sampling a fingerprint image from 1000 ppi to 500 ppi, the guidance provided

in NIST Special Publication 500-289 should be followed in order to produce a 500 ppi image with the

minimal effect on the image contesnts and quality (It is available at http://www.nist.gov/publicationportal.cfm Enter “500-289” in the 'Simple text search' to retrieve the document). [<2013a] [2013n>]

The restriction is changed from 'shall not' to 'should not' to allow for this type of condition. [<2013n]

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the agency, entity, or implementation used for formatting the fields in the Type-2

record. The default value for the field shall be the North American Domain

implementation (NORAM).

• An optional second information item (domain version number / DVN) shall

contain the unique version of the particular implementation, such as 7.02. 

8.1.14 Field 1.014: Greenwich Mean Time / GMT

This optional field provides a mechanism for expressing the date and time [2013a>] of the

transaction [<2013a] in terms of universal Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) units. See

Section 7.7.2.2.

8.1.15 Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS

This optional field specifies the character encoding that may appear within this transaction

for data with the character type listed as “U” or 'user-defined' in the record format tables.

This field shall contain one set of information items (coded as a subfield). This is consistent

with the 2008 version of the standard. The 2007 version allowed multiple character

encoding sets. See Annex B: Traditional encoding and Annex C: NIEM-conformant

encoding rules for details on the use of this field. For a description of the use of alternate

character encoding see Section 5.6.

• The first information item (character encoding index / CSI) is the index

number that references an associated character encoding. See the “Character

encoding index” column of Table 4 for the valid values for this information

item.

• The second information item (character encoding name / CSN) shall be the

“Character encoding name” associated with that index number, taken from

Table 4. All characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table

128 Character encoding set values may be used.

• The optional third information item (character encoding version / CSV) is the

specific version of the character encoding used. In the case of the use of UTF-8,

the third optional information item may be used to hold the specific version

used, so that the display terminal can be switched to the correct font family. All

characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128

Character encoding set values may be used.

8.1.16 Field 1.016: Application profile specifications / APS

Use of this optional field indicates the transaction's conformance with one or more

Application Profile Specifications that are derived from ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011, such as

EBTS or INT-I. There may be multiple subfields, each designating an application profile to

which this transaction conforms. If multiple Application Profile Specifications are included

in this field, the specifications must be compatible with each other. This transaction must be

in conformance with all of the cited specifications. See Section 6. Each subfield shall

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consist of three mandatory information items: 

• The first information item (application profile organization / APO) will

uniquely identify the agency or entity responsible for the specification. All

characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128

Character encoding set values may be used.

• The second information item (application profile name / APN) shall contain

the name of the specification. All characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the

'Type' column of Table 128 Character encoding set values may be used.

• The third information item (application profile version number / APV) shall

contain the specific version of the specification. All characters marked “A” ,“N”

or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128 Character encoding set values may

be used.

8.1.17 Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM

This optional field is comprised of two optional information items. Both information

items are alphanumeric and can have any special characters in the names. All

characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128 Character encoding

set values may be used.

• The first is the destination agency name / DAN. This corresponds to the

agency listed in Field 1.007: Destination agency identifier / DAI.

• The second optional information item is the originating agency name /

OAN. This corresponds to the agency listed in Field 1.008: Originating

agency identifier / ORI. 

8.1.18 Field 1.018: Geographic name set / GNS

[2013n>] This optional field is used if the transaction uses GENC in lieu of ISO 3166-1

as a code set for country code specifications. ISO 3166-1 is the default country code set 

used for the transaction when this field is not contained in Record Type-1. GENC is 

available at https://nsgreg.nga.mil/genc/registers.jsp. The values for this field are: 

ISO = ISO 3166-1 (default82)

GENC = GENC 

Information items affected by this choice have “Values from ISO 3166-1 or GENC” 

specified in the value constraints column of the record layout tables. [<2013n] 

82 [2013n>] The default does not specify as to whether it is 2-alpha, 3-alpha or numeric format [<2013n]

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8.2 Record Type-2: User-defined descriptive text record

Type-2 records are optional, but when present, shall contain textual information relating to

the subject of the transaction. This record may include such information as the state or FBI

numbers, physical characteristics, demographic data, and the subject’s criminal history.

Every transaction usually contains one or more Type-2 records which is dependent upon the

entry in Field 1.004: Type of transaction / TOT. 

[2013a>] Multiple Type-2 records may be contained in a transaction. Each instance of

record Type-2 may concern a different individual; however, at least one instance should

concern the subject of the transaction. [<2013a]

[2013n>] See Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C for information about how the

IDC value for a particular Type-2 record may be referenced in another record Type, in

order to connect data in a record Type-2 instance to the subject of the record for another

record type instance. An example is when DNA from a purported relative is used to

establish the identity of a Disaster Victim. [<2013n]

Table 35 Type-2 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

2.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

2.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

2.003 and

above

USERDEFINED

USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

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8.2.1 Field 2.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding used. See Section

7.1. 

8.2.2 Field 2.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-2 record as listed in the

information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. See

Section 7.3.1.

8.2.3 Fields 2.003 and above: user-defined fields

Individual fields shall conform to the specifications set forth by the agency to which the

transmission is being sent, to the domain listed in Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM,

the application profiles listed in Field 1.016: Application profile specifications / APS

and to the requirements specified in Section 5.1.

8.3 Record Type-3: Deprecated

See ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 for the specifications of this

Record Type. No instances of Record Type-3 shall be included in a transaction

conformant with this version of the standard. 

8.4 Record Type-4: Grayscale fingerprint image

The Type-4 record is based on the use of a captured fingerprint image obtained using a

class scanning resolution of the 500 ppi class. (See Section 7.7.6). Record Type-4 cannot

be updated to include new fields, since the Traditional encoding for this record type is

fixed in order. It shall not be used for other than 500 ppi class images. All images that

are compressed should be compressed using WSQ. JPEG compression is retained solely

for backwards compatibility with legacy systems and it should not be used in any new

implementation.

[2013a>] For Traditional encoding, please see Annex B: Traditional encoding,

Section B.2.2 Type-4 record. For XML encoding, please see Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding rules. [<2013a] 

Table 36 Type-4 record layout

Traditional format requires the data in binary form (not text) with a fixed byte length83; therefore the

character min and max values are the same for traditional format (denoted by T= value). They are

expressed in bytes. For XML, the min and max values are the character count (denoted by X= value). 

83 [2013a.] The Character Type column for Fields 4.001 through 4.008 makes explicit that in Traditional

format, the data is binary, as is stated here. [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

4.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

4.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

 T=1

X=2

0 < IDC < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

4.003 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

T=1

X=2

0 < IMP < 3 or 

IMP = 8 or

20 < IMP < 29 

[2915n>]

40 < IMP < 41

[<2015n] 

non-negative

integer 

See Table 8

1 1

4.004 FGP

FRICTION RIDGE 

GENERALIZED 

POSITION

M 

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

T=1

X=3

0 < FGP < 15 or

FGP = 255

 non-negative

integer

See Table 9

T = 6;

X= 1 6

4.005 ISR

IMAGE SCANNING 

RESOLUTION

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

T=1

X=1

ISR = 0 or 1

non-negative

integer

1 1

4.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

M

T=B;

X=N

T=2

X=2

T=2

X=5

10 < HLL < 65535

positive integer

1 1

4.007 VLL

VERTICAL LINE 

LENGTH

M

T=B;

X=N

T=2

X=2

T=2

X=5

10 < VLL < 65535

positive integer

1 1

4.008 CGA 

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

T=1

X=1

0 < value < 1

non-negative

integer84

1 1

4.009 DATA IMAGE DATA M B

T=1

X=1

T=*

X=*

none 1 1

84 [2013a>] For legacy systems only, values of 2 and 3 are allowed. [<2013a]

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8.4.1 Field 4.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding used. See Section

7.1.

8.4.2 Field 4.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-4 record as listed in the

information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. See

Section 7.3.1.

8.4.3 Field 4.003: Impression type / IMP

This mandatory field shall indicate the manner by which the fingerprint was obtained. 

See Section 7.7.4.1 for details.

8.4.4 Field 4.004: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP

This mandatory field shall contain the decimal code number corresponding to the finger

position and shall be taken from Table 9. Only finger numbers 0-15 apply to Type-485.

Up to five additional finger positions shall be referenced by entering the alternate finger

positions using the same format. If fewer than five finger position references are to be

used, the unused position references shall be filled with 255 for Traditional format. Six

values shall be entered in each record for Traditional format. See Section 7.7.4.2 for

more information.

If Record Type-4 is used and images are scanned at a step in the migration path greater

than the class of 500 ppi (effectively 510 ppi), they shall be subsampled, scaled down, or

interpolated down to produce a class resolution of 500 ppi for transmission. Record

Type-4 shall not be used to transmit a fingerprint image at greater than 20.08 ppmm (510

ppi)86. See Section 7.7.6.2. 

8.4.5 Field 4.005: Image scanning resolution / ISR

The mandatory ISR field relates to the scanning resolution of this image. Previous

versions of this standard stated that 0 in this field represents the 'minimum scanning

resolution.' The minimum scanning resolution was defined in ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 as

“19.69 ppmm plus or minus 0.20 ppmm (500 ppi plus or minus 5 ppi).” Therefore, if the

image scanning resolution corresponds to the Appendix F certification level (See Table

18 Class resolution with defined tolerance), a 0 shall be entered in this field.

85 The 2007 and 2008 versions of this standard restricted the FGP to a range of 0 to 14. Code 15 is included 

in this version. 

86 [2013a>] Sentence reworded for clarity. [2013a>] When down-sampling a fingerprint image from

1000 ppi to 500 ppi, the guidance provided in NIST Special Publication 500-289 (available at

http://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/specpubs/sp500.htm) should be followed in order to produce a 500 ppi

image with the minimal effect on the image contesnts and quality. [<2013a] [<2013a]

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A value of 1 is entered if the actual scanning resolution (outside of the Appendix F

certification range) is specified in Field 1.011: Native scanning resolution / NSR.

[2015a>] Note that the nominal transmitting resolution shall not be greater than the

scanning resolution. [<2015a]

8.4.6 Field 4.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This mandatory field shall contain the number of pixels on a single horizontal line of the

transmitted image. See Section 7.7.8.1.

8.4.7 Field 4.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This mandatory field shall contain the number of pixels on a single [2013e>] vertical

[<2013e] line of the transmitted image. See Section 7.7.8.2.

8.4.8 Field 4.008: Compression algorithm / CGA

This is a mandatory field87 , used to specify the type of compression algorithm used. A

zero denotes no compression. Otherwise, the WSQ algorithm should be used to

compress the data, and is indicated by a value of 1. Codes 2 and 3 are retained solely for

backwards compatibility with those legacy systems that use JPEG compression and

should not normally be used. See Section 7.7.9.1. 

8.4.9 Field 4.009: Image data / DATA

This is a mandatory field. 

8.5 Record Type-5: Deprecated

See ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 for specifications. No instances of

Record Type-5 shall be included in a transaction conformant with this version of the

standard. 

8.6 Record Type-6: Deprecated

See ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 for specifications. No instances of

Record Type-6 shall be included in a transaction conformant with this version of the

standard. 

87 [2013e>] Typographical error in mnemonic in 2011 [<2013e]

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8.7 Record Type-7: User-defined image record

Type-7 records shall contain user-defined image information relating to the transaction

submitted for processing. New implementations based on this standard are encouraged to

use the Record Type-13: Friction-ridge latent image record for latent records, and

other record types, as appropriate, for transmitting biometric and forensic images. Images

transmitted using Record Type-7 shall consist of scanned pixels that may be either binary

or grayscale output. Each grayscale pixel value shall be expressed as an unsigned byte. A

value of 0 shall be used to define a black pixel and an unsigned value of 255 shall be used

to define a white pixel. For binary pixels, a value of 0 shall represent a white pixel and a

value of 1 shall represent a black pixel. Resolution and compression is not specified for

this Record Type. See Section 7.7.6 for information about the difference in the handling

of Type-7 resolution in this version of the standard and earlier versions.

Table 37 Type-7 record layout 

Traditional format requires the data in binary form (not text) with a fixed byte length for Field 7.00288;

therefore the character min and max values are the same for traditional format (denoted by T= value). They

are expressed in bytes. For XML, the min and max values are the character count (denoted by X= value). 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

7.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

7.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

 T=

1

X=2

0 < IDC < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

Additional

fields

USERDEFINED

USER-DEFINED

userdefined

 user-defined user-defined

userdefineduserdefined

8.7.1 Field 7.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding used. See Section

7.1. 

88[2013a.] The Character Type column for Field 7.002 makes explicit that in Traditional format, the data

is binary, as is stated here. [<2013a]

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8.7.2 Field 7.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-7 record as listed in the

information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. See

Section 7.3.1.

8.7.3 Fields 7.003 through 7.999: User-defined fields

The remaining fields of the Type-7 record shall be user-defined. Individual fields shall 

conform to the specifications of the agency to which the transmission is being sent. 

8.8 Record Type-8: Signature image record

Type-8 records shall contain either scanned or vectored signature data, covering an area 

of up to 1000 mm2. Two signature image records (from the operator and the subject) are 

allowed per transaction. See Section 7.7.6 for resolution information. Vectored signature 

data shall be expressed as a series of numbers.

Table 38 Type-8 record layout

Traditional format requires the data in binary form (not text) with a fixed byte length for Fields 8.002

through 8.00789; therefore the character min and max values are the same for traditional format (denoted by

T= value). They are expressed in bytes. For XML, the min and max values are the character count

(denoted by X= value). 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

8.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

8.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

 T=

1

X=2

0 < IDC < 99

non-negative integer

1 1

8.003 SIG SIGNATURE TYPE M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

 T=

1

X=1

SIG = 0 or 1

non-negative integer 1 1

89 [2013a.] The Character Type column for Fields 8.002 through 8.007 makes explicit that in Traditional

format, the data is binary, as is stated here. [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

8.004 SRT

SIGNATURE 

REPRESENTATION 

TYPE

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

 T=

1

X=1

SRT = 0 or 1 or 2

non-negative integer

1 1

8.005 ISR

IMAGE SCANNING 

RESOLUTION

M

T=B;

X=N

T=1

X=1

 T=

1

X=1

ISR = 0 or 1 

non-negative integer

1 1

8.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

M

T=B;

X=N

T=2

X=1

 T=

2

X=5

HLL = 0 or

10 < HLL < 65535 

non-negative

integer

1 1

8.007 VLL

VERTICAL LINE 

LENGTH

M

T=B;

X=N

T=2

X=1

 T=

2

X=5

VLL = 0 or 

10 < VLL < 65535 

non-negative integer

1 1

8.008 DATA SIGNATURE DATA M 

dependent upon value of

SRT 

 dependent upon

value of SRT

1 1

8.8.1 Field 8.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.8.2 Field 8.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-8 record as listed in the

information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. See

Section 7.3.1.

8.8.3 Field 8.003: Signature type / SIG

This mandatory field shall contain 0 for the signature image of the subject, or 1 for the

signature image of the official processing the transaction. 

8.8.4 Field 8.004: Signature representation type / SRT

This mandatory field shall be 0 if the image is scanned and not compressed, a 1 if the

image is scanned and compressed, and 2 if the image is vector data. 

8.8.5 Field 8.005: Image scanning resolution / ISR

This mandatory field shall contain 0 if the scanned and transmitted image resolution is

within the range of 19.49 ppmm (495 ppi) to 19.89 ppmm (505 ppi). A value of 1

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indicates a different, unreported, image resolution90. A value of 0 shall also be used if the

image is vector data. 

8.8.6 Field 8.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This mandatory field shall be used to specify the number of pixels contained on a single

horizontal line of the transmitted signature image. For vectored signature data, the value

shall be zero. See Section 7.7.8.1.

8.8.7 Field 8.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This mandatory field shall be used to specify the number of [2013e>] pixels contained

on a single vertical [<2013e] line in the transmitted signature image. For vectored

signature data, the value shall be zero. See Section 7.7.8.2.

8.8.8 Field 8.008: Signature image data / DATA

This mandatory field shall contain uncompressed scanned image signature data,

compressed scanned image signature data, or vectored image signature data. The entry

contained in the SRT field shall indicate which form of the signature data is present. 

8.8.8.1 Uncompressed scanned image data

If the SRT field contains the value of zero, then this field shall contain the uncompressed

scanned binary image data for the signature. In uncompressed mode, the data shall be

packed at eight pixels per byte.

8.8.8.2 Compressed scanned image data

If the SRT field contains the value of one, then this field shall contain the scanned binary

image data for the signature.

[2015n>] Previous editions specified that the image be in compressed form using the

ANSI/EIA-538-1988 facsimile compression algorithm. Other data image formats are

now allowed. Whatever format is chosen should be agreed upon by the sending and

receiving agencies. [<2015n]

8.8.8.3 Vectored image data

If the SRT field contains the value of two, then this field shall contain a set of vectors that

describes the pen position. Each vector has three parts:

· The first part is an X coordinate value (horizontal).

· The second part is a Y coordinate value (vertical).

· The third part is the pen pressure value of line segments within the signature.

Both the X and Y coordinates shall be expressed in units of .0254 mm (.001 inches)

90 In previous versions of the standard, a 0 indicated the 'minimum scanning resolution' and a 1 indicated 

the native scanning resolution. Native scanning resolution was defined in Field 1.011: Native scanning 

resolution / NSR as applying only to Types 3 through 7. This change of language is to make clear that the

value of 1 does not relate to the contents of Field 1.011. Field 1.011 applies only to Type-4 data. 

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referenced from the bottom leftmost corner of the signature. Positive values of X shall

increase from left-to-right and positive values of Y shall increase from bottom-to-top. The

pen pressure shall be a constant value until the next vector becomes active. A value or

pressure of 0 shall represent a “pen-up” (or no pressure) condition. The value of 1 shall

represent the least recordable pressure for a particular device, while 254 shall represent the

maximum recordable pressure for that device. To denote the end of the vector list, 255 shall

be inserted in this entry. 

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8.9 Record Type-9: Minutiae data record

Type-9 records shall contain text describing minutiae and related information encoded from

a finger, palm, or plantar image. There is no limit on the number of Type-9 records for a

latent search transaction. The Type-9 record shall also be used to exchange minutiae and

related information from latent friction ridge images between similar or different systems.

Note that Fields 9.005 through 9.012 in this version of the standard shall not appear for all

new applications and are 'legacy fields'. For users encountering these fields in legacy

systems, please refer to ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 for a description

of those fields. Old (legacy) data containing these fields may still be transmitted in a

transaction conformant to this version . 

Reserved blocks, each consisting of several fields, are registered and allocated for use by

specific vendors. As these blocks may contain proprietary information, no detailed

information is provided regarding the content of these vendor-defined feature sets aside

from the range of field numbers in this standard. For detailed information on each of these

fields, the vendor should be contacted. These alternative blocks of reserved fields allow

vendors to encode minutiae data and any additional required characteristic or feature data in

accordance with their own system’s specific hardware and software configuration. Table 39

identifies the vendor implementations and their assigned blocks of field numbers. For those

vendors not identified in the table, Fields 9.176 through 9.225 may be used to record their

proprietary features91. Any vendor may use these fields to record information. The name of

the vendor or developer of the proprietary feature data, the name and version of the

algorithm used, the target device for which the data is generated, and the contact

information, together with the feature data shall be recorded within this block of fields.

Record Fields 9.126 through 9.150 correspond to the conventions defined and described

originally by the ANSI INCITS 378 standard. Record Fields 9.300 through 9.399 are the

Extended Feature Set. 

In the 2008 version of the standard, only one vendor block (including the M1 format) could

be present in a single record. The 2007 version allowed multiple blocks to be present. The

2011 version is consistent with the 2007 version for all encodings -- allowing multiple

blocks (including the INCITS 378 block and the EFS block) to be present. 

Although this record type may also be used to accommodate a variety of methods used by

different AFIS vendors for encoding minutiae data according to their particular

requirements, each vendor implementation shall contain the first four fields described

below. Fields corresponding to the INCITS-378 features, the Extended Feature Set and the

Universal Latent annotation91 may be used with or without the fields associated with

registered implementations. 

91New for the 2011 version of the standard. 

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Table 39 Type-9 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

9.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

9.003 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE M N 1 2 value from Table 8 1 1

9.004 FMT MINUTIA FORMAT M A 1 1

FMT = U

1 1

FMT = S only if

including legacy

Fields 9.005-9.012

from old record

sources

9.005-9.012

Legacy Fields; 

 See ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 or 

ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 for a 

description of these fields

Only to be used for interchange of legacy data. 

9.013-9.030 FBI IAFIS FEATURE SET O user-defined user-defined user-defined

9.031-9.055 COGENT FEATURE SET O user-defined user-defined user-defined

9.056-9.070 MOTOROLA FEATURE SET O user-defined user-defined user-defined

9.071-9.099

 MORPHOTRAK FEATURE 

SET

O user-defined user-defined user-defined

9.100-9.125 NEC FEATURE SET O user-defined user-defined user-defined

9.126-9.150 INCITS 378 FIELDS O See Table 40

9.151-9.175

 L1 / IDENTIX FEATURE SET

92 O user-defined user-defined user-defined

9.176-9.225

 OTHER FEATURE SETS - 

DEFINED FIELDS

O See Table 41

9.226-9.299

 RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

92 [2013a>] In 2013 this was listed as MorphoTrust USA. [<2013a]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.300-9.399 EXTENDED FEATURE SET O See Table 42

9.400-9.900

 RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

9.901

 ULA

 UNIVERSAL LATENT 

ANNOTATION

O 0 1

 Subfield: repeating values M↑ ANS 22 300

date concatenated with

text. 

1 *

9.902

 ANN

 ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time – UTC)

/ GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm name /

version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

9.903 DUI

 DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character = 

M or P

any character with

type A, N or S in

Table 128

Character

encoding set values

0 1

9.904

 MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

9.905-9.999

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 141

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Table 40 Type-9 Fields for INCITS 378 features

Note: The condition codes in this table apply if the block of features is present. The entire block

may be absent from a transaction. Thus, mandatory, indicates ‘mandatory if this block of fields is

present. 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.126

CBI M1 CBEFF INFORMATION M 1 1

 CFO CBEFF format owner M N 2 2 CFO = 27 1 1

 CFT CBEFF format type M N 3 3

CFT = 513 or 514

for INCITS 378-

2004 and 515 for

INCITS 378-2009

1 1

 CPI

 CBEFF product 

identifier

M H 8 8 none 1 1

9.127

CEI

M1 CAPTURE 

EQUIPMENT ID

M 1 1

 AFS appendix F status M A 4 4

AFS = 

APPF or NONE

1 1

 CID capture equipment ID M U 1 30

 none

( 0 = unreported)

1 1

9.128 HLL

M1 HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

M N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

9.129 VLL

M1 VERTICAL LINE 

LENGTH

M N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

9.130 SLC M1 SCALE UNITS M N 1 1 SLC = 0, 1 or 2 1 1

9.131 THPS

M1 TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

M N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

9.132 TVPS

M1 TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE 

M N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

9.133 FVW M1 FINGER VIEW M N 1 2

0 < FVW < 15

non-negative

integer

1 1

9.134 FGP

M1 FRICTION RIDGE 

GENERALIZED POSITION

M N 1 2

1 < FGP < 10 

non-negative

integer93

See Table 9

1 1

93 [2015e>] Range corrected to correspond to text. (Typographical error) [<2015e]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.135

FQD

M1 FRICTION RIDGE 

QUALITY DATA

M 1 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M 1 9

 QVU quality value M N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or

QVU = 255

non-negative

integer

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification

O H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

0 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

 O N 1 5

1 < QAP < 65535

positive integer

0 1

9.136 NOM

M1 NUMBER OF 

MINUTIAE

M N 1 4

1 < NOM < 9999

positive integer

1 1

9.137

FMD

M1 FINGER MINUTIAE 

DATA

M 1 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M NOM NOM

 MAN minutia index number M N 1 4

1 < MAN < NOM

positive integer 1 1

 MXC X coordinate M N 1 5

0 94< MXC <

HLL

non-negative

integer

1 1

 MYC Y coordinate M N 1 5

0 94< MYC <

VLL

non-negative

integer

1 1

 MAV minutia angle M N 1 3

0 < MAV < 179

integer

1 1

 M1M minutia type M N 1 1 M1M 95 = 0, 1

or 2 nonnegative integer

1 1

94 [2013n>] Lower bound changed to 0 from 1 to correspond with INCITS 378-2009. [<2013n]

95 [2013e>] Corrected typographical error [<2013e]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 QOM quality of minutia M N 1 3

0 < QOM < 100

non-negative

integer

1 1

9.138

RCI

M1 RIDGE COUNT 

INFORMATION

D 0 1

 

Subfield: Set of information 

items (Note that the first 

subfield is in the same format 

as following subfields.)

 M↑ 1 1

 REM

 ridge count extraction 

method

M↑ N 1 1

REM = 0, 1 or 2

non-negative

integer

1 1

 FI1 filler 1 M↑ N 1 1 FI1 = 0 1 1

 FI2 filler 2 M↑ N 1 1 FI2 = 0 1 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1

8

times

NOM

 CMI

 center minutia index 

number 

M↑ N 1 4

1 < CMI < NOM

positive integer

1 1

 NMN

 neighboring minutia 

index number

M↑ N 1 4

1 < NMN < NOM

positive integer

1 1

 NRC number of ridges crossed M↑ N 1 2

0

96

< NRC < 99

non-negative 

integer

1 1

9.139 CIN M1 CORE INFORMATION D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 XCC X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0

94 < XCC <

HLL

non-negative

integer

1 1

 YCC Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0

94 < YCC <

VLL

non-negative

integer

1 1

96 [2013n>] INCITS 378-2009 permits ridge counts of zero, so the lower bound is changed from 1 to

match this. [<2013n]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 ANGC angle of the core M↑ N 1 3

0 < ANGC < 179

non-negative

integer

1 1

9.140

DIN

M1 DELTA 

INFORMATION

D 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 XCD X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0

94

< XCD <

HLL; nonnegative integer

1 1

 YCD Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0

94

< YCD < 

VLL ;nonnegative integer

1 1

 ANG1 First angle of the delta M↑ N 1 3

0 < ANG1 < 179

non-negative

integer

1 1

9.141

ADA

M1 ADDITIONAL DELTA 

ANGLES

D 0 1

 

 Subfields (in the same order 

as those of DIN): Repeating 

sets of information items

M↑ 1 9

 ANG2 Second angle of the delta M↑ N 1 3

0 < ANG2 < 179

non-negative

integer

1 1

 ANG3 Third angle of the delta M↑ N 1 3

0 < ANG3 < 179

non-negative

integer

1 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Table 41 Fields for other feature sets

Note: The condition codes in this table apply if the block of features is present. The entire block 

may be absent from a transaction. Thus, mandatory, indicates ‘mandatory if this block of fields is 

present'.

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.176 OOD

OTHER FEATURE SETS 

- OWNER OR 

DEVELOPER

M U 1 40 none 1 1

9.177

 PAG

 OTHER FEATURE SETS 

– PROCESSING

ALGORITHM

M 1 1

 PAN name of algorithm M U 1 100 none 1 1

 PAV version of algorithm O U 1 100 none 0 1

9.178

 SOD

 OTHER FEATURE SETS 

- SYSTEM OR DEVICE

O 0 1

 OFN name of system or device M↑ U 1 100 none 1 1

 OFV

 version of system or 

device 

O↑ U 1 100 none 0 1

9.179 DTX

 OTHER FEATURE SETS 

– CONTACT 

INFORMATION 

M U 1 1000 none 1 1

9.180-9.225

 OTHER FEATURE SETS 

– USER-DEFINED 

FIELDS

O user-defined user-defined 0 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Table 42 Type-9 Fields for EFS

Note: The condition codes in this table apply if the block of features is present. The entire block 

may be absent from a transaction. Thus, mandatory, indicates ‘mandatory if this block of fields is 

present'. 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.300

ROI

EFS REGION OF 

INTEREST

M 1 1

 EWI ROI width M N 1 5

1 < EWI < 50000

positive integer

1 1

 EHI ROI height M N 1 5

1 < EHI < 50000

positive integer

1 1

 EHO ROI horizontal offset O N 1 5

0

97

< EHO <

50000

non-negative

integer

0 1

 EVO ROI vertical offset O N 1 5

0

97

< EVO <

50000

non-negative

integer

0 1

 ROP ROI polygon O

N

S

1

98 598

special 

characters 

allowed are: - 

and , 

(traditional 

encoding only –

not applicable 

to XML 

encoding)

0

9998

9.301

ORT EFS ORIENTATION O 0 1

 EOD direction M↑ NS 1 4

-179 < EOD < 180

 integer; 

allowed special

character: -

1 1

 EUC uncertainty O↑ N 1 3

0 < EUC < 180

non-negative

integer

0 1

97 [2013e>] Lower bound changed from 1 to 0 for both horizontal and vertical offsets. [<2013e]

98 [2015a>] Each path can contain up to 99 coordinates. Each coordinate can contain up to 5 characters.

In traditional encoding, coordinates are delimited using commas and dashes. See Section 7.7.12.

[<2015a]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.302

FPP

EFS FINGER, PALM, 

PLANTAR POSITION

M 1 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M 1 20

 FGP

 friction ridge generalized 

position

M N 1 2

Values are

limited to the

following

ranges:

 0 < 10, 16 < 18,

20 < 38, 81 < 86

See Table 9

1 1

 FSM image segment O A 3 3

FSM = DST, PRX,

MED or UNK

See Table 10

0 1

 OCF off-center print O A 1 1

OCF = T, R or L

See Table 43

0 1

 SGP segment polygon O NS 1

99 599

special 

characters 

allowed are: - 

and , (traditional

encoding only –

not applicable 

to XML 

encoding)

0

9999

9.303

 FSP

EFS FEATURE SET 

PROFILE

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating values M↑ N 1 2 none 1 9

9.304 -

9.306

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

9.307

PAT

EFS PATTERN 

CLASSIFICATION

D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 7

 GCF general class M↑ A 2 2 values from 

Table 44

1 1

99 [2015a>] Each path can contain up to 99 coordinates. Each coordinate can contain up to 5 characters.

In traditional encoding, coordinates are delimited using commas and dashes. See Section 7.7.12.

[<2015a]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 SUB subclass D A 2 2

values from 

Table 44

0 1

 WDR whorl-delta relationship D A 1 1 WDR = I, O or M 0 1

9.308

RQM

EFS RIDGE QUALITY 

MAP

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating values

(one entry for each row)

M↑

H

10

0

1 50000

See Table 137:

Definitions for

ridge quality map

values and Table

45

1

ROUNDUP (EHI ÷

GSZ)101

9.309

RQF

RIDGE QUALITY MAP 

FORMAT

D 0 1

 GSZ grid size M↑ N 1 2

1 < GSZ < 41

positive integer

1 1

 RDF ridge quality data format M↑ A 3 3

RDF = UNC or

RLE

See Table 46

1 1

9.310

RFM EFS RIDGE FLOW MAP O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating values

(one entry for each row)

M↑

Ba

se

6

4

10

2

1 100000 See Table 47 1

ROUNDUP (EHI ÷

SFQ) 101

9.311

RFF

EFS RIDGE FLOW MAP 

FORMAT

O 0 1

 SFQ sampling frequency M↑ N 1 2

1 < SFQ < 41

positive integer

1 1

 RDF ridge flow data format M↑ AN 3 3

RDF = UNC or

B64

1 1

9.312 RWM EFS RIDGE 

WAVELENGTH MAP

O 0 1

100 [2013e>] Corrected to hexadecimal (was listed as AN) and range restated to make it clear that it is a

hexadecimal range [<2013e]

101 [2013e>] Corrected formula [<2013e]

102 [2013e>] Correct character type is Base 64. [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

Subfields: Repeating values M↑ AN 1 100,000

string containing 2

digit positive

integers or XX

characters

1

ROUNDUP (EHI ÷

FWS) 101

9.313

RWF

EFS RIDGE 

WAVELENGTH MAP 

FORMAT

O 0 1

 FWS sampling frequency M↑ N 1 2

1 < FWS < 41

positive integer

1 1

 FDF data format M↑ A 3 3 FDF = UNC 1 1

9.314 TRV EFS TONAL REVERSAL O A 1 1

TRV = N or P

[2015n>] or U

[<2015n]

see Table 48

0 1

9.315 PLR

EFS POSSIBLE LATERAL 

REVERSAL

O A 1 1

PLR = L or U

see Table 49

0 1

9.316

FQM

EFS FRICTION RIDGE 

QUALITY METRIC

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100

or QVU = 254 or

255

non-negative

integer 

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification

M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

M↑ N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

9.317

PGS

EFS POSSIBLE GROWTH 

OR SHRINKAGE

O 0 1

 TGS

 growth or shrinkage 

type

M↑ A 1 1

TGS = G, S or B

see Table 50

1 1

 CGS

 growth or shrinkage 

comment

O↑103

U 1 1000 none

0

103 1

9.318-9.319

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

103 [2013e>] Changed to Optional to correspond to text [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.320

COR EFS CORES D 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 CXC X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < CXC < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 CYC Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < CYC < EHI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 CDI direction O↑ N

104 1 3

0 < CDI <

359104

non-negative

integer

0 1

 RPU

 radius of position 

uncertainty

O↑ N 1 3

0 < RPU < 999

non-negative

integer

0 1

 DUY direction uncertainty O↑ N 1 3

0 < DUY < 180

non-negative

integer

0 1

9.321 DEL EFS DELTAS D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 DXC X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < DXC < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 DYC Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0< DYC < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 DUP direction up O↑ N 1 3

0 < DUP <

359105

non-negative

integer

0 1

 DLF direction left O↑N 1 3

0 < DLF < 359

non-negative

integer

0 1

104 [2013e>] Changed NS to N; max character from 4 to 3; change range from -179 → 180 to 0 → 359

[<2013e]

105 [2013e>] Changed from a range of 1 → 180 to a range of 0 → 359. [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 DRT direction right O↑ N 1 3

0 < DRT < 359

non-negative

integer

0 1

 DTP type M↑152

AN 0

106

3

value from

Table 52

0 1

 RPU

 radius of position 

uncertainty

O↑ N 1 3

0

107

< RPU <

999

non-negative

integer

0 1

 DUU direction uncertainty up O↑ N 1 3

0 < DUU < 180

non-negative

integer

0 1

 DUL

 direction uncertainty 

left

O↑ N 1 3

0 < DUL < 180

non-negative

integer

0 1

 DUR

 direction uncertainty 

right

O↑ N 1 3

0 < DUR < 180

non-negative

integer

0 1

9.322

CDR

EFS CORE-DELTA RIDGE

COUNTS

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 * 108

 CIX core index M↑ AN 1 2

1 < CIX < 99

positive integer or 

CIX = L or U

1 1

 DIX delta index M↑ AN 1 2

1 < DIX < 99

positive integer or 

DIX = L or R

1 1

 MNRC min ridge count M↑N 1 2 0

107

< MNRC

< 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

106 [2015e>] Changing minimum to 0 characters to allow for a “<NULL>” value. [<2015e]

107 [2013e>] Changed lower bound to 0 [<2013e]

108 [2013e>] Changed max occurrence from 255 to * [<2013e]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 MXRC max ridge count O↑ N 1 2

0

107

< MXRC <

99

non-negative

integer

0 1

9.323

CPR

EFS CENTER POINT OF 

REFERENCE

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 3

 CPM method M↑ AN 1 1

CPM = L or 0 or 1

or H

see Table 53

1 1

 PXC X coordinate M↑ NS 1 5

-EHO < PXC <

50,000 109

integer; allowed

special

character: -

1 1

 PYC Y coordinate M↑ NS 1 5

-EVO < PYC <

50,000

integer

allowed special

character: -

1 1

 CRU

 radius of position 

uncertainty

O↑ N 1 3

0 < CRU < 999

non-negative

integer

0 1

9.324

DIS

EFS DISTINCTIVE 

FEATURES

D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 99

 DIT distinctive feature type M↑ A 4 9 entries from 

Table 54

1 1

109 [2013e>] Lower limit modified from less than to less than or equal to [<2013e]

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 153

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Object 1

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This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 DFP

 distinctive features 

polygon

O↑ NS 1

110 5110

special 

characters 

allowed are: - 

and , (traditional

encoding only –

not applicable 

to XML 

encoding)

0

99110

 DFC

 distinctive features 

comment

O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

9.325 NCOR

EFS NO CORES

PRESENT111 D A 1 1 NCOR = Y 0 1

9.326 NDEL

EFS NO DELTAS

PRESENT111 D A 1 1 NDEL = Y 0 1

9.327 NDIS

EFS NO DISTINCTIVE

FEATURES PRESENT

111 D A 1 1 NDIS = Y 0 1

9.328-9.330

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

9.331 MIN EFS MINUTIAE D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 MXC X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < MXC < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 MYC Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0< MYC < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 MTD Theta degrees M↑ N 1 3

0 < MTD < 359

105

nonnegative integer

1 1

 MTY minutia type M↑ A 1 1 MTY = E, B or X 

see Table 55

1 1

110 [2015a>] Each path can contain up to 99 coordinates. Each coordinate can contain up to 5 characters.

In traditional encoding, coordinates are delimited using commas and dashes. See Section 7.7.12.

[<2015a]

111 [2015a>] NIEM requires that anything that is an 'indicator' shall be Boolean. Thus, in NIEMconformant encoding this has a value of 'true' or '1'. Therefore the maximum character count becomes 4

and the type becomes AN for NIEM-conformant XML encoding. [<2015a]

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 154

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Object 1

______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 MRU

 radius of position 

uncertainty

O↑ N 1 3

0 < MRU < 999

non-negative

integer

0 1

 MDU

 minutiae direction 

uncertainty

O↑ N 1 3

0 < MDU < 180

non-negative

integer

0 1

9.332 MRA

EFS MINUTIAE RIDGE 

COUNT ALGORITHM

D AN 5 8

MRA = OCTANT,

EFTS7 or

QUADRANT

see Table 56

0 1

9.333

MRC

EFS MINUTIAE RIDGE 

COUNTS

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 * 112

 MIA minutia index A M↑ N 1 4

1 < MIA < 9999

positive integer 

1 1

 MIB minutia index B M↑ N 1 4

1 < MIB < 9999

positive integer

1 1

 MIR ridge count M↑ N 1 2

0 < MIR < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

 MRN reference number O↑ N 1 1

0 < MRN < 7

113

non-negative

integer

0 1

 MRS residual O↑ N 1 1

MRS = 0 or 1

non-negative

integer

0 1

9.334 NMIN

EFS NO MINUTIA

PRESENT 111 D A 1 1 NMIN = Y 0 1

9.335

RCC

EFS RIDGE COUNT 

CONFIDENCE

D

136 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 7992

112 [2013e>] Maximum repeat count changed to * [<2013e]

113 [2013e>] Revised to correspond to the text: the eight octants are numbered 0 through 7 in Table 56

EFS codes for minutiae ridge count algorithms [<2013e]

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 155

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Object 1

______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 ACX X coordinate Point A M↑ N 1 5

0 < ACX < EWI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 ACY Y coordinate Point A M↑ N 1 5

0 < ACY < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 BCX X coordinate Point B M↑ N 1 5

0 < BCX < EWI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 BCY Y coordinate Point B M↑ N 1 5

0 < BCY < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 MORC

 method of ridge 

counting

M↑ A 1 1

MORC = A, T or

M

see Table 57

1 1

 MCV confidence value M↑ N 1 2

0 < MCV < 99

non-negative

integer 

1 1

9.336-9.339

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

9.340

DOT EFS DOTS D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 DOX dot X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < DOX < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 DOY dot Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < DOY < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 DOL dot length O↑ N 1 2

1 < DOL < 99

positive integer

0 1

9.341 INR EFS INCIPIENT RIDGES D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 X1C X coordinate Point 1 M↑N 1 5 0 < X1C < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 156

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Object 1

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This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 Y1C Y coordinate Point 1 M↑ N 1 5

0 < Y1C < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 X2C X coordinate Point 2 M↑ N 1 5

0 < X2C< EWI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

 Y2C Y coordinate Point 2 M↑ N 1 5

0 < Y2C < EHI

 non-negative

integer

1 1

9.342

CLD

EFS CREASES AND 

LINEAR 

DISCONTINUITIES

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 X1D X coordinate Point 1 M↑ N 1 5

0 < X1D <EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 Y1D Y coordinate Point 1 M↑ N 1 5

0 < Y1D <EHI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 X2D X coordinate Point 2 M↑ N 1 5

0 < X2D < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 Y2D Y coordinate Point 2 M↑ N 1 5

0 < Y2D < EHI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 TPD type M↑ AN 2 5

See values in

Table 58

1 1

9.343

REF

EFS RIDGE EDGE 

FEATURES

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 CLX X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < CLX < EWI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 CLY Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < CLY < EHI

non-negative

integer

1 1

 CLT type M↑ A 1 1 CLT = P, I or D 1 1

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 157

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Object 1

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This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.344 NPOR

EFS NO PORES

PRESENT 111 D A 1 1 NPOR = Y 0 1

9.345

POR EFS PORES O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9999

 POX X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < POX < EWI

integer

1 1

 POY Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < POY < EHI

non-negative

integer

1 1

9.346 NDOT

EFS NO DOTS

PRESENT 111 D A 1 1 NDOT = Y 0 1

9.347 NINR

EFS NO INCIPIENT

RIDGES PRESENT 111 D A 1 1 NINR = Y 0 1

9.348 NCLD

EFS NO CREASES

PRESENT 111 D A 1 1 NCLD = Y 0 1

9.349 NREF

EFS NO RIDGE EDGE

FEATURES PRESENT

111 D A 1 1 NREF = Y 0 1

9.350

MFD

EFS METHOD OF 

FEATURE DETECTION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 99

 FIE field M↑

A

N

S 

3 999

ALL or

9.300 < value <

9.373 

separated by

comma

1 1

 FME method M↑ A 3 4 see Table 59 1 1

 FAV algorithm vendor D U 1 40 none 0 1

 FAL algorithm D U 1 40 none 0 1

 ESN examiner surname D U 1 40 none 0 1

 EGN examiner given name D U 1 40 none 0 1

 EAF examiner affiliation DU 1 99 none 0 1

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 158

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Object 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 EMT date and time O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 NTS notes O↑ U 1 99 none 0 1

9.351 COM EFS COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

9.352

LPM

EFS LATENT 

PROCESSING METHOD

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating values

(one entry for each method)

M↑ AN 3 3 see Table 60 1 9

9.353

EAA

EFS EXAMINER 

ANALYSIS ASSESSMENT

O 0 1

 AAV value assessment code M↑ A 5 8 see Table 61 1 1

 ALN examiner last name M↑ U 1 40 none 1 1

 AFN examiner first name M↑ U 1 40 none 1 1

 AAF examiner affiliation M↑ U 1 99 none 1 1

 AMT date and time (GMT) M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 ACM comment

O↑

U 1 200 none 0 1

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Object 1

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This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 CXF

 analysis complexity 

flag

O↑ A 7 7

CXF =

COMPLEX

0 1

9.354

EOF

EFS EVIDENCE OF 

FRAUD

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 4

 FRA fraud type M↑ A 3 3 see Table 62 1 1

 CFD comment O↑ U 1 200 none 0 1

9.355

LSB

EFS LATENT 

SUBSTRATE

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 3

 CLS code M↑ AN 1 2 see Table 63 1 1

 OSD

 object / substrate 

description

O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

9.356

LMT EFS LATENT MATRIX O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 3

 TOM code M↑ N 1 2

0 < TOM < 10

non-negative

integer

see Table 64

1 1

 CLA comment O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

9.357

LQI

EFS LOCAL QUALITY 

ISSUES

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 LQT type M↑ A 4 10 see Table 65 1 1

 LQP polygon M↑ NS 1

114 5114 special 

characters 

allowed are: - 

and , (traditional

encoding only –

not applicable 

to XML 

encoding)

1

99114

114 [2015a>] Each path can contain up to 99 coordinates. Each coordinate can contain up to 5 characters.

In traditional encoding, coordinates are delimited using commas and dashes. See Section 7.7.12.

[<2015a]

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 160

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Object 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 LQC comment O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

9.358-9.359

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

9.360

AOC

EFS AREA OF 

CORRESPONDENCE

O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 CIR IDC reference M↑ N 1 2

0 < CIR < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

 AOP polygon (closed path) M↑ NS 1

114 5114

special 

characters 

allowed are: - 

and , (traditional

encoding only –

not applicable 

to XML 

encoding)

1

99114

 CAC comment O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

9.361

CPF

EFS CORRESPONDING 

POINTS OR FEATURES

O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 COL label M↑ AN 1 3 none 1 1

 TOC type of correspondence M↑ A 1 2

value from 

Table 67

1 1

 CFN

 corresponding field 

number

D N 3 3

value from 

Table 66

0 1

 FOC

 corresponding field 

occurrence

D N 1 3

1 < FOC < 999

positive integer

0 1

 CXC

 corresponding x 

coordinate

D N 1 5

0 < CXC < EWI

non-negative

integer

0 1

 CYC

 corresponding y 

coordinate

D N 1 5

0 < CYC < EHI

non-negative

integer

0 1

 COC comment O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 161

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Object 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

9.362

ECD

EFS EXAMINER 

COMPARISON 

DETERMINATION

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 EDC IDC reference M↑ N 1 2

0 < EDC < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

 EDE determination M↑ AS 4 6

value from 

Table 68

1 1

 WIP work in progress M↑ A 5 11

WIP =

PRELIMINARY

or FINAL

1 1

 ELN examiner last name M↑ U 1 40 none 1 1

 EFN examiner first name M↑ U 1 40 none 1 1

 EAF examiner affiliation M↑ U 1 99 none 1 1

 DTG date and time (GMT) M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 CZZ comment O↑ U 1 200 none 0 1

 CCF

 complex comparison 

flag

O↑ A 7 7

CCF =

COMPLEX

0 1

9.363

RRC

EFS RELATIVE 

ROTATION OF 

CORRESPONDING PRINT

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

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Object 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 RIR rotation IDC reference M↑ N 1 2

0 < RIR < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

 ROR relative overall rotation M↑ NS 1 4

-179 < ROR < 180

integer

allowed special

character: -

1 1

9.364-9.371

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

9.372 SIM

EFS SKELETONIZED 

IMAGE

O

Base

64

8 * none 0 1

9.373

RPS

EFS RIDGE PATH 

SEGMENTS

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating values M↑ NS 1

115 5115

In Traditional

encoding,

allowed special

characters are

the comma and

the dash. This

is not applicable

to XML

encoding. See

Section 7.7.12.1

1 *

9.374-9.379

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

9.380116

TPL EFS TEMPORARY LINES O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 TXA x coordinate point A M↑ N 1 5

0 < TXA <

EWI117

non-negative

integer 

1 1

 TYA y coordinate point A M↑N 1 5

0 < TYA < EHI

I

117

non-negative

integer 

1 1

115 [2015a>] Each path can contain multiple coordinates. Each coordinate can contain up to 5 characters.

In traditional encoding, coordinates are delimited using commas and dashes. See Section 7.7.12.

[<2015a]

116 [2013n>] New fields (380 and 381) [<2013n]

117 [2015a>]These corrected a typographical error in AN2013[<2015a]

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 163

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Object 1

______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

This publication is available free of charge from: http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-290e3
ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 TXB x coordinate point B M↑ N 1 5

0 < TXB <

EWII117

non-negative

integer

1 1

 TYB y coordinate point B M↑ N 1 5

0 < TYB <

EHII117

non-negative

integer 

1 1

 TLC line color M↑ H

6

118

6

000000 < TLC <

FFFFFF

1 1

 TLT line thickness M↑ N 1 2

1 < TLT < 99

positive integer

1 1

9.381116

FCC

EFS FEATURE COLOR

[2015a>] AND

COMMENT [<2015a]

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 999

 FTF feature – field number M↑ N 3 3

Field number from

Table 69 EFS

codes for field

numbers used for

feature color

1 1

 FTO feature - field occurrence M↑ N 1 3

1 < FTO < 999

positive integer

1 1

 FTC feature - color D H 6 6

000000 < FTC <

FFFFFF

0 1

 COM feature - comment D U 1 1000 none 0 1

9.382 –9.399

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

8.9.1 Field 9.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.9.2 Field 9.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-9 record as listed in the

information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. See

118 [2015e>] Value is 6 (for Hexadecimal 000000) [<2015e]

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Section 7.3.1.

8.9.3 Field 9.003: Impression type / IMP

This mandatory field shall indicate the manner by which the friction ridge119 was 

obtained. See Section 7.7.4.1 for details.

8.9.4 Field 9.004: Minutiae format / FMT

This mandatory field is retained only for backward compatibility. It was a mandatory

field in previous versions of the standard. This field shall always have a value “U”,

unless including legacy fields 9.005 through 9.012 (described in ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007

and ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008), when this field shall contain “S”.

8.9.5 INCITS 378 feature set

This entire block of fields is optional. Descriptions of fields in the range 126-150 use the

word ‘mandatory’ to indicate ‘mandatory if this block of fields is present’. “Optional” in

this block of fields shall mean ‘optional if this block of fields is present’. The INCITS

Technical Committee M1 developed int INCITS 378 standard. The term 'M1' is used in

lieu of INCITS 378 to shorten the field names. 

8.9.5.1 Field 9.126: M1 CBEFF information / CBI

This field is mandatory if the INCITS 378 feature set is contained in the transaction.

Otherwise, it shall not occur. It shall contain three information items when present. 

• The first information item (CBEFF format owner / CFO) shall contain the value

“27”. This is the identification of the assigned by the International Biometric

Industry Association (IBIA) to INCITS Technical Committee M1.

• The second information item (CBEFF format type / CFT) is assigned a value of

“513” (following INCITS 378-2004) if this record contains Field 9.137: M1 finger

minutiae data / FMD without Field 9.138: M1 ridge count information / RCI,

 Field 9.139: M1 core information / CIN or Field 9.140: M1 delta information /

DIN. A value of “514” (following INCITS 378-2004) indicates the presence of

Field 9.137 and any of the other fields mentioned above. If INCITS 378-2009 is

followed, a value of “515” is entered and does not indicate the specific presence or

absence of these fields.

• The third information item (CBEFF product identifier / CPI) identifies the “owner”

of the encoding equipment. The vendor sets this value at the IBIA website

(www.ibia.org), if it is posted. [2013a>] If it is not posted, enter 0000. [<2013a]

Note that the 2004 version of INCITS 378 had one item for the product identifier. This was

clarified and broken into two items in the 2009 version of INCITS 378: the product identifier

and the format type. Each of these two items in INCITS 378-2009 is specified as two bytes

119 [2013a>] Fingerprint changed to friction ridge to be more inclusive [<2013a]

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in length, with the value of zero prohibited for the format type. Since the addition of another

information item to this field would break backward compatibility with the 2007 version of

the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard (Traditional encoding), the third information item listed above

(CBEFF product identifier / CPI) shall be interpreted as combining the product identifier

and the format type as specified in INCITS 378-2009 or the value that may have been

entered by a user interpreting INCITS 378-2004. The maximum length of CPI has been

extended to 8 from 4 as a result.

8.9.5.2 Field 9.127: M1 capture equipment identification / CEI

This mandatory field shall contain two information items. 

• The first (appendix F status / AFS) shall contain “APPF” if the equipment used

originally to acquire the image was certified to conform to Appendix F

specifications120. If the equipment did not conform it will contain the value of

“NONE”.

• The second information item (capture equipment ID / CID) shall contain a vendorassigned product number / identifier (up to 30 characters) of the capture equipment.

A value of “0” indicates that the capture equipment ID is unreported.

8.9.5.3 Field 9.128: M1 horizontal line length /HLL

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.9.5.4 Field 9.129: M1 vertical line length / VLL

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.9.5.5 Field 9.130: M1 scale units / SLC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details.

8.9.5.6 Field 9.131: M1 transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.9.5.7 Field 9.132: M1 transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.9.5.8 Field 9.133: M1 finger view / FVW

This mandatory field contains the view number of the finger associated with this record’s

data. The view number begins with “0” and increments by one to “15”. Finger view

differentiates multiple images of the same finger that are included in the transaction to be

taken consecutively to develop an "average" template for that particular set of finger minutiae

for enrollment applications.

120 See the list of certified products at http:// www. fbibiospecs. cjis.gov

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8.9.5.9 Field 9.134: M1 friction ridge generalized position / FGP

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.4.2 for details.. Valid codes for this field are

between 1 and 10, taken from Table 9 to indicate the finger position. (Note that codes 16

and 17 are not covered in INCITS 378). The 2007 version restricted this to fingerprint codes.

The 2008 version also allowed palm codes, but this version of the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard

does not in order to maintain consistency with INCITS 378. 

8.9.5.10 Field 9.135: M1 friction ridge quality data / FQD

This mandatory field shall contain the quality of the overall finger minutiae data. There may

be a subfield for each algorithm and predictive performance measure. Each subfield shall

contain the first information item (quality value / QVU) described in Section 7.7.7. The

second two information items are optional for this field. (algorithm vendor identification /

QAV and algorithm product identification / QAP). 

The 2004 version of INCITS 378 had only 1 byte for quality with no second and third

information items. The 2009 version of INCITS 378 had all three information items and all

three are mandatory in that standard. The 2007 and 2008 versions of ANSI/NIST-ITL

mandated the presence of all three information items. However, this version of ANSI/NISTITL allows the second and third items to be optional, in order to accommodate those users

following the 2004 version of INCITS 378. 

8.9.5.11 Field 9.136: M1 number of minutiae / NOM

This mandatory field shall contain a count of the number of minutiae recorded in this block.

8.9.5.12 Field 9.137: M1 finger minutiae data / FMD

The total number of subfields shall agree with the count found in Field 9.136: M1 number

of minutiae / NOM. Each subfield has six information items.

• The first information item (minutia index number / MAN), shall be initialized to

“1” and incremented by “1” for each additional minutia in the fingerprint.

• The second information item (‘x’ coordinate / MXC) is expressed in pixel units.

• The third information item (‘y’ coordinate / MYC) is expressed in pixel units. 

• The fourth information item (minutia angle / MAV) is recorded in units of two

degrees. This value shall be nonnegative between 0 and 179, inclusive.

• The fifth information item (minutia type / M1M) has a value of “0” to represent a

minutia121 of type “OTHER”, a value of “1” for a ridge ending and a value of “2” for

a ridge bifurcation. 

• The sixth information item (quality of minutia / QOM) shall range from 1 as a

minimum to 100 as a maximum. A value of “0” indicates that no quality value is

121 [2013e>] Corrected typographical error [<2013e]

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available. Note that this is an integer. 

8.9.5.13 Field 9.138: M1 ridge count information / RCI

This optional field shall consist of subfields of three information items. It can only appear if 

a value of '514' or '515' is entered in CFT of Field 9.126: M1 CBEFF information / CBI.

For the first subfield:

• The first information item (ridge count extraction method / REM) shall have a

value of 0, 1 or 2. A “0” indicates that no assumption shall be made about the

method used to extract ridge counts, nor their order in the record. A “1” indicates

that for each center minutiae, ridge count data was extracted to the nearest

neighboring minutiae in four quadrants, and ridge counts for each center minutia are

listed together. A “2” indicates that for each center minutiae, ridge count data was

extracted to the nearest neighboring minutiae in eight octants, and ridge counts for

each center minutia are listed together. 

• The remaining two information items (filler 1 / FI1 and filler 2 / FI2) of this first

repeating subfield shall each contain “0”. 

Subsequent subfields have three information items each: 

• The first information item (center minutia index / CMI) is a positive integer. 

• The second information item (neighboring minutia index number/ NMN) is a

positive integer. It shall not be equal to CMI.

• The third information (number of ridges crossed / NRC) is a positive integer. 

8.9.5.14 Field 9.139: M1 core information / CIN

This optional field shall consist of one subfield for each core present in the original image.

It can only appear if a value of '514' or '515' is entered in CFT of Field 9.126: M1 CBEFF

information / CBI. Each subfield consists of three information items. 

• The first item (‘x’ coordinate / XCC) is an integer in pixel units. 

• The second item (‘y’ coordinate / YCC) is an integer in pixel units. 

• The third information item (angle of the core / ANGC) is recorded in units of two

degrees. The value shall be between 0 and 179, inclusive. 

8.9.5.15 Field 9.140: M1 delta information / DIN

This optional field shall consist of one subfield for each delta present in the original image.

It can only appear if a value of '514' or '515' is entered in CFT of Field 9.126: M1 CBEFF

information / CBI. Each repeating subfield consists of three information items122. 

122 In earlier versions of this standard, only one angle was referenced; however, the 2004 and 2009 versions

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• The first item (‘x’ coordinate / XCD) is an integer in pixel units. 

• The second item (‘y’ coordinate / YCD) is an integer in pixel units.

• The third information item ( first angle of the delta / ANG1) is recorded in units

of two degrees. The value shall be between 0 and 179, inclusive. This is the angle

closest to 90 degrees. [2013a>] (i.e., pointing upwards) [<2013a]

8.9.5.16 Field 9.141: M1 additional delta angles / ADA

This optional field shall only appear if Field 9.140: M1 delta information / DIN is

included in this record.122 This field has been added to handle the two additional angle

specifications of INCITS 378 while maintaing backward compatibility with the 2007

version of this standard (Traditional encoding). The subfields shall describe the same

deltas in the same order as the subfields of Field 9.140: M1 delta information / DIN.

[2013a>] The values, recorded in units of two degrees, shall be between 0 and 179,

inclusive. [<2013a] 

• The first information item (second angle of the delta /ANG2) is the next angle 

encoded in order of appearance when moving counterclockwise.

• The second information item (third angle of the delta / ANG3) is the last angle 

encoded in order of appearance when moving counterclockwise.

8.9.6 Externally defined feature sets

This standard has reserved several blocks of fields for external definition. These blocks

of fields may be used in conjunction with other blocks of fields123. 

8.9.6.1 FBI / IAFIS feature set

Fields 9.013 through 9.030 are reserved for this block. These fields are defined in the FBI's

EFTS version 7.1 through EBTS version 9.2 but are superseded beginning with EBTS 9.3;

see https://www.fbibiospecs.cjis.gov .

8.9.6.2 3M (Cogent) feature set

Fields 9.031 through 9.055 are reserved for this block. For information on these fields,

consult 3M.

8.9.6.3 MorphoTrak (legacy Motorola) feature set

Fields 9.056 through 9.070 are reserved for this block. For information on these fields,

consult MorphoTrak.

of INCITS 378 standard specify three angles for each delta. The second two angles are contained in Field 

9.141: M1 additional delta angles / ADA.

123 This was allowed in the 2007 version of the standard, but not the 2008 version. This version is 

consistent with the 2007 version, in allowing multiple blocks in a single record.

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8.9.6.4 MorphoTrak feature set

Fields 9.071 through 9.099 are reserved for this block. For information on these fields,

consult MorphoTrak.

8.9.6.5 NEC feature set

Fields 9.100 through 9.125 are reserved for this block. For information on these fields,

consult NEC.

8.9.6.6 L1- Identix feature set

Fields 9.151 through 9.175 are reserved for this block. For information on these fields,

consult L1.

8.9.6.7 Other feature sets

Fields 9.176 through 9.225 are reserved for this block. This block of fields is reserved for

those vendors whose proprietary feature set was not available or not included in the

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 standard. Vendors who believe that the INCITS 378 feature set and

the Extended Feature Set do not meet the requirements of their algorithms may use these

proprietary feature set fields. These fields may also be used by those vendors with

previously registered minutiae blocks for the purpose of identifying the use of different

processing algorithms. Fields labeled mandatory in this Section are only mandatory if the

block is used. Otherwise, the field shall be absent from the transaction.

8.9.6.7.1 Field 9.176: Other feature sets - owner or developer / OOD

This mandatory field shall contain an unformatted text string identifying the editing station

or the name of the owner or developer of the processing algorithm. 

8.9.6.7.2 Field 9.177: Other feature sets - processing algorithm / PAG

This mandatory field has two information items. The first (name of algorithm / PAN) is

mandatory if this field is used. The second information item (version of algorithm /PAV) is

optional. Both information items may have up to 100 characters as unformatted text.

8.9.6.7.3 Field 9.178: Other feature sets - system or device / SOD

This optional field has two information items. The first item (name of system or device /

OFN) is mandatory if this field appears. It shall contain an unformatted text string with the

name of the system or device for which the data in this record is being generated. The

second information item (version of system or device / OFV) is optional, to identify the

version of the data generated. 

8.9.6.7.4 Field 9.179: Other feature sets –contact information / DTX

This mandatory field shall contain unformatted text with the contact information for

additional details regarding the feature data. At a minimum, the text shall identify the name

of the organization responsible for the information content.

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8.9.6.7.5 Fields 9.180 through 9.225: Other feature sets – userdefined fields

These fields shall be used to record specific vendor proprietary information regarding

minutiae feature data. The vendor shall define the format and content of each field.

8.9.7 Extended Feature Set

This entire block of fields is optional. Descriptions of fields in the range 9.300-9.399 use

the word ‘mandatory’ to indicate “mandatory if this block of fields is present”. 'Optional'

in this block of fields shall mean “optional if this block of fields is present”.

This data block defines the content, format, and units of measurement for the definition

and/or exchange of friction ridge feature information that may be used in the

identification of a subject based on friction ridge information. This information is

intended for an individual examiner to define the content of a single impression or

comparison of two impressions, as well as for interchange between criminal justice

administrations or organizations that use friction ridge information for identification

purposes. This specification defines a quantifiable, repeatable, and clear method of

characterizing the information content of a fingerprint or other friction ridge image. See

Annex F: Extended Feature Set Detailed Instructions for specific instructions on

entering data in these fields.

8.9.7.1 EFS coordinate system

The relative position of all EFS features shall be expressed as integers124 in units of 10

micrometers (10 μm = 0.01 mm or 0.00039 in), with the origin in the top left of the

Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI. In this coordinate system, values of X

increase from left to right and values of Y increase from top to bottom. With the

exception of Field 9.323: EFS center point of reference / CPR all positions shall be in

the range (0,0)-(ROI.width-1, ROI.height-1). Width and/or height dimensions for a

single impression will always fall within an upper bound of 50 cm (19.7”, or 50,000

units). This is not counted in pixels. This is the origin used in EFTS, EBTS (both the

FBI's and that of the Department of Defense), INTERPOL's INT-I and the IAFIS Type9 fields, but not in the original ANSI/NIST-ITL Type-9 Fields 9.005 through 9.012

(legacy fields), which used a bottom left origin.

There are no specific maximum dimensions in the coordinate system, because dimensions

are limited by the image dimensions, and ANSI/NIST-ITL-1 2011 does not have stated

maximum dimensions for Type 13, 14, or 15 images. Dimensions for a single impression

will always fall well within an upper bound of 50cm (19.7”, or 50000 units)125. In all cases

124 [2013e>] The sentence is modified from the original 2011 text to allow zero as a coordinate and

moves the exception for Field 9.323 to another part of the paragraph, for clarity. [<2013e]

125 A 99th percentile adult male hand (wrist to fingertip) is 8.4” (213 mm) long; a 99th percentile adult male

foot is 11.7” (298 mm) long. [A. R. Tilley, The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design,

Revised Edition; Wiley; 2002] In extreme cases palms may be 32.4 cm long (12.75”) and feet may be 47

cm long (18.5”). (e.g., Robert Pershing Wadlow [Guinness Book of World Records Online,

www.guinnessworldrecords.com/])

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for the EFS, when specific distances are specified, the distances are stated in terms that

correspond to an integer number of pixels at 500 pixels per inch, and the metric equivalents

are rounded to two significant digits (0.01 mm).

8.9.7.2 EFS region of interest

The Region of Interest is defined in Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI as a

rectangle and/or a polygon that bounds the area of the original image containing a

single friction ridge impression, and separates it from the background and any other

friction ridge data present in the image. [2013a>] All EFS features are in relation to the

Region of Interest, not to the original image; all coordinates are relative to the top left

corner of the ROI. With the exception of Field 9.323: EFS center point of

reference / CPR, the X and Y values for an EFS feature may not equal or exceed the

width and height of the ROI. The X and Y values for CPR are the only EFS values that

may be negative, or greater than the ROI width or height; however, the center point of

reference must be within the bounds of the overall image itself. The ROI may be

identical to the dimensions of the image126. [<2013a]

When the ROI is a polygon, the ROI rectangle is simply a bounding box around that

polygon: the ROI offset is defined as the minimum of the X and Y coordinates of all ROI

vertices, and the ROI width and height are defined as the range (maximum – minimum) of

the X and Y coordinates of all ROI vertices. It is permissible for the ROI rectangle to be

expanded slightly around the ROI polygon so that its dimensions or offset are evenly

divisible by 4 or 8, as long as this does not exceed the bounds of the image itself. See

Figure 6 for an example.

Figure 6: Region of interest

126 [2013a>] New explanation updates the 2011 base text [<2013a]

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There can only be one region of interest for a given feature set. If there are multiple

impressions within a single image, more than one feature set can be marked for the image,

resulting in multiple Type-9 records associated with a single image, differentiated by the

region of interest, as specified in Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI.

8.9.7.3 EFS angles

All angles are measured in integer degrees. Positive numbers indicate angles 

counterclockwise from the right, whereas negative numbers (when permitted by specific 

fields) indicate angles clockwise from the right.

Figure 7: Measurement of angles. 

8.9.7.1 Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI

See Section 8.9.7 for a general description of ROI. This mandatory field defines a

rectangle (and an optional polygon) that bounds the region of the image that contains

the [2015a>] friction ridge print of interest [<2015a]and separates it from the

background and any other prints present in the image. This field contains five

information items. Width and height are mandatory. The other items are optional.

• The first information item (width / EWI) is the integer width of the region of

interest in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm)

• The second information item (height / EHI) is the height of the region of interest in

units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third information item (horizontal offset / EHO) is the horizontal distance in

units of 10 micrometers from the left edge of the original image to the left edge of

the region of interest. This information item defaults to a value of zero if absent.

• The fourth information item (vertical offset / EVO) is the vertical distance in units

of 10 micrometers from the top edge of the original image to the top edge of the

region of interest. This information item defaults to a value of zero if absent.

• The fifth information item (ROI Polygon / ROP) contains a polygon (closed

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path) that further defines the friction ridge area under consideration within the

ROI. The format of polygons is described in Section 7.7.12. If the polygon is

defined, the ROI rectangle shall be the bounding box for the polygon. The

vertices of the polygon are relative to the ROI. [2013a>] In Traditional

encoding, the two special characters allowed are hyphen and comma.[<2013a].

See Section B.2.5 Type-9 record. These special characters are not used in XML

Encoding. For the layout of this information item, see Annex G.

8.9.7.2 Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT

This optional field allows the orientation (deviation from upright) and its uncertainty to

be specified. See Annex F, F.6.1.2 Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT instructions for

more information about this field. If this field is omitted, the direction shall default to 0

(upright) and uncertainty shall default to 15, indicating that the image is rotated 0±15°. If

orientation cannot be determined, the uncertainty value shall be set to 180. This field

contains the following two information items:

• The first information item (direction / EOD) contains the deviation of the region of

interest from upright (fingertip up) in integer degrees. Positive angles are

counterclockwise, negative angles are clockwise. A value of “0” indicates an upright

direction. Valid values range from “-179” through “180”. The allowed special

character is the negative sign.

• The second information item (uncertainty / EUC) contains the uncertainty of the

orientation direction, in non-negative integer degrees; the resulting orientation is

Direction± Uncertainty°. Valid values range from “0” to “180”.

8.9.7.3 Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP

This mandatory field shall contain one or more of the possible physical positions that

correspond to the region of interest. For example, a region of interest that includes a

finger’s medial and proximal segment can note those as multiple data entries, with

polygons to indicate the locations. For more information about this field, see Annex F

F.6.1.3 Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP instructions.

This field may contain multiple subfields to designate different friction ridge generalized

positions and/or finger segments; polygons are required in this case to delineate the

locations of the positions. Polygons may overlap if appropriate. A subfield contains the

following four information items:

•The first information item (friction ridge generalized position / FGP) which

contains the code number corresponding to the known or most probable position

shall be taken and entered as a one- or two-character value. The codes are listed

in Table 9. See Section 7.7.4.2. [2013a>] The valid codes for FGP in this field

are limited to 0 through 10 (inclusive), 16 through 18 (inclusive), 20 through 38

(inclusive) and 81 through [<2013a][2015n>] 86 (inclusive) [<2015n].

• The second information item fingerprint segment / FSM) is optional and only

applies to fingerprints in which all or part of the medial or proximal segments (lower

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joints) are present in the image, in which case the 3-character code from Table 10 is

used to indicate the finger segment position (DST, PRX, or MED). DST is Distal;

MED is Medial; and PRX is Proximal. See Figure 4: Entire joint image for an

illustration127. UNK for “Unknown” may also be specified. This information item

defaults to DST if the friction ridge generalized position / FGP indicates a

fingerprint and the Finger Segment is not specified; in which case, the impression

shall be regarded as including solely the distal segment with no substantive portions

of the medial or proximal segments. This information item shall be omitted if the

friction ridge generalized position / FGP indicates a palm or plantar.

• The third information item (off-center fingerprint / OCF) is optional and only

applies to fingerprints in which the impression does not contain the central area of

the fingerprint (i.e., the core or a center point of reference), in which case the 1-

character code from Table 43 is used to indicate the off-center position of the

fingerprint image. This information item shall be omitted if the friction ridge

generalized position / FGP indicates a palm or plantar.

• The fourth information item (segment polygon / SGP) is optional. It is a closed

path polygon that delineates the area that corresponds to the specified position /

segment. See Section 7.7.12 for details. [2013a>] In Traditional encoding, the

two special characters allowed are hyphen and comma.[<2013a]. See Section

B.2.5 Type-9 record. These special characters are not used in XML Encoding.

For the XML layout of this information item, see Annex G.

Table 43 Off-center fingerprint positions

Name Code Description

 Tip T The plain or rolled tip of the finger or thumb128

 Right Side R The right side of the finger or thumb

 Left Side L The left side of the finger or thumb

8.9.7.4 Field 9.303: EFS feature set profile / FSP

This optional numeric field is used to indicate an EFS Profile, which defines the specific

set of EFS fields incorporated in a specific ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction. Profiles can be

incorporated by reference into the definition of transactions: this decoupling of feature

sets from transactions enables different transactions to share a common feature set, aiding

in interoperability. If a given ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction is conformant with two or more

profiles, the code for each profile is entered in a separate subfield. 

[2013a>] The valid values for this field are available in the EFS Profile Specification,

NIST Special Publication 1134. See Section 3 Normative references. [<2013a]

8.9.7.5 Field 9.307: EFS pattern classification / PAT

127 [2013a>] Definitions of segments and reference to the Figure added [<2013a]

128 [2013a>] Reworded for clarity [<2013a]

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This optional field contains fingerprint classification information for the image. This field

shall only be used for fingerprints, and shall be omitted for other friction ridge

impressions. The field consists of three information items grouped together in a subfield.

For more information about this field, see Annex F F.6.2.1 Field 9.307: EFS pattern

classification / PAT instructions. There may be up to seven subfields, indicating all

possible pattern classifications.

• The first information item (general class / GCF) is the general set of pattern

classifications (arch, whorl, left & right loop) used by most current automated

systems. This is a two character value selected from Table 44.

• The second information item (subclass / SUB) is the detailed sub-classification of

arches and whorls that may optionally be provided by a human examiner or

automated system. This information item shall only be included for arches or

whorls, and only if the sub-classification can be determined precisely. This is a two

character value selected from Table 44.

• The third information item (whorl - delta relationship / WDR) may optionally be

used by a human examiner or automated system to provide the relationship between

the deltas in a whorl. This information item shall only be included for whorls if the

subclass is known, and only if the whorl delta relationship can be determined

precisely. This information item shall be set to: I (Inner), O (Outer), or M (Meeting).

Table 44 Pattern classification codes

Type Pattern Classification General

Class Subclass Whorl – DeltaRelationship

Arches

Arch, type not designated

- Plain Arch AU PA

- Tented Arch TA

Whorls

Whorl, type not designated

WU

- Plain Whorl PW I, O, or M

- Central Pocket Loop CP I, O, or M

- Double Loop DL I, O, or M

- Accidental Whorl AW I, O, or M

Loops

Right Slant Loop RS

Left Slant Loop LS

Unable to print

Amputation XX

Temporarily unable to print (e.g., bandaged) UP

Unable to classify

Unable to Classify UC

- Complete Scar SR

-Dissociated Ridges/Dysplasia DR

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8.9.7.6 Field 9.308: EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM

Local friction ridge quality (as defined in the Ridge Quality Map) is an assessment of

confidence in small local areas within an image. The local quality map is used to define

the confidence in all other features, and therefore is key information. In addition, when

the quality map indicates a high-quality region in which features are not marked, that

information can be used as “negative features” or definitive absence of features, which

can be used for exclusion.

For every cell in a grid superimposed on the Region of Interest, this optional field notes

the local ridge quality of the friction ridge detail within that cell. Local ridge quality

defines clarity in terms of the ability to discern detail in a given location. The quality of

each cell will be represented with a local quality value 0 through 5 representing the

quality of ridge detail in that cell, as specified in Table 45. If a region of interest is

defined, cells outside of the ROI polygon shall be set to a local quality value of 0 (black). 

This optional field is comprised of a repeating set of values. The number of subfields

corresponds to the number of cells in a column of the image. Each row value is encoded

as shown in Table 46. See Field 9.309: EFS ridge quality map format / RQF for the

definition of the grid size and data representation. 

Table 45 Local ridge quality codes

Name

Local

Quality

Code

Shorthand

Description Display Color

Definitive pores 5 Pores and ridge edges are 

obvious and unambiguous

Aqua

[RGB=(0,240,240)]

Definitive ridge edges,

debatable pores

4 Ridge edges, minutiae, and 

ridge flow are obvious and 

unambiguous; pores are either

debatable or not present

Blue

[RGB=(0,0,255)]

Definitive minutiae,

debatable ridge edges

3 Minutiae, and ridge flow are 

obvious and unambiguous; 

ridge edges are debatable 

Green

[RGB=(0,255,0)]

Definitive ridge flow,

debatable minutiae

2 Continuity of ridge flow is 

certain; minutiae are debatable

Yellow

[RGB=(255,255,0)]

Debatable ridge flow 1 Continuity of ridge flow is 

uncertain 

Red

[RGB=(255,0,0)]

Background 0 No ridge information Black or no color

[RGB=(0,0,0)]

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8.9.7.7 Field 9.309: EFS ridge quality map format / RQF

This optional field defines the grid size or data representation format used in Field 9.308:

EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM. Its use is mandatory if that field is present.

This field consists of two information items:

• The first information item (grid size / GSZ) shall be used to define grid

sizes (both the horizontal and vertical dimensions of a single cell in the grid):

valid settings range from “1” (0.01 mm) through “41” (0.41 mm). The

recommended grid size is 0.20mm (0.008”) – note this is 4 pixels at 500 ppi,

or 8 pixels at 1000 ppi.

• The second information item (data format / RDF) defines the format used

in Field 9.308, using the codes defined in Table 46. For all formats:

• The first cell starts at the top left corner of the Region of Interest,

with cells in order left to right.

• All of the quality values for each row are stored in one repeating

subfield.

• The subfields are ordered from top to bottom.

• If the width and/or height of the Region of Interest are not evenly

divisible by the Grid Size, partial cells shall be included at the right

and/or bottom of the ridge flow map.

Table 46 Ridge quality map data representation format options

Type Code Description

Uncompressed

(concatenated

decimal)

UNC

The values for each grid cell in the Ridge Quality Map field are single-character

integers as defined in Table 45, with one character per cell. All quality values for

one row are concatenated left to right, with one repeating subfield of Field 9.308:

EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM for each row. 

The number of characters in one repeating subfield of Field 9.308 is the same as

the number of cells in one row: the Region of Interest’s width divided by the Grid

Size, rounded up to the nearest integer.

Run-Length

Encoded RLE

The unencoded values for each entry are identical to those used in UNC format.

The numeric values for each grid cell (0-5) are then replaced with alphabetic

equivalents (A-F), and then any sequential runs of the same character are prefixed

by the decimal count of repeated characters. Individual characters are not

preceded by a count.

For example:

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (50 characters)

Is saved as “50A”

0000000000001122334555555444442210000000000000000 (50 characters)

Is saved as “12A2B2C2DE6F5E2CB16A” (20 characters)

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8.9.7.8 Field 9.310: EFS ridge flow map / RFM

This optional field contains the direction of friction ridges at sampling points throughout

the region of interest. The sampling frequency is optionally defined in Field 9.311: EFS

ridge flow map format / RFF, and otherwise defaults to 0.41 mm in uncompressed

format. The first sampling point in the image is the top left-most point in the region of

interest. The same sampling frequency is used both horizontally and vertically. Values

shall be included for all sampling points in the region of interest, even if the sampling

points are at the edge of the region of interest. For each sampling point, angles shall be

reported in integer degrees, with 0 degrees to the right (horizontal), increasing

counterclockwise to a maximum value of 179° (since 180°=0°). Undefined angles are

recorded in Field 9.311: EFS ridge flow map format / RFF. Each subfield corresponds

to one row of the map in order from top to bottom. 

The area used for determining direction (window size) may be larger or smaller than the

sampling frequency. Different window sizes may be used within a single image, at the

discretion of the implementer. For example, an implementer may choose to use a uniform

window size except in areas of high curvature, in which a smaller window size may be used.

8.9.7.9 Field 9.311: EFS ridge flow map format / RFF

This optional field permits setting the sampling frequency or data representation format

used in the Field 9.310: EFS ridge flow map / RFM to values other than the defaults. Its

use is conditional on the presence of Field 9.310. This field consists of two information

items:

• The first information item (sampling frequency / SFQ) is set by default to

0.41 mm (0.016”). This information item may be used to define higher resolution

sampling frequencies than the default: valid settings range from “1” (0.01 mm)

through “41” (0.41 mm) [2013a>], inclusive [<2013a].

• The second information item (data format / RDF) defines the format used

in the Ridge Flow Map field, as defined in Table 47. The default is the

uncompressed (“UNC”) format.

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Table 47 Ridge flow map data representation format options

Type Code Description

Uncompressed

(concatenated

hexadecimal)

UNC

Each ridge flow value is a 2-character hexadecimal value. The angles are stored

in 2-character hexadecimal representation with leading zeros, so valid values

range from “00” (0dec) to “B3” (179dec). Undefined angles: If the direction

cannot be determined at a given location, the location at that point shall be

marked as “XX”. All of the ridge flow values for a given row shall be

concatenated in order left to right and saved as a separate instance / repeating

subfield of Field 9.310: EFS ridge flow map / RFM. 

The number of characters in one repeating subfield of Field 9.310 is twice the

number of cells in one row.

base-64 B64

Each ridge flow value is a 1-character base-64 value. The angles are divided by

three to enable storing in a single base-64 character, which has the effect of

quantizing to three degrees. Undefined angles: If the direction cannot be

determined at a given location, the location at that point shall be marked as “*”

(asterisk). All of the ridge flow values for a given row shall be concatenated in

order left to right and saved as a separate instance / repeating subfield of Field

9.310. 

The number of characters in one instance of Field 9.310: EFS ridge flow map /

RFM is the number of cells in one row.

8.9.7.10Field 9.312: EFS ridge wavelength map / RWM

This optional field contains the peak-to-peak distance between ridges at various sampling

points throughout the region of interest. The sampling frequency is optionally defined in

 Field 9.313: EFS ridge wavelength map format / RWF, and otherwise defaults to 0.41

mm in uncompressed format. The first sampling point in the image is the top left-most

point. The same sampling frequency is used both horizontally and vertically. Values shall

be included for all sampling points in the image, even if the sampling points are at the

edge of the image.

For each sampling point in the Region of Interest, distances between ridge peaks, measured

perpendicular to ridge flow, shall be reported in 2-character decimal format using units of 10

micrometers (0.01 mm). The size of the area around the sampling point (window size) used

to determine measurements is left to the discretion of the implementer, and may vary within

an image. Unknown values shall be set to “XX”. Valid values are therefore “01” (0.01 mm)

through “99” (0.99 mm or greater). (In practice, the actual stored values are likely to be “30”

to “70” in most cases (0.3 – 0.7 mm). The 2-character decimal wavelength values for each

sampling point are concatenated left to right for all sampling points in a row. Each subfield

corresponds to one row of the map, in order from top to bottom. The number of characters

in one subfield is twice the number of sampling points in one row.

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8.9.7.11 Field 9.313: EFS ridge wavelength map format / RWF

This field permits setting the sampling frequency or data representation format used in

Field 9.312: EFS ridge wavelength map / RWM to values other than the defaults, and

is conditional on the presence of Field 9.312. It consists of two information items:

• The first information item (sampling frequency / FWS) is set by default

to 0.41 mm (0.016”). This information item may be used to define higher

resolution sampling frequencies than the default: valid settings range from

“1” (0.01 mm) through “41” (0.41 mm), [2013a>] inclusive. [<2013a]

• The second information item (data format / FDF) is optional. It defines the

format used in Field 9.312. The default (and currently the only setting) is the

uncompressed (“UNC”) format.

8.9.7.12 Field 9.314: EFS tonal reversal / TRV

Ridges in friction ridge images are generally represented as dark areas, with valleys as

light areas, in [2015a>]which case this field is omitted. [<2015a] This field indicates

whether the entire image is reversed tonally (black-for-white). If all or part of the image is

reversed tonally, this 1-character optional field is set to the appropriate value from Table

48. [2015a>] The Unknown code is used in the unusual cases that it cannot be determined

whether ridges or valley are represented as dark or light areas in the image. ,[<2015a]

Partial tonal inversion can occur in different ways. If definable portions of the image are

negative, Field 9.357: EFS local quality issues / LQI can be used to define the specific

tonally reversed areas.129 Note that in some cases, the tonal reversal is so mixed that only

portions of individual ridges are reversed, making it impractical or impossible to define the

tonally reversed areas.130

When this field is set, the image in the Type-13 record shall be left as it was originally

received (i.e., tonally reversed): setting this field and reversing the image when saving will

result in inconsistent data. When this field is set, a software user interface may display the

tonally corrected image, but save the image as originally received with this field set.

129 Example: very heavy pressure can leave matrix from valleys, whereas lighter pressure at the edges of the

same impression would leave matrix from ridges.

130 Example: if light powder is applied from a single direction, one edge of each ridge is light and the 

remainder dark.

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Table 48 Tonal reversal codes

Code Description

N Negative – ridges are light and valleys are dark throughout the image.

P Partial – ridges are light and valleys are dark only in portions of the image

[2015n>]

U 

Unknown [<2015n]

8.9.7.13 Field 9.315: EFS possible lateral reversal / PLR

This field indicates if the original image is or may be laterally reversed (i.e., flipped leftright). In many cases, an examiner cannot tell the correct lateral direction of the image,

such as latents on tape that has been closed on itself, or latents that may have been

transferred to the substrate/surface. If the image is or may be laterally reversed, this 1-

character optional field is set to the appropriate value from Table 49 otherwise, this field

is to be omitted. 

When this field is set to L (Image is known to be laterally reversed), the image in the

associated Type-13 record shall be left as it was originally received (i.e., laterally

reversed): setting this field and reversing the image when saving will result in

inconsistent data. When this field is set a software user interface may display the laterally

corrected image, but save the image as received with this field set.

When this field is set to U (Image may be laterally reversed), it is incumbent on the

recipient (software system or examiner) to search/compare the impression and features

both as presented and flipped left-right. 

Table 49 Lateral reversal codes

Code Description

L Image is known to be laterally reversed

U Image may be laterally reversed

8.9.7.14 Field 9.316: EFS friction ridge quality metric / FQM

This optional field specifies one or more different metrics of friction ridge quality for the

friction ridge impression corresponding to this record, as delimited by the region of

interest. Each subfield contains three information items, as described in Section 7.7.7.

8.9.7.15 Field 9.317: EFS possible growth or shrinkage / PGS

This optional field is only used in the unusual circumstance that the friction ridge

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impression is believed to have changed size or scale from potential comparisons. This

provides for handling of images from deceased subjects with desiccated skin, or with

swollen skin due to water exposure. This also provides for handling of overall growth of

subjects between capture, such as in comparing an adult’s fingerprints with those taken as

a child. In these cases the size of ridges and distances between ridges change to a greater

extent than would ordinarily be assumed in comparisons; this field acts as a flag to

indicate that greater than ordinary dimensional variation should be expected in

performing subsequent comparisons.

This field is to be omitted unless there is reason to believe that growth or shrinkage may

have occurred. This field consists of two information items:

• The first information item (type / TGS) is selected from the “Code” column

Table 50. It is one character.

• The second information item (growth or shrinkage comment / CGS)

contains optional text describing the rationale for believing that growth or

shrinkage may have occurred.

Table 50 Growth or shrinkage codes

Code Description

G

Growth: impression is believed to be dimensionally

larger than exemplars or other prints from the same

subject.

S

Shrinkage: impression is believed to be dimensionally

smaller than exemplars or other prints from the same

subject.

B

Both: impression may be dimensionally larger or smaller

than exemplars or other prints from the same subject.

8.9.7.16 Field 9.320: EFS cores / COR

A core is located at the focus of the innermost recurving ridge line of a ridge pattern: if

the ridge is viewed as a section of a circle, the core is the center of that circle; if the ridge

is viewed as an ellipse or parabola, the core is the focal point of that curve. Note that the

core is not on the innermost recurving ridgeline itself.

The direction of the core is away from the center of the curve. The core or cores of a

fingerprint are defined for all pattern classifications other than plain arches, as shown in

Table 51. Cores may be marked on tented arches if an innermost recurving ridge is

present above the delta, so that each side of the recurving ridge extends to either side of

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the delta. Plain or central pocket loop whorls will only have one core if the innermost

recurving ridge is circular, or two cores if elliptical. A circular whorl only has one core

and does not have a defined direction. Accidentals may have any number of cores.

If one or more cores are present and the feature set is from a fingerprint, Field 9.307:

EFS pattern classification / PAT should be defined. Note that this does not mean that

the classification has to be known definitively, but must at least be known to the extent of

excluding plain arches. When no cores are present, this field shall not be used. See Table

136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

For palm prints or other non-fingerprint friction ridge images, any number of core-like

patterns may be defined using this field if such structures are present. Each core is

defined in a separate subfield.

Table 51 Number of cores and deltas by pattern class

Pattern Classification Cores Deltas

Arches

- Plain Arch 0 0

- Tented Arch 0 or 1 0 or 1

Whorls

- Plain Whorl 1 or 2 2

- Central Pocket Loop 1 or 2 2

- Double Loop 2 2

- Accidental Whorl N N

Loops 1 1

Each subfield consists of the following information items:

• The first information item (‘x’ coordinate / CXC) shall be expressed in

integer units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item (‘y’ coordinate / CYC) shall be expressed in

integer units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third information item (direction / CDI) is optional. This shall be set to

the average tangent direction of the two closest ridges as measured 1.63 mm

(0.064 inches) from the focal point. This is approximately the same as the

direction of the directrix of the best fitting parabola. The direction shall be

omitted (left empty) for circular whorls, or if the direction is unknown.

• The fourth information item (radius of position uncertainty / RPU) defines

the radius of a circle centered at the location (X,Y) of the core; the circle is

sized to include the area of other possible locations of the core, if the precise

location cannot be determined (such as due to poor clarity). If the location is

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known precisely, the radius of position uncertainty may be omitted or set to

0. The radius of uncertainty is measured in integer units of 10 micrometers

(0.01 mm), and may overlap the edge of the image.

• The fifth information item (direction uncertainty / DUY) is optional. It

contains the uncertainty of the direction of the core, in non-negative integer

degrees. Valid values range from “0” to “180”: a value of “0” (default)

indicates a certain direction, while a value of “180” indicates an unknown

orientation.

Figure 8: Placement of the core at the focus of the innermost recurving ridgeline

Figure 9: Examples of core locations for a double loop whorl, plain whorl, tented arch,

and central pocket loop whorl

8.9.7.17 Field 9.321: EFS deltas / DEL

For fingerprints, one or more deltas are defined for all pattern classifications other than

plain arches, as shown in Table 52. For palm prints or other non-fingerprint friction

ridge images, any number of delta-like patterns may be defined using this field if such

structures are present. Each delta is defined in a separate subfield. For more information

about this field, see Annex F F.6.3.1 Field 9.321: EFS deltas / DEL instructions. 

When no deltas are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136: Features and

Corresponding presence fields.

Each subfield consists of the following information items:

• The first information item (‘x’ coordinate / DXC) is expressed in units of 10

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micrometers (0.01 mm) and is mandatory.

• The second information item (‘y’ coordinate / DYC) is expressed in units of

10 micrometers (0.01 mm) and is mandatory.

• The third information item (direction up / DUP) is optional and is expressed

in degrees counterclockwise from the right131. 

• The fourth information item (direction left / DLF) is optional and is

expressed in degrees counterclockwise from the right131.

• The fifth information item (direction right / DRT) is optional and is

expressed in degrees counterclockwise from the right131.

• The sixth information item (type / DTP) is optional and contains the type of

delta, as defined in Table 52.

• The seventh information item (radius of position uncertainty / RPU) is

optional. It defines the radius of a circle centered at the location (X,Y) of the

delta; the circle is sized to include the area of other possible locations of the

delta, if the precise location cannot be determined (such as due to poor

clarity). If the location is known precisely, the radius of position uncertainty

may be omitted or set to 0. The radius of uncertainty is measured in integer

units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm), and may overlap the edge of the image.

• The eighth information item (direction uncertainty up / DUU) is

optional. It contains the uncertainty of the delta angle up. Valid values

range from “0” to “180”: a value of “0” (default) indicates a certain

direction, while a value of “180” indicates an unknown orientation.

• The ninth information item (direction uncertainty left / DUL) is optional.

It contains the uncertainty of the delta angle up. Valid values range from

“0” to “180”: a value of “0” (default) indicates a certain direction, while a

value of “180” indicates an unknown orientation.

• The tenth information item (direction uncertainty right / DUR) is

optional. It contains the uncertainty of the delta angle up. Valid values

range from “0” to “180”: a value of “0” (default) indicates a certain

direction, while a value of “180” indicates an unknown orientation.

131 The three angles shall be reported in order by increasing angle, which for fingerprint deltas with

known orientation will result in the order up, left, then right. These three information items may be

omitted (left empty).

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Table 52 EFS delta codes

Applies to Code Name Description

Fingerprint L Left fingerprint delta

The delta to the left of the image for whorls

or right loops. For accidentals with more

than two deltas, this indicates the leftmost

delta.

Fingerprint R Right fingerprint delta

The delta to the right of the image for

whorls or left loops. For accidentals with

more than two deltas, this indicates the

rightmost delta.

Palm

I00

I02..I05

I07..I10

I16

I17

Interdigital delta (with

finger number)

The deltas at the base of the fingers in the

interdigital areas. The finger number shall

be noted if known (2 to 5, 7 to 10, or 16 or

17, selected from Table 9 Friction ridge

position code & recommended image

dimensions), else set to 0. Note that

thumbs do not have interdigital deltas.

Palm C Carpal delta The delta at the base of the palm where the

thenar and hypothenar meet.

Fingerprint, Palm, or Foot <NULL>132Other delta Any other delta or delta-like structure in a

friction ridge impression.

8.9.7.18 Field 9.322: EFS core delta ridge counts / CDR

This field contains the count of intervening ridges between each core and delta. Each

ridge count has a minimum and maximum value, so that a range may be noted. If the

exact value is known, then that value should be put in the minimum and maximum fields.

If only a minimum is known, such as when a delta is not visible, the maximum value

shall be omitted. Ridge counts may be any non-negative integer. When this field is used

for fingerprints, ridge counts shall be provided between each core and each delta, unless

there are more than two cores or two deltas in an accidental whorl, in which case only the

leftmost and rightmost of the cores and deltas need be used for ridge counts. Each

subfield represents a distinct core-delta ridge count. Each subfield consists of four

information items:

• The first information item (core index / CIX) is the (1-based) index of the

core corresponding to this count (“1” if only one core is defined). If the

relevant core is not defined, this shall be set to “U” to indicate an upper

core or “L” to indicate a lower core (whorls only), permitting minimum

ridge counts when cores are not in the region of interest.

132 [2013a>] This means that there is no value. It does not mean a space. [<2013a] 

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• The second information item (delta index / DIX) is the (1-based) index of

the delta corresponding to this count (“1” if only one delta is defined). If

the relevant delta is not defined, this shall be set to “L” to indicate a left

delta or “R” to indicate a right delta, permitting minimum ridge counts

when deltas are not in the region of interest.

• The third information item (minimum ridge count / MNRC) contains the

precise ridge count, if it is known; otherwise, it contains the minimum of

the range of ridge count values.

• The fourth information item (maximum ridge count / MXRC) contains

the precise ridge count (if the count is known precisely), or the maximum

range of ridge count values (if there is a known or estimated maximum);

otherwise, it shall be omitted.

8.9.7.19 Field 9.323: EFS center point of reference / CPR

This field contains the location of a center point of reference of a friction ridge print,

which may be used to define how centered a print is, as a feature, for registration or

orientation, and for quality measurements. While the core may serve some of the same

purposes, a center point of reference is defined for arches and provides a single center

location for complex whorls, unlike cores. For more information about this field see

ANNEX F F.6.3.2 Field 9.323: EFS center point of reference / CPR instructions. 

The center point of reference is the sole EFS feature that can be located outside of the

EFS region of interest. For example, this allows the estimated center of the finger to be

marked even for an extreme side. The origin of CPR, like all other EFS features, is

relative to the top left of Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI. Note that this

means that the X and Y values for CPR are the only EFS coordinates that may be

negative, or greater than the ROI width or height. The center point of reference must be

within the bounds of the overall image itself. Thus the allowed special character is the

negative sign.

The location of a center point of reference can be determined using different algorithms,

as stored in the Method information item, in which case different center points of

reference may be stored in different data entries (repeating subfield). The center point of

reference is defined for fingerprints or toe prints, not for other types of friction ridge

images. This field consists of the following information items:

• The first information item (method / CPM) is the method of determining

the X, Y location, selected from the “Code” column of Table 53. It is a

one character value.

• The second information item (‘x’ coordinate / PXC) is in units of 10

micrometers (0.01 mm)

• The third information item (‘y’ coordinate / PYC) is in units of 10

micrometers (0.01 mm)

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• The fourth information item (radius of position uncertainty / CRU) is

optional. The radius of position uncertainty is 0 (default) if the location is

known precisely; otherwise the position is marked at the best estimate of

position, with a radius including the area of other possible locations, in

integer units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm). The radius of uncertainty may

overlap the edge of the image.

Table 53 EFS methods of determining center point of reference locations

Name Code Description

Lateral center only L

The center location is defined laterally (across the finger) but is not

meaningful in the other dimension (longitudinally, or along the finger),

such as for defining the center line of arches, tips, and lower joints. Lateral

center is only meaningful if the orientation (Field 9.301: EFS

orientation / ORT) is known; the point marked is the center with respect

to the orientation angle.

Uppermost point of the ridge

with greatest curvature 0

For a fingerprint with a known or estimated orientation, the center point is

determined by finding the highest point of each ridge that is convex and

pointing upward, and measuring the curvature/peak angle by following the

ridge 1.63 mm (0.064 in) in both directions from that point. The point with

the minimum angle (greatest curvature) is the center point of reference.

Overall fingerprint focal

point 1

The overall fingerprint focal point is the point where the lines

perpendicular to ridge flow converge. 

Human estimate of finger

center

H

Human estimation of the approximate center of distal fingerprint pad, used

when methods 0133 or 1 are not practical.

8.9.7.20 Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS

This field is used to define one or more areas containing unusually discriminating

features that are not fully defined using other Extended Friction Ridge features. The

characteristics noted in this field are specific to the friction skin itself, as opposed to

issues specific to the impression (such as smudging) that are noted in Field 9.357: EFS

local quality issues / LQI. 

When no distinctive features are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136:

Features and Corresponding presence fields.

This field consists of three information items:

• The first information item (type / DIT) is selected from the “Code”

column of Table 54.

• The second information item (distinctive features polygon / DFP) is

133 [2013e>] typographical error corrected [<2013e]

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optional. It is a closed path polygon that outlines the area of the

distinctive feature. See Section 7.7.12. [2013a>] In Traditional

encoding, the two special characters allowed are hyphen and comma.

[<2013a]. See Section B.2.5 Type-9 record. These special characters are

not used in XML Encoding. For the XML layout of this information

item, see Annex G.

• The third information item (distinctive features comment / DFC) shall

contain optional text describing the feature. It is a maximum of 1000

characters.

Table 54 EFS types of distinctive features

Code Description

 SCAR Scar

 WART Wart or blister

 MINGROUP Unusual group or cluster of minutiae

 CORE Unusually distinctive core area

 DELTA Unusually distinctive delta area

 MINUTIA Unusually shaped minutia

 CREASE Unusually distinctive crease

 CLEAR Large clear field of ridges; large clear area with no minutiae

 DYSPLASIA Dissociated ridges / Dysplasia

 OTHERFEAT Other unusual features not characterized elsewhere; details should be noted in comments

8.9.7.21 Field 9.325: EFS no cores present / NCOR134

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

cores could be discerned in the image. If the analysis process has determined that no

cores could be discerned in the image, this field shall be set to Y; otherwise, this field

will be omitted. See Table 136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.22 Field 9.326: EFS no deltas present / NDEL134

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

deltas could be discerned in the image. If the analysis process has determined that no

deltas could be discerned in the image, this field shall be set to Y; otherwise, this field

134[2015a>] NIEM requires that anything that is an 'indicator' shall be Boolean. Thus, in

NIEM-conformant encoding this has a value of 'true' or '1'. Therefore the maximum

character count becomes 4 and the type becomes AN for NIEM-conformant XML

encoding. [<2015a]

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will be omitted. See Table 136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.23 Field 9.327: EFS no distinctive features present / NDIS134

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

distinctive features could be discerned in the image. If the analysis process has

determined that no distinctive features could be discerned in the image, this field shall be

set to Y; otherwise, this field will be omitted. See Table 136: Features and

Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.24 Field 9.331: EFS minutiae / MIN

Detailed instructions concerning this field are in Annex F F.6.4.1 Field 9.331: EFS

minutiae / MIN instructions. The type of minutiae shall be marked if clearly identifiable

as a ridge ending or bifurcation; otherwise, it shall be marked as unknown type. The

location for a bifurcation shall be at the “Y” of the ridge, with the direction running down

the valley. The location for a ridge ending or unknown type shall be at the “Y” of the

valley, with the direction running up the ridge. If the precise location for a ridge ending

cannot be ascertained, a radius of uncertainty shall be marked to include the area of

possible locations. If the type is unknown, the radius of uncertainty shall be indicated.

When no minutiae are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136: Features and

Corresponding presence fields.

This field consists of multiple subfields, each consisting of six information items:

• The first information item ('x' coordinate / MXC) is expressed in units of

10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item ('y' coordinate / MYC) is expressed in units

of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third information item (theta / MTD) is expressed in degrees 

[2013a>] in the range 0 to 359. If MDU is set to 180, MTD is undefined 

and should not be displayed to the user.[<2013a].

• The fourth information item (type / MTY) is selected from the “Code”

column of Table 55.

• The fifth information item (radius of position uncertainty / MRU)

defines the radius of a circle centered at the location (X,Y) of the minutia.

• The sixth information item ([2015a>] minutiae [<2015a] direction

uncertainty / MDU) contains an integer from “0” (default) to “180”

indicating the precision in the direction (theta) of the minutia, measured

in degrees. The resulting direction is Theta±Uncertainty°. [2013a>] If

MDU is set to 180, MTD is undefined and should not be displayed to the

user. [<2013a]

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Table 55 EFS codes for minutia types

Code Description 

E Ridge ending 

B Ridge bifurcation 

X Ridge ending or bifurcation, no distinction provided

8.9.7.25 Field 9.332: EFS minutiae ridge count algorithm / MRA

This optional field defines the algorithm used in determining how neighboring minutiae 

are selected for use in the ridge counts in Field 9.333: EFS minutiae ridge counts / 

MRC. The value for this field shall be selected from the “Code” column of Table 56.

Table 56 EFS codes for minutiae ridge count algorithms

Code Description 

OCTANT

The minutiae used for ridge counts are the nearest neighbors in eight

octants, with the center of the 0th octant defined by the current minutia’s

theta, and the 1st through 7th octants proceeding counter clockwise. Ridge

count values are set to number of intervening ridges. (Default)

EFTS7

Identical to OCTANT algorithm, except that ridge count values are one

more than the number of intervening ridges. This was the format used by

the FBI in its EFTS Version 7.1

QUADRANT

The minutiae used for ridge counts are the nearest neighbors in four

quadrants, defined by the image's vertical and horizontal axes. The

quadrants, with the 1st quadrant at the upper right and the 2nd through 4th

quadrants proceeding counterclockwise. Ridge count values are set to the

number of intervening ridges.

8.9.7.26 Field 9.333: EFS minutiae ridge counts / MRC

This field contains the counts of intervening ridges between specified minutiae. Field

9.332: EFS minutiae ridge count algorithm / MRA governs how the minutiae are

selected for ridge counts, and the details of how the ridges are counted. Each ridge count

is represented in a separate subfield. 

 Field 9.335: EFS minutiae ridge count confidence / RCC may be used to indicate ridge

count confidence between minutiae. If Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM is

used, ridge counts can be derived from that field rather than included explicitly. 

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Each subfield consists of five information items:

• The first information item (minutia index A / MIA) contains the (1-

based)135 index of the first minutia.

• The second information item (minutia index B / MIB) contains the (1-

based)135 index of the second minutia.

• The third information item (ridge count / MIR) contains the number of

intervening ridges between minutiae A and B. Unknown ridge counts shall

be omitted (left empty). The Field 9.332: EFS minutiae ridge count

algorithm / MRA governs other details or special cases (if any).

• The fourth information item (reference number / MRN) is optional and,

if used, contains a reference number specific to the ridge count algorithm.

For the OCTANT and EFTS7 ridge count algorithms, this information

item specifies the octant. For the QUADRANT ridge count algorithm, this

information item specifies the quadrant.

• The fifth information item (residual / MRS) is optional and is specific to

the OCTANT and EFTS7 ridge count algorithms, specifying the half of

the octant in which the neighboring minutia lies. The residual is 0 if the

neighboring minutia lies in the clockwise half of the octant, or 1 if the

minutia lies in the counterclockwise half of the octant.

8.9.7.27 Field 9.334: EFS no minutiae present / NMIN

This optional field indicates whether the analysis determined that no minutiae could be

discerned in the image. If the analysis process has determined that no minutiae could be

discerned in the image, this field shall be set to Y; otherwise, this field will be omitted.

See Table 136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.28 Field 9.335: EFS minutiae ridge count confidence / RCC

This field is optional if Field 9.333: EFS minutiae ridge counts / MRC appears in the

record136 [2015a>] and shall not otherwise be included. [<2015a]. It is used to indicate

confidence in intervening ridge counts between any two points. Each ridge count

confidence value is represented in a separate data entry (repeating subfield). While

primarily used to indicate ridge count confidence between minutiae, this confidence

measure may also apply to other features such as Core/Delta ridge counts. If this field is

not used, the default assumption is that the ridge counts were manually determined.

This field provides a means to state when only a portion of ridge counts have been

manually checked. This field consists of six information items:

135 [2013a>] Text added for clarity [<2013a]

136 [2013a>] clarification of when the field can appear, even though it is optional [<2013a]

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• The first information item (ax / ACX) contains the x coordinates for Point

A, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item (ay / ACY) contains the y coordinates for

Point A, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third information item (bx / BCX) contains the x coordinates for Point

B, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fourth information item (by / BCY) contains the y coordinates for

Point B, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fifth information item (method of ridge counting / MORC) states

the method by which ridge counts were determined and / or validated. The

value is selected from Table 57. 

• The sixth information item (confidence value / MCV) contains the integer

confidence value for a ridge count from 0 to 99, with 0 indicating no

confidence.

Table 57 EFS codes for methods of ridge counting

Definition Value Description

Auto A

The ridge count was automatically

performed without human review.

Manual Tracing T

The ridge count was automatically

determined, based on a skeletonized

image created by a human examiner.

Manual Ridge Count M

The ridge count was determined or

validated manually by a human

examiner.

8.9.7.29 Field 9.340: EFS dots / DOT

A dot is a single or partial ridge unit that is shorter than local ridge width. Longer ridge

units are considered standard ridges and should be marked as such, with two ridge

endings. Potential dots that are substantially thinner than local ridge width should be

marked as incipient ridges. A dot is marked by its center point. Elongated dots may

optionally have their length marked along the longest dimension. 

When no dots are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136: Features and

Corresponding presence fields.

This field consists of a repeating subfield (one for each dot) with the following three

information items:

• The first information item (dot ‘x’ coordinate / DOX) is the x coordinate

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of the center of the dot, expressed in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item (dot ‘y’ coordinate / DOY) is the y

coordinate of the center of the dot, expressed in units of 10 micrometers

(0.01 mm).

• The third information item (dot length / DOL) is an optional information

item containing the length of the dot along its longest dimension in integer

units of 10 micrometers.

8.9.7.30 Field 9.341: EFS incipient ridges / INR

An incipient ridge is a thin ridge, substantially thinner than local ridge width. An

incipient is marked as one or more line segments, each defined with the (X, Y) endpoints

along its longest dimension. 

[2013a>] An incipient ridge is marked with a line segment along its longest dimension.

If the incipient is composed of a series of segments:

• Mark the incipient ridge as a single line when the segments of the incipient

are close together or the separations between segments are indistinct.

• Mark the incipient ridge segments individually when they are clearly

separate, with distinct lines drawn for each one.

• Mark the incipient ridge as a series of adjoining, unbroken line segments

when it curves. [<2013a]137

When no incipient ridges are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136:

Features and Corresponding presence fields.

This field consists of a subfield for each segment of an incipient ridge, each with four

information items:

• The first information item (x1 / X1C) contains the ‘x’ coordinate of one

endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item (y1 / Y1C) contains the ‘y’ coordinate of one

endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third information item (x2 / X2C) contains the ‘x’ coordinate of the

other endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fourth information item (y2 / Y2C) contains the ‘y’ coordinate of the

other endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

8.9.7.31 Field 9.342: EFS creases and linear discontinuities / CLD

This optional field defines the permanent flexion creases (shown in Figure 10), as well

as linear discontinuities (minor creases, cracks, cuts, and thin or non-permanent scars). If

137 [2013a>] Detailed clarification added.[<2013a]

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a continuous discontinuity curves, it should be marked as a series of adjoining line

segments. If a crease is feathered or composed of a series of crisscross creases, each of

the short creases shall be marked separately. 

When no creases or linear discontinuities are present, this field shall not be used. See

Table 136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

Each segment of a crease or linear discontinuity is represented as a separate subfield

consisting of five information items:

• The first information item (dx1 / X1D) shall contain the ‘x’ coordinate of

one endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item (dy1 / Y1D) shall contain the ‘y’ coordinate

of one endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third information item (dx2 / X2D) shall contain the ‘x’ coordinate of

the other endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fourth information item (dy2 / Y2D) shall contain the ‘y’ coordinate

of the other endpoint, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fifth information item (type / TPD) shall be noted using the codes

from Table 58138 [2015n] for permanent flexion creases, but is omitted

for linear discontinuites.[<2015n]

[2015a>] TPD may be set to RLC, PTC, DTC, WC or DPC only if any instances of

Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP finger – palm – plantar

positon / FPP indicates a palm (values 20-38, 81-86). TPD may be set to DIP, PIP or

PDC only if any instances of FPP indicate a finger (values 0-10, 16,17). [<2015]

138 For fingerprints, the only permanent flexion crease is the DIP (the distal inter-phalangeal crease

separating the distal and medial segments of the finger, or between the proximal and distal segments of the

thumb); all other permanent flexion creases relate to the palms or lower finger joints. For a feathered

crease, multiple line segments may all share the same flexion crease label.

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Table 58 EFS codes for permanent flexion creases

Name Code Location

Distal interphalangeal crease DIP Finger between medial and distal segments, or Thumb

between proximal and distal segments

Proximal interphalangeal crease PIP Finger between proximal and medial segments

Proximal digital crease

PDC00 – PDC10

PDC16, PDC17

Finger or Thumb at Palm. The 2-digit position code for the

relevant finger, selected from Table 9 is appended to the

string PDC (e.g., PDC01-PDC10, PDC16, PDC17) The

fingerprint position code is 00 if the finger position cannot be

determined.

Radial longitudinal crease

(Also known as bottom crease)

RLC Palm around base of thumb (thenar)

Proximal transverse crease

(Also known as middle crease)

PTC Diagonal across palm

Distal transverse crease

(Also known as top crease)

DTC Palm at base of interdigital area

Wrist crease (also known as wrist

bracelet) WC Wrist

Figure 10: EFS locations of major flexion creases

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8.9.7.32 Field 9.343: EFS ridge edge features / REF

Ridge edge features include Protrusions (abrupt increases in ridge width), Indentations

(abrupt decreases in ridge width), and Discontinuities (points where a ridge stops briefly).

For more information about ridge edge features, see Annex F F.6.5.1 Field 9.343: EFS

ridge edge features / REF instructions.

When no ridge edges are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136: Features

and Corresponding presence fields.

Each ridge edge feature is represented as a separate subfield consisting of three

information items:

• The first information item (x coordinate / CLX) contains the ‘x’

coordinate of the center of the feature, in units of 10 micrometers (10 μm =

0.01 mm).

• The second information item (y coordinate / CLY) contains the ‘y’

coordinate of the center of the feature, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01

mm).

• The third information item (type / CLT) states the type of feature: 

P (Protrusion), I (Indentation), or D (Discontinuity).

8.9.7.33 Field 9.344: EFS no pores present / NPOR

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that

no pores ( Field 9.345: EFS pores / POR) could be discerned in the image. If the

analysis process has determined that no [2013e>] pores [<2013e] could be discerned in

the image, this field shall be set to Y; otherwise, this field will be omitted. See Table

136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.34 Field 9.345: EFS pores / POR

Each pore is marked by its center point.

When no pores are present, this field shall not be used. See Table 136: Features and

Corresponding presence fields.

Each pore is represented as a separate repeating subfield consisting of two information

items:

• The first information item (x coordinate / POX) contains the ‘x’

coordinate of the center of the pore, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The second information item (y coordinate / POY) contains the ‘y’

coordinate of the center of the pore, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

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8.9.7.35 Field 9.346: EFS no dots present / NDOT

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

dots are present. If the analysis process has determined that no dots could be discerned in

the image, this field shall be set to Y; otherwise, this field will be omitted. See Table

136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.36 Field 9.347: EFS no incipient ridges present / NINR

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

incipient ridges could be discerned in the image. If the analysis process has determined

that no incipient ridges could be discerned in the image, this field shall be set to Y;

otherwise, this field will be omitted. See Table 136: Features and Corresponding

presence fields.

8.9.7.37 Field 9.348: EFS no creases or linear discontinuities present / NCLD

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

creases could be discerned in the image. If the analysis process has determined that no

creases could be discerned in the image, this field shall be set to Y; otherwise, this field

will be omitted. See Table 136: Features and Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.38 Field 9.349: EFS no ridge edge features present / NREF

This optional field is used to indicate whether the analysis process has determined that no

ridge edge features could be discerned in the image. If the analysis process has

determined that no ridge edge features could be discerned in the image, this field shall be

set to Y; otherwise, this field will be omitted. See Table 136: Features and

Corresponding presence fields.

8.9.7.39 Field 9.350: EFS method of feature detection / MFD

This optional field states the method(s) by which the Extended Friction Ridge features

were detected and/or edited. Each time fields are created or modified, the date and name

of the automated algorithm or human examiner is noted in a new data entry (repeating

subfield).139 This field consists of nine information items, of which the first two are

mandatory.

• The first information item (field / FIE) indicates which fields correspond

to the method noted: it shall contain a single field (e.g., “9.331”), a

comma-separated list of fields without spaces (e.g., “9.340,9.341,9.343”),

or “ALL”. The allowed special characters are the comma and the period.

• The second information item (method / FME) shall state the method by

which the print features were detected and encoded, using the values from

139 When features are created or edited on multiple occasions, the new data entries should be added to this

field without deleting the original data entries. For example, if minutiae are manually encoded by an

examiner, then subsequently a second examiner modifies the minutiae, there would be two “MAN” entries

for Field 9.331: EFS minutiae / MIN.

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the “Code” column of Table 59.

• The third information item (algorithm vendor / FAV) should identify the

vendor of the encoding algorithm if the method is not “MAN”. 

• The fourth information item (algorithm / FAL) should identify the

algorithm by name and version for methods other than “MAN”.

• The fifth information item (examiner surname / ESN) should contain the

surname (last name) of the print examiner, for methods other than

“AUTO”.

• The sixth information item (examiner given name / EGN) should contain

the first name (given name, or first and middle names) of the print

examiner for methods other than “AUTO.”

• The seventh information item (examiner affiliation / EAF) should

contain the employer or organizational affiliation of the examiner, for

methods other than “AUTO”.

• The eighth information item (date and time / EMT) should contain the

date and time that the determination was made, using Greenwich Mean

Time (GMT). See Section 7.7.2.2. 

• The ninth information item (notes / NTS) is an optional item that may

contain text with additional information regarding the detection or

modification of features.

Table 59 EFS codes for methods of feature detection

Code Usage

AUTO

The features were detected and encoded by an automated process without any

possibility of human editing. The algorithm shall be noted in the appropriate

information item.

REV

The features were detected and encoded by an automated process, and manually

reviewed without the need for manual editing. The algorithm and examiner’s name

shall be noted in the appropriate information items.

EDIT

The features were detected and encoded by an automated process, but manually

edited. The algorithm and examiner’s name shall be noted in the appropriate

information items.

MAN The features were manually detected and encoded. The examiner’s name shall be

noted in the appropriate information item.

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8.9.7.40 Field 9.351: EFS comments / COM

This optional text field contains additional information not noted in other fields. This may

include unformatted text information such as location, background information, or

descriptive information. If comments need to be made about specific portions of the

impression, use Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS or Field 9.332: EFS

minutiae ridge count algorithm / MRA.

8.9.7.41 Field 9.352: EFS latent processing method / LPM

This optional text field contains one or more three-letter codes140 from Table 60

indicating the technique(s) used to process the latent print. This field is only used for

latent images. Unprocessed impressions (latent images visible to the naked eye) shall be

labeled VIS. Multiple methods should be marked by separate subfields. Methods should

only be marked if they contributed substantively to the visualization of the image, and

shall not be a compilation of all methods attempted. 

8.9.7.42 Field 9.353: EFS examiner analysis assessment / EAA

This optional text field indicates an examiner’s assessment of the value of the single

impression delineated by Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI. See also Field

9.362: EFS examiner comparison determination / ECD for comparison

determinations. This field consists of seven information items, of which the first five are

mandatory:

• The first information item (value assessment code / AAV) indicates the

value of the impression, from Table 61.

• The second information item (examiner last name / ALN) shall contain

the surname (last name) of the print examiner.

• The third information item (examiner first name / AFN) shall contain the

first name (given name, or first and middle names) of the print examiner.

• The fourth information item (examiner affiliation / AAF) shall contain

the employer or organizational affiliation of the examiner. 

• The fifth information item (date and time / AMT) shall contain the date

and time that the determination was made, using Greenwich Mean Time

(GMT). See Section 7.7.2.2.

• The sixth information item is optional (comment / ACM), and contains

additional clarifying information for the examiner analysis assessment.

140 [2013e>] Text corrected to correspond to Table 42 Type-9 Fields for EFS occurrence maximum for

this field [<2013e]

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• The seventh information item is optional (analysis complexity flag /

CXF). It is only used when the examiner determines that the analysis was

complex as defined in Standards for examining friction ridge impressions

and resulting conclusions. (See Normative references) In that case, an

entry of “COMPLEX” is made. This decision is based on the available

quality of features, low specificity of features, significant distortion, or

disagreement among examiners. This information item is included for use

in quality assurance / quality control processes.

8.9.7.43 Field 9.354: EFS evidence of fraud / EOF

This text field indicates that there is basis for determination that the image may be 

fraudulent. This field consists of two information items:

• The first information item (type of fraud / FRA) indicates the potential

type of fraud attempted as determined from the impression, using the

values in the “Code” column from Table 62.

• The second information item (comment / CFD) is optional. It contains

text that provides clarifying information regarding the assessment of

potential evidence of fraud.

8.9.7.44 Field 9.355: EFS latent substrate / LSB

This field is used to define the substrate, or surface on which the friction ridge impression

was deposited. If multiple substrates are present, they are represented by separate 

subfields consisting of the following information items:

• The first information item (code / CLS) indicates the type of substrate,

from the Code column of Table 63.

• The second information item (object or substrate description / OSD) is

optional and may contain text that describes the object or surface on which

the print was deposited, or provides clarifying information regarding the

substrate. An example is “Neck of green glass beer bottle”.

8.9.7.45 Field 9.356: EFS latent matrix / LMT

This field is used to define the matrix, or substance deposited by the finger that forms

the impression. Each latent matrix is represented by a separate data entry (repeating

subfield). This field consists of two information items:

• The first information item is mandatory and indicates the type of matrix /

TOM, from the Code column of Table 64. All visible contaminants are

apparent rather than necessarily known to certainty: for example, the

substrate may be marked as blood if it appears to be blood; if known for

certain that should be indicated as a comment.

• The second information item (comment / CLA) is optional and may

contain text that provides clarifying information regarding the matrix.

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Table 60 EFS codes for methods of latent processing

Code Processing Method Code Processing Method

12I 1,2 Indanedione LIQ Liquinox

ADX Ardrox LQD Liquid-drox

ALS Alternate light source141 MBD 7-p-methoxybenzylanimo-4-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1, 3-

diazole

AMB Amido black MBP Magnetic black powder

AY7 Acid yellow 7 MGP Magnetic grey powder

BAR Basic red 26 MPD Modified physical developer

BLE Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) MRM Maxillon flavine 10gff, Rhodamine 6g, and MBD

BLP Black powder NIN Ninhydrin

BPA Black powder alternative (for 

tape) OTH Other

BRY Brilliant yellow (basic yellow 

40) PDV Physical developer

CBB Coomassie brilliant blue R6G Rhodamine 6G

CDS Crowle’s double stain RAM Cyanoacrylate fluorescent dye (Rhodamine 6G, 

Ardrox, MBD)

COG Colloidal gold RUV142 Reflective ultra-violet imaging system (RUVIS)

DAB Diaminobenzidine SAO Safranin O

DFO 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one SDB Sudan black

FLP Fluorescent powder SGF Superglue fuming (cyanoacrylate)

GEN Genipin SPR Small particle reagent

GRP Gray powder SSP Stickyside powder

GTV Gentian violet SVN Silver nitrate

HCA Hydrochloric acid fuming TEC Theonyl Europiom Chelate 

IOD Iodine fuming TID Titanium dioxide

ISR Iodine spray reagent VIS Visual (latent image, not processed by other 

means)

LAS Laser WHP White powder

LCV Leucocrystal violet ZIC Zinc chloride

141 [2013n>] This is an unknown type of light source. Use LAS or RUV when source is known.

[<2013n]

142 [2013n>] New in the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Table 61 EFS codes for value assessments

Code Usage

 VALUE

The impression is of value and is appropriate for further analysis 

and potential comparison. Sufficient details exist to render an 

individualization and/or exclusion decision.

 LIMITED The impression is of limited, marginal, value. It is not of value for 

individualization, but may be appropriate for exclusion.

 NOVALUE The impression is of no value, is not appropriate for further 

analysis, and has no use for potential comparison.

 NONPRINT The image is not a friction ridge impression.

Table 62 EFS codes for fraud type assessments

Name Code Usage

Evidence of evasion EVA

Evasion includes actions that prevent/lessen the

likelihood of matching such as by degrading or

obscuring physical characteristics or mutilating fingers.

Evidence of spoofing SPO

Spoofing includes purposefully attempting to be

identified as a different person in a biometric system;

techniques include modifying biological characteristics

and using fabricated characteristics.

Evidence of forged evidence FOR

Forged evidence is forensic evidence that was

fraudulently placed on the surface from which it was

collected, using another mechanism or device than the

natural contact with friction ridge skin.

Evidence of fabricated evidence FAB

Fabricated evidence is forensic evidence that never

existed on the surface from which it was supposedly

collected.

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Table 63 EFS codes for types of latent substrates

Category Code Description

Porous

Substrate

1A Paper

1B Cardboard

1C Unfinished/raw wood

1D Other/unknown porous substrate

Nonporous

Substrate

2A Plastic

2B Glass

2C Metal, painted

2D Metal, unpainted

2E Glossy painted surface

2F Tape, adhesive side

2G Tape, nonadhesive side

2H Aluminum foil

2I Other/unknown nonporous substrate

Semi-porous

Substrate

3A Rubber or latex

3B Leather

3C Photograph, emulsion side

3D Photograph, paper side

3E Glossy or semi-glossy paper or cardboard

3F Satin or flat finish painted surface

3G Other/unknown semi-porous substrate

Other /

Unknown

Substrate

4A Other substrate (Specify)

4B Unknown substrate

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Table 64 EFS codes for types of latent matrices

Code Description

1

Natural perspiration and/or body oils

(eccrine and/or sebaceous)

 2-7: Visible contaminants:

2 Blood

3 Paint

4 Ink

5 Oil or grease

6 Dirt or soil

7 Other visible contaminants

8 Impression in pliable material

9 Contaminant removal via touch

10 Other/unknown matrix

8.9.7.46 Field 9.357: EFS local quality issues / LQI

This optional field is used to define one or more areas containing quality or transfer

issues that indicate that the anatomical friction ridge features may not have been

accurately represented in the image. Each area with local quality issues is represented as

a separate repeating subfield. The problems noted in this field apply to the specific

impression under consideration; anatomical features of the friction skin itself (such as

scars) are noted in ( Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS). Each subfield consists

of three information items:

• The first information item (type / LQT) is the type of quality issue,

selected from the “Code” column of Table 65.

• The second information item (polygon / LQP) is a closed path outlining

the area of the quality issue. See Section 7.7.12. [2013a>] In Traditional

encoding, the two special characters allowed are hyphen and comma.

[<2013a]. See Section B.2.5 Type-9 record. These special characters are

not used in XML Encoding. For the XML layout of this information

item, see Annex G.

• The third information item (comment / LQC) is optional and may contain

text describing the quality issue.

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Table 65 EFS codes of quality issue types

Code Description

ARTIFACT Digital artifacts, such as occasionally caused by compression or

livescan devices.

BACKGROUND Interference with background makes following ridges difficult

(e.g., check patterns)

COMPRESSED Distorted area in which ridges are compressed together 

DISTORT Miscellaneous distortion (See also Compressed and Stretched)

NEGATIVE

Used if only a portion of the friction ridge image is tonally

reversed (has ridges and valleys inverted so that ridges appear

white and valleys appear black). Note that Field 9.314 Tonal

Reversal (TRV) is used if the entire image is tonally reversed.

OVERDEV Overdeveloped area: excessive processing medium such as ink,

powder, etc.

OVERLAP Area in which another friction ridge impression is superimposed

over the impression of interest

SMEAR Smeared or smudged area

STRETCHED Distorted area in which ridges are stretched apart from each other

TAPE Lifting tape artifacts (crease, bubble, etc.)

OTHER Other quality issues not characterized elsewhere; details should

be noted in Comments

8.9.7.47 Field 9.360: EFS area of correspondence / AOC

This field is to be used only when two or more images contained in a single ANSI/NISTITL transaction are compared as candidates for individualization (potential mates). The

area of correspondence is a polygon enclosing the region of usable ridge detail present in

both images being compared. If the corresponding areas are discontinuous, more than one

area of correspondence may be defined for a pair of images, each in a separate subfield.

One Type-9 record may have multiple AOCs defined that correspond to different

images, as shown in Figure 11, each in a separate repeating subfield. Figure 11 shows

the interrelationships of the IDCs and AOCs for three different Type-9 records in a

single transaction. 

Note that the AOC in a given Type-9 record contains an IDC reference for one or more

other Type-9 record in a transaction. For example, a latent could have areas of

correspondence with both the rolled and plain exemplars from one subject, or a latent

could have areas of correspondence with candidate exemplars from two different

subjects. If two prints overlap but neither encloses the area of the other (such as shown in

Figure 11, the AOC shall be marked for both prints. If the area of a small print is

completely enclosed by the area of a larger print so that the AOC for the small print is

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identical to the ROI, the AOC may be omitted for the smaller print. 

Each subfield consists of 3 information items:

• The first information item (corresponding IDC reference / CIR)

indicates the IDC for the target image / Type-9 record for a given AOC.

See Section 7.3.1.

143

• The second information item (corresponding polygon / AOP) defines 

the outline of the corresponding area. It is a closed path. See Section

7.7.12.1 for a description of how to enter this information item. [2013a>]

In Traditional encoding, the two special characters allowed are hyphen 

and comma.[<2013a]. See Section B.2.5 Type-9 record. These special 

characters are not used in XML Encoding. For the XML layout of this 

information item, see Annex G.

• The third information item (corresponding area comment / CAC) is

optional and allows a free text comment or description related to the AOC.

Figure 11 EFS IDC references in areas of correspondence for more than 2 images

8.9.7.48 Field 9.361: EFS corresponding points or features / CPF

This optional field is used to label points or features for comparison of the current feature

set with other Type-9 feature sets in a transaction, as shown in Figure 12, which shows

the interrelationships of the CPF labels for three different Type-9 records in a single

transaction. This field is to be used only when two or more images contained in a single

transaction are compared, either as candidates for individualization (potential mates), or

for annotating reasons for exclusion. For more information about the field, see Annex F

143 Figure 11 shows examples of the use of IDC references in Corresponding Regions of Interest. The first 

image (IDC = 01) has a single AOC, corresponding to the second image, so CIR =02; the second image 

(IDC = 02) has AOCs corresponding to each of the other images, having IDC = 01 and IDC = 03; the third

image (IDC - 03) has a single AOC, corresponding to the second image, so CIR = 02.

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F.6.6.1 Field 9.361: EFS corresponding points or features / CPF instructions.

For each of the images being compared, specific points or features are marked in each of

the Type-9 records, with correspondence indicated by the use of the same label, each in a

separate data entry (repeating subfield). Labels within a single Type-9 record shall be

unique. For example, if a transaction contains one latent and multiple candidate

exemplars, a feature labeled “A” in the latent’s Type-9 feature set corresponds with the

feature labeled “A” (if present) in all of the exemplar Type-9 feature sets. 

Corresponding Points or Features may refer to arbitrary points, or may refer to predefined

features (as noted in Table 66). The features include point features (such as minutiae,

dots, or pores), but also may refer to areas (such as distinctive characteristics), lines

(incipient ridges or creases), or paths (ridge path segments). Arbitrary points may be used

to indicate characteristics that were not noted during analysis, or to indicate points in an

exemplar that was not previously marked up.

Figure 12: EFS areas and points of correspondence in rolled exemplar, latent, and

plain exemplar images

Each feature corresponds to a separate subfield, of up to seven information items.

• The first information item (label / COL) is a mandatory 1-3 character

alphanumeric label that is used to indicate correspondence between CPFs in

different Type-9 records. The label names may be selected and assigned at

the discretion of the system or the examiner. Labels within a single Type-9

record shall be unique. Note that the use of a given label in one Type-9

record means that that point or feature corresponds with any or all other

features with the same label in other Type-9 records in the transaction.

• The second information item (type of correspondence / TOC) is a

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mandatory 1- or 2-character information item (code) used to indicate the type

of correspondence or non-correspondence, set to the appropriate “Code”

value from Table 67.

• The third information item (corresponding field number / CFN) is

conditional, used only if TOC = F or DF. The Field Number information

item indicates the type of field being compared, and shall correspond to the

“Field number” column of Table 66. This is the Type-9 field number of the

compared field.

• The fourth information item (corresponding field occurrence / FOC) is

conditional, used only if TOC = F or DF. This information item indicates

which repeating subfield of the specified field the label is applied to. Note

that this is a 1-based index, not a 0-based index. Occurrences are numbered

starting with 1. 

• The fifth information item (corresponding 'x' coordinate / CXC) is

mandatory if TOC = P or DP and is optional if TOC = X144. It is expressed

in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The sixth information item (corresponding 'y' coordinate / CYC) is

mandatory if TOC = P or DP and is optional if TOC = X144. It is expressed

in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The seventh information item (comment / COC) is optional and may

contain a text comment or description related to the CPF.

Table 66 EFS codes for field numbers used for corresponding features

Field

Number Type FieldNumber Type

320 Cores 341 Incipient Ridges

321 Deltas 342 Creases and Linear 

Discontinuities

324 Distinctive Characteristics 343 Ridge Edge Features

331 Minutiae 345 Pores

340 Dots 373 Ridge Path Segments

Table 67 EFS codes for types of corresponding points and features

144 [2013n>] The conditionality is changed from the base 2011 version which stated: “ conditional, used

only if TOC = P or DP” This is to allow an examiner to demonstrate the lack of correspondence for a

feature that doesn't exist. [<2013n]

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Category Type Code Description

Definite 

correspondence

Feature F

The labeled feature definitely corresponds to the 

specific feature defined by the Field Number and 

Field Occurrence information items. (X and Y 

information items are unused)

Point P

The labeled feature definitely corresponds to the 

location with the coordinates defined in the X,Y 

information items. (Field Number and Field 

Occurrence information items are unused)

Possible or 

debatable 

correspondence

Debatable 

Feature DF

The labeled feature may debatably correspond to the 

feature defined by the Field Number and Field 

Occurrence information items. (X and Y information 

items are unused)

Debatable 

Point DP

The labeled feature may debatably correspond to the 

location with the coordinates defined in the X,Y 

information items. (Field Number and Field 

Occurrence information items are unused)

Definite lack of 

correspondence

Does not 

exist X

The labeled feature definitely does not exist in the

impression, and the consistency of presentation of

the potentially corresponding region is sufficient to

make a definite determination. The X,Y position

may be used to optionally indicate where the absent

feature would have been expected.145

Inconclusive

Out of 

region R

The labeled feature is not visible in the impression 

because it lies outside of the area of correspondence 

for this image: the feature may or may not be present,

but the impression does not include the relevant area 

(X, Y, Field Number, and Field Occurrence 

information items are unused)

Unclear 

area

U

The labeled feature is not visible in the impression 

because the potentially corresponding region is not 

sufficiently clear: the feature may or may not be 

present, but local quality issues prevent a definite 

determination. (X, Y, Field Number, and Field 

Occurrence information items are unused)

8.9.7.49 Field 9.362: EFS examiner comparison determination / ECD

This optional text field indicates an examiner’s determination based on analysis and

comparison of two specified friction ridge images. If multiple examiners’ determinations

are represented, each is contained separately in a repeating subfield. Comparison

determinations against multiple impressions in the same transaction are specified in a

145 [2013n>] In order to allow an examiner to demonstrate the lack of correspondence for a feature that

doesn't exist, the text has been changed from the 2011 version, which stated: “(X, Y, Field Number, and

Field Occurrence information items are unused)” [<2013n]

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separate subfield with distinct IDC references. Each subfield consists of at least seven

information items. The eighth and ninth information items are optional: 

• The first information item (IDC reference / EDC) indicates the target image

for a given determination, and is used in the same way as the IDC in Field

9.360: EFS area of correspondence / AOC. See Section 7.3.1.

• The second information item (determination / EDE) indicates a comparison

conclusion, using the “Code” column from Table 68. The allowed special

character is the underscore.

• The third information item (work in progress / WIP) is set to

“PRELIMINARY” (default) or “FINAL”. For a determination to be

accepted for further processing, the status shall be set to “FINAL”. The

purpose of this is to allow saving work in progress.

• The fourth information item (examiner last name / ELN) is the surname

(last name) of the print examiner.

• The fifth information item (examiner first name / EFN) is the given name

(first name or first and middle names) of the print examiner.

• The sixth information item (examiner affiliation / EAF) is the employer or

organizational affiliation of the examiner.

• The seventh information item (date and time / DTG) is the date and time

that the determination was made, in terms of Greenwich Mean Time units.

See Section 7.7.2.2.

• The eighth information item (comment / CZZ) is optional and may contain

text that provides clarifying or qualifying information regarding the

comparison determination.

• The ninth information item (complex comparison flag / CCF) is optional. It

is only used when the examiner determines that the comparison was complex

as defined in Standards for examining friction ridge impressions and

resulting conclusions. (See Section 3 Normative references), based on the

available quality and quantity of features, low specificity of features,

significant distortion, or disagreement among examiners. In such case, the

value shall be set to 'COMPLEX'. This information item is included for use

in quality assurance/quality control processes. 

8.9.7.50 Field 9.363: EFS relative rotation of corresponding print / RRC

This optional field may be used when two or more images contained in a single

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ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction are compared. This field indicates the relative overall rotation

necessary for the prints to be compared. Each subfield consists of 2 information items. The

number of subfields is limited only by the number of Type-9 records in the transaction.

The first information item (rotation IDC reference / RIR) indicates the IDC for the Type9 record associated with the target image/ Type-9 record for a given RRC. See Section

7.3.1. See Field 9.360 or Field 9.362 for examples of other IDC references).

The second information item (relative overall rotation / ROR) defines the integer number

of degrees that the target image and/or features referenced by RIR shall be rotated to

correspond to the data in this Type-9 record. Positive numbers indicate degrees

counterclockwise; negative numbers indicate degrees clockwise: (-179 to 180 inclusive).

The allowed special character is the negative sign.

Table 68 EFS codes for comparison determinations

Category Code Description / Usage

Individualization INDIV The two impressions originated from the same source.

Inconclusive due to

insufficient

information

INC_I

Individualization and exclusion are not possible because of insufficient 

corresponding or contradictory data. This category should be used if the 

specific other types of inconclusive determinations do not apply.

Inconclusive, but

with corresponding

features noted

INC_C

No conclusive determination can be made. Corresponding features are 

present, and no substantive contradictory features are present. The 

correspondence of features is supportive of the conclusion that the two 

impressions originated from the same source, but not to the extent 

sufficient for individualization. 

This determination should be made if the examiner determines that the 

impressions are almost certainly from the same source, but cannot make 

an individualization determination. This is sometimes described as a 

qualified conclusion.

Inconclusive, but

with dissimilar

features noted

INC_D

No conclusive determination can be made. Non-corresponding features 

are present. The dissimilarity of features is supportive of the conclusion 

that the two impressions originated from different sources, but not to the 

extent sufficient for exclusion. 

This determination should be made if the examiner determines that the 

impressions are almost certainly not from the same source, but cannot 

make an exclusion determination. This is sometimes described as a 

qualified exclusion.

Inconclusive due to

no overlapping area INC_N

Individualization and exclusion are not possible because no corresponding

or potentially corresponding areas of friction ridge detail are present. 

This determination should be made if there is sufficient information in the

impressions to determine that there are no areas in the impressions to 

compare, such as when one print is of the left half of a finger and the 

other is of the right half.

Exclusion of source EX_SRC The two impressions originated from different sources of friction ridge 

skin (e.g., different fingers), but the subject cannot be excluded.

Exclusion of subject EX_SUB The two impressions originated from different subjects.

No determination NONE No determination has been made. (default)

8.9.7.51 Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM

This optional field contains a skeletonized image, also known as a ridge tracing, which

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reduces the friction ridge impression to an image with thinned representations of each ridge.

Incipient ridges, dots, ridge discontinuities, and protrusions are not included in the skeleton.

The skeletonized image is a 2-tone image with a white background and a black single-pixelwide thinned representation of each ridge. Each black pixel may have 1, 2, or 3 neighboring

black pixels; other values (0, 4-8) are errors. The same information may alternatively be

represented using Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS. For more information

about skeletonized images, See Annex F F.6.7 Ridge path: Skeletonized image and ridge

path segments. 

The skeletonized image is stored as a 1-bit grayscale PNG compressed image, bit-packed 6

bits per character using Base-64 representation (See Annex A: Character encoding

information). The entire PNG146 formatted image is included as a single data entry /

information item. Interlacing, alpha transparency, and color palettes shall not be used. The

skeletonized image’s dimensions shall be identical width and height of the ROI (See Field

9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI). The resolution of the skeletonized image shall be the

same as the original image, and shall be set in the PNG header.

8.9.7.52 Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS

This optional field contains an alternate representation of the same skeletonized image data

contained in Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM. Each ridge path segment is

saved as an open path (ordered set of vertices). See Section 7.7.12.1. Multiple segments

may be included in this field. Incipient ridges, dots, ridge discontinuities, and protrusions are

not included in the ridge path representation. Each skeletonized ridge segment is stored as a

separate subfield. Each endpoint of a ridge segment is either shared by three ridge segments

(at a bifurcation) or is unique to a single ridge segment (at a ridge ending). For more

information about ridge path segments, See Annex F F.6.7 Ridge path: Skeletonized

image and ridge path segments.

[2013a>] In Traditional encoding, the two special characters allowed are hyphen and

comma.[<2013a]

Each ridge path segment (if completely visible) is the portion of a ridge that connects two

minutiae, so each ridge path segment starts and stops either where the ridge intersects

another ridge path segment (a bifurcation) or ends (a ridge ending). In the infrequent case in

which a ridge segment forms a complete loop back on itself without intersecting another

ridge segment (such as near the core of some plain whorls or central pocket loops), the ridge

path starts and stops at a single arbitrary point on the ridge. Ridge path segments may not be

visible over their entire length due to image consistency-of-presentation problems or due to

being truncated by the edge of the impression, and therefore one or both ends of a ridge

segment may not end at points defined as minutiae.

8.9.7.53 Field 9.380: EFS temporary lines / TPL

[2013n>] This field is used by a latent examiner to annotate a friction ridge image with

temporary lines, generally for use as reference points in making a comparison. These

lines are solely for the individual examiner's use and reference – there are no implied

146 PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is specified in ISO / IEC 15948:2004 See Section 3 Normative 

references. 

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semantics through the use of this field. This field has subfields, each of which

describes a line segment. Each subfield is comprised of six mandatory information

items.

• The first information item, x coordinate point A / TXA, is expressed in units

of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm). 

• The second information item, y coordinate point A / TYA, is expressed in units

of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The third item, x coordinate point B / TXB, is expressed in units of 10

micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fourth information item, y coordinate point B / TYB, is expressed in units

of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm).

• The fifth information item, line color / TLC, is an RGB color value expressed

as a hexadecimal number.147 Some basic colors are red (FF0000), yellow

(FFFF00), blue (0000FF), green (008000), black (000000) and white (FFFFFF).

There shall be a total of 6 hexadecimal characters – with leading zeros where

applicable.

• The sixth information item, line thickness / TLT, is expressed as a positive

integer. Thickness is expressed in units of 0.01 mm. Any value from and

including 1 through and including 99 is acceptable; suggested values are 3

(thin); 6 (medium); 9 (thick), and 15 (bold). [<2013n]

8.9.7.54 Field 9.381:EFS feature color and comment / FCC

[2013n>] This field enables a latent print examiner to annotate individual features with

color for display and / or comment. It consists of multiple subfields, each containing

four information items. The first two information items are mandatory. One or both of

the third or fourth information items shall be present in each subfield.

• The first information item, feature - field number / FTF, indicates the field

which is annotated with color for display and / or comment. This information

item is selected from the Field number column of Table 69 EFS codes for field

numbers used for feature color.

• The second information item, feature – field occurrence / FTO, indicates

which repeating subfield of the specified field the label is applied to.

Occurrences are numbered starting with 1 (1-based index, not a 0-based index). 

• The third information item, feature – color / FTC, is an RGB color value

expressed as a hexadecimal number.147 Some basic colors are red (FF0000),

yellow (FFFF00), blue (0000FF), green (008000), black (000000) and white

(FFFFFF). There shall be a total of 6 hexadecimal characters – with leading

zeros where applicable.

147 [2013n>] See http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_colorpicker.asp for a tool to assist in the

selection of hexadecimal values for colors. [<2013n]

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• The fourth information item, feature – comment / COM, allows a free text

comment or description to be provided by the examiner about the referenced

field and subfield in this instance of a Type-9 record. 

Table 69 EFS codes for field numbers used for feature color

Field

Number Type FieldNumber Type

320 Cores 341 Incipient Ridges

321 Deltas 342 Creases and Linear Discontinuities

323 Center Point of Reference 343 Ridge Edge Features

324 Distinctive Characteristics 345 Pores

331 Minutiae 357 Local Quality Issues

340 Dots 373 Ridge Path Segment

[<2013n]

8.9.8 Latent workstation annotations

8.9.8.1 Field 9.901: Universal latent workstation annotation information / ULA

This optional field is used to store annotation, logging, or processing information associated

with the FBI-developed Universal Latent Workstation (ULW) or compatible software. If

present, this text field shall consist of one or more entries, each with up to 300 characters

that describe a single processing step. Each entry shall begin with the date and time

followed by a hyphen encoded as: “{M}M/{D}D/YYYY {h}h:mm:ss {AM|PM} - ” (e.g.,

“3/27/2010 7:21:47 PM - ”). The remainder of the entry shall contain an unformatted text

string describing a process or procedure applied to the fingerprint, palm print, or plantar

print associated with this Type-9 record. Additional entries may be included, each

describing a subsequent processing step. All characters marked “A” ,“N” or “S” in the

'Type' column of Table 128 Character encoding set values may be used.

8.9.8.2 Field 9.902: Annotation information / ANN

This optional field is used to store annotation, logging, or processing information associated

with one or more processing algorithms or latent workstations (other than the FBIdeveloped ULW). See Section 7.4.1. 

8.9.9 Workstation identifiers

8.9.9.1 Field 9.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A” ,“N”

or “S” in the 'Type' column of Table 128 Character encoding set values may be used.

8.9.9.2 Field 9.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

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This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.10Record Type-10: Photographic body part imagery (including face

and SMT)148 record

Type-10 records shall contain face, SMT, and / or other body part image data and related

information pertaining to the specific image contained in this record. It shall be used to

exchange both grayscale and color image data in a compressed or uncompressed form.

[2013d>] The 2013 Update includes new fields 10.034, and 10.046 through 10.050.

Field 10.034 allows for a range of uncertainty as to when the image was captured (such

as when an image of a missing person is provided by relatives from a photo album).

Field 10.046 describes the subject status – particularly useful for Disaster Victim

Identification (DVI), identification of Unknown Deceased and of living persons unable

to identify themselves. Field 10.047 allows entry of the capture organization name

(such as a Doctor's office). Field 10.049 allows description of cheiloscopic images (lip

prints). Field 10.050 allows entry of dental visual image descriptive data (including

intraoral images). 

New Image codes are added to Table 137: Definitions for ridge quality map values.

These are HEAD, LIP, EXTRAORAL (images of the mouth region taken from outside

of the mouth – such as a cropped image of a face showing just the smile with the teeth

visible) and INTRAORAL (images of the oral cavity taken from within the mouth).

[<2013d]

[2013d>] Type-10 records are restricted to 2D images created using visible light. Other

types of imagery are stored in a Type-22 record See Record Type-22: Nonphotographic imagery data record. 

Note that transilluminated images149 can be contained in a Type-10 record. [<2013d]

148 [2013a>] The name of the record is changed from “facial, other body part and SMT image record” to

clarify the distinction between Type-10 records and Type-22 records, which are added in the 2013

Update [<2013a]

149 [2013d>] See Section 14.8 of R. Dorion, Bitemark Evidence: A Color Atlas and Text, 2nd Edition,

CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 2011 for a discussion of transillumination techniques. [<2013d]

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Table 70 Type-10 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

10.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

10.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

10.003 IMT IMAGE TYPE M AS 4 11

value from

Table 71 Type-10

image types

1 1

10.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

10.005 PHD PHOTO CAPTURE DATE M

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific: 

see Annex B:

Traditional encoding o

r Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

10.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

M N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

10.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH M N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

10.008 SLC SCALE UNITS M N 1 1

0 < SLC < 2

integer

1 1

10.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

M N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

10.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE

M N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

10.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

M A

150 3 5

value from 

Table 19

Compression

codes 151

1 1

10.012 CSP COLOR SPACE M A 3 4

values from

Table 28

1 1

10.013 SAP

SUBJECT ACQUISITION 

PROFILE

D N 1 2

see values in

Table 12

0 1

10.014

FIP

FACE IMAGE BOUNDING 

BOX COORDINATES in 

FULL IMAGE

D 0 1

 LHC

 left horizontal 

coordinate value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < LHC <

HLL152

 integer 

1 1

 RHC

 right horizontal 

coordinate value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < RHC < HLL

 integer

RHC > LHC

1 1

 TVC

 top vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < TVC < VLL

 integer

1 1

 BVC

 bottom vertical 

coordinate value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < BVC < VLL

 integer

BVC > TVC

1 1

 BBC

 bounding box head 

position code

O↑ A 1 1

value from 

Table 72

0 1

10.015

FPFI

FACE IMAGE PATH 

COORDINATES in FULL 

IMAGE

O 0 1

 BYC boundary code M↑ A 1 1

BYC = C, E or P

see Table 31 1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

2 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path – for a total of NOP pairs

150 [2015n> Earlier versions had AN, but since WSQ20 is not an allowed value for the compression type,

it is more technically correct to specify this as A. [<2015n]

151 [2013a>] The value WSQ20 is not allowed. Facial types have additional constraints found in E.6.1

Compression algorithm [<2013a]

152 [2013e>] For the coordinate values, the proper lower bound is 0 and the upper limit is a 'less than'

condition. [<2013e] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO <

HLL153

integer

2 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO <

VLL153

non-negative

integer

2 NOP

10.016 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE

O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

10.017 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

10.018

DIST DISTORTION O

154

0 1

 IDK distortion code M↑ A 6 10

IDK = Barrel or

Inflated or

Pincushion

1 1

 IDM

 distortion measurement 

code

M↑ A 1 1 IDM = E or C 1 1

 DSC distortion severity code M↑ A 4 8

DSC = Mild,

Moderate or

Severe

1 1

10.019

LAF LIGHTING ARTIFACTS D 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M↑ A 1 1 value = F, H or R 1 3

10.020 POS SUBJECT POSE D A 1 1

value from 

Table 73

0 1

10.021 POA POSE OFFSET ANGLE D NS 1 4

-180 < POA < 180

integer

0 1

10.022

LEGACY

FIELD

See ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 

or ANSI/NIST-ITL 2-2008 

for a description of this field

To be used for legacy data only. It is Photo Description. It is superseded by

Field 10.026: Subject facial description / SXS.

10.023

PAS

PHOTO ACQUISITION 

SOURCE

D 0 1

 PAC photo attribute code M↑

AN

S

155

5 14 value from

Table 74

1 1

153 [2013e>] HPO and VPO are 'less than' their upper limits. [<2013e]

154 [2013n>] Changed from D to O since all types of images can now be reflected in this field, not just

FACE. [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 VSD

 vendor-specific 

description

D U 1 64 none 0 1

10.024

SQS

SUBJECT QUALITY 

SCORES

D 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 9

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 

non-negative

integer or QVU =

254 or 255

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

M↑ N 1 5

1 < QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

10.025 SPA SUBJECT POSE ANGLES D 0 1

 YAW yaw angle M↑ NS 1 4

-180 < YAW <

180

integer

allowed special

character: -

1 1

 PIT pitch angle M↑ NS 1 3

-90 < PIT < 90

integer

allowed special

character: -

1 1

 ROL roll angle M↑ NS 1 4

-180 < ROL< 180

integer 

allowed special

character: -

1 1

 YAWU

 uncertainty in degrees 

for yaw 

O↑ N 1 2

0 < YAWU < 90

non-negative

integer

0 1

 PITU uncertainty in degrees 

for pitch

O↑ N 1 2 0 < PITU < 90

non-negative

integer

0 1

155 [2013a>] Changed from AN in 2011 due to the redefinition of Alphabetic (A) to not include spaces.

The 'special character' is the space [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 ROLU

 uncertainty in degrees 

for roll

O↑ N 1 2

0 < ROLU < 90

non-negative

integer

0 1

10.026

SXS

SUBJECT FACIAL 

DESCRIPTION

D 0 1

 Subfields: repeating values M↑

A

S

156 3 20

value from

Table 75

1 50

10.027 SEC SUBJECT EYE COLOR D A 3 3

value from

Table 29

0 1

10.028

SHC SUBJECT HAIR COLOR D 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M↑ A 3 3

value from 

Table 76

1 2

10.029

FFP

2D FACIAL FEATURE 

POINTS

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 88

 FPT feature point type M↑ N 1 1 FPT = 1 or 2 1 1

 FPC feature point code M↑ ANS 3 5

Format: N.N,

N.NN, NN.N,

NN.NN, a, aa, aaa

or aaaa

1 1

 HCX X coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < HCX< HLL

non-negative

integer 157

1 1

 HCY Y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < HCY < VLL

non-negative

integer 157 1 1

10.030 DMM

DEVICE MONITORING 

MODE

O A 7 10

entries from 

Table 6

0 1

10.031 TMC

TIERED MARKUP 

COLLECTION

D N 1 3

positive integer

see Table 79

0 1

10.032

3DF

3D FACIAL FEATURE 

POINTS

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 88

156 [2013a>] Changed from A in the 2011 version, due to the redefinition of code A (alphabetic) to not

include spaces. [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FPT feature point type M↑ N 1 1 FPT = 1 or 2 1 1

 FPC feature point code M↑ ANS 15

Format: N.N,

N.NN, NN.N,

NN.NN, a, aa, aaa

or aaaa

1 1

 HCX x coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < HCX < HLL

non-negative

integer 157 1 1

 HCY y coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < HCY < VLL

non-negative

integer 157 1 1

 HCZ z coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < HCZ <

99999 nonnegative integer

157 158

1 1

10.033

FEC FEATURE CONTOURS D 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 12

 FCC feature contour code M↑ A 4 14

value from 

Table 30

1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path, up to the final point - 

for a total of NOP pairs

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO <

HLL; nonnegative integer

157

3 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

non-negative

integer

3 NOP

157 [2013n>] Lower range boundary extended from 1 to zero to allow markups on the edge. Upper bound is < not <

[<2013n]

158 [2013n>] The upper bound is changed from 65,535 to correspond to the upper bounds for x and y coordinates

See Section 7.7.8.1 and Section 7.7.8.2 [<2013]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

10.034

159 ICDR

IMAGE CAPTURE DATE 

RANGE ESTIMATE

O AN 29

time measure

indicator followed

by 1 or 2 digits.

May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y

year, M months, D

days

0 1

10.035-

10.037

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

10.038 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

10.039 T10

TYPE-10 REFERENCE 

NUMBER

D N 1 3

1 < T10 < 255

positive integer

0 1

10.040

SMT NCIC SMT CODE D 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M↑

AS

156 3 10

values from 

Annex D: NCIC

code table

1 3

10.041

SMS

SMT SIZE OR SIZE OF 

INJURY OR IDENTIFYING 

CHARACTERISTIC 

D 0 1

 HGT height M↑ N 1 3 positive integer 1 1

 WID width M↑ N 1 3 positive integer 1 1

10.042

SMD SMT DESCRIPTORS D 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 SMI SMT code indicator M↑ A 3 8

value from

“Field 10.042

SMT Code”

column of

Table 71

1 1

 TAC tattoo class D A 4 8

value from

Table 80

0 1

 TSC tattoo subclass D A 3

11

160

value from

Table 80

0 1

 TDS tattoo description D U 1 256 none 0 1

159 [2013d>] New field in the 2013 Update. [<2013d]

160 [2013e>] Typographical correction [<2013e]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

10.043

COL TATTOO COLOR D 0 1

 Subfields: repeating values in the same order as those of SMD 1 9

 TC1 tattoo color code 1 M↑ A 3 7

values from

Table 81

1 1

 TC2 tattoo color code 2 O↑ A 3 7

values from

Table 81

0 1

 TC3 tattoo color code 3 O↑ A 3 7

values from

Table 81

0 1

 TC4 tattoo color code 4 O↑ A 3 7

values from

Table 81

0 1

 TC5 tattoo color code 5 O↑ A 3 7

values from

Table 81

0 1

 TC6 tattoo color code 6 O↑ A 3 7

values from

Table 81

0 1

10.044

ITX IMAGE TRANSFORM O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M↑ A 3 11

values from

Table 82

1 18

10.045 OCC OCCLUSIONS D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 16

 OCY occlusion opacity M↑ A 1 1

OCY = T, I, L or S

see Table 32

1 1

 OCT occlusion type M↑ A 1 1

OCT =

H, S, C, R, or O

Table 33

1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path, up to the final point - 

for a total of NOP pairs

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

non-negative 

integer 157

3 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

non-negative

integer 157

3 NOP

10.046

161

SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1 1 SSC = X, A or D 1 1

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1

SBSC = 1 or 2

positive integer

0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1

SBCC = 1, 2, or 3

positive integer

0 1

10.047

161 CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

10.048 161

PID

SUSPECTED PATTERNED 

INJURY DETAIL

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 PARC

 patterned injury -reference 

code list 162 O↑ U

1 30 none 0

1

 PADT

 patterned injury - additional 

descriptive text

D U 1 * none 0 1

10.049

161 CID

CHEILOSCOPIC IMAGE 

DESCRIPTION 

D 0 1

 LPW lip print width O↑ N 1 4 positive integer 0 1

 LPH lip print height O↑ N 1 4 positive integer 0 1

161 [2013d>] New field for the 2013 Update [<2013]

162 [2015n>] Specifications and the name for this information item have been modified to allow more

flexibility in the use of additional codes. [<2015n]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 PHW philtrum width O↑ N 1 4 positive integer 0 1

 PHH philtrum height O↑ N 1 4 positive integer 0 1

 ULCL upper lip characterization list O↑ AS 1

3

163

list of values from

Type-code column

of Table 83

 Cheiloscopic

characterization

codes. 

0

LIST

of up

to 5

values

163

 LLCL lower lip characterization list O↑ AS 1

3

163

list of values from

Type-code column

of Table 83

 Cheiloscopic

characterization

codes. 

0

LIST

of up

to 5

values

163

 LCLD lip contact line descriptor O↑ A 1 1 LCLD = L, C or M 0 1

 LPCT lip print characterization text D

164

U 1 * none 0 1

 LPPL

 lip print pathologies and 

peculiarities list

D

164

 NS 1

2

163

list of values from

Type-code column

of Table 84 Lip

Pathologies and

peculiarities

codes

0

LIST

of up

to 13

values.

Only

one of

the

values

8, 9,

10, 11

or 12

may

appear

in the

list. 163

 LPPT lip print pathologies and 

peculiarities descriptive text

D 164

U 1 * none 0 1

163 [2015a>] Character Min# and Max# refers to each element in the list. The number of elements in the

list is mentioned in Occurrence Max#.There is a maximum of one list.[<2015a] 

164 [2015e>] Typographical correction [<2015e]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 LPSL lip print surface list O↑ NS 1

1

163

list of values from

Type-code column

of Table 85 Lip

print surface

codes

0

LIST 

of up 

to 3 

values.

If 

Typecode 1 

is 

chosen

, no 

other 

values 

are 

allowed. 163

 LPST

 lip print surface descriptive 

text

D

164

U 1 * none 0 1

 LPMC lip print medium code O↑ N 1 1

integer from Typecode column of

Table 86 Lip

print medium

codes

0 1 

 LPMT

 lip print medium descriptive 

text

D

164

U 1 * none 0 1

 FHDT facial hair descriptive text O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

LPDT

 lip print position and tension 

text

O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

LPAT

 lip print additional descriptive 

text

O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

LPCT

 lip print comparison 

descriptive text

O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

10.050

161

VID

DENTAL VISUAL IMAGE 

DATA INFORMATION

 D 164

0 1

 VIVC visual image view code M↑ A 3 4

valid code from

Table 87 Dental

image codes

1 1

 VIDT

 visual image additional 

descriptive text

O 164

U 1 * none 0 1

 VICD

 visual image comparison 

descriptive text

O 164

U 1 * none 0 1

10.051

165 RSP RULER OR SCALE 

PRESENCE

O 0 1

165 [2013n>] New field in the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 RSU ruler or scale units M↑

164

A 2 4

RSU = IN, MM, or

BOTH

1

1

 RSM ruler or scale make O 164

U 1 50 none 0 1

 RSO ruler or scale model O 164

U 1 50 none 0 1

10.052 –

10.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

10.200

-10.900

UDF user-defined FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

10.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

10.902

 ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items 

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm name /

version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

10.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

= M or P

any character with

type A, N or S in

Table 128

Character

encoding set

values

0 1

10.904

 MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

10.905-10.991

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

10.992 166

 T2C

 TYPE-2 RECORD CROSS 

REFERENCE

O N 1 2

0 < T2C < 99

non-negative integer

0 1

10.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

10.994167

 EFR

 EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE D U 1 200 none 0 1

10.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP associated segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

10.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

10.997

 SOR SOURCE REPRESENTATION O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP reference segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

10.998 GEO GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

166 [2013n>] New field for the 2013 Update [<2013]

167 [2015n>] New field for the 2015 Update. Either Field 10.994 or Field 10.999 shall appear in the record, but not

both. <2015n]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60 168

0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60 168

0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

422.000< ELE <

8848.000 

real number 168

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from Table 7 0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 169

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a single

letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI geographic coordinate other 

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

168 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

169 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also show GCM as D. [<2013a] 

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 231

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other 

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

10.999 DATA BODY PART IMAGE D

170

B 1 * none 1 1

8.10.1 Field 10.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1.

8.10.2 Field 10.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-10 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

[2015n>] Fields 10.003 through 10.012 are mandatory. This applies whether Field

10.994 (for an externally stored image) or 10.999 (for an image transmitted in this

record) is used. [<2015n]

8.10.3 Field 10.003: Image type / IMT

This mandatory field shall be used to indicate the type of image contained in this record.

It shall contain a character string from the “Image Code” column of Table 71 Type-10

image types to indicate the appropriate image type. See Field 10.042: SMT

descriptors / SMD for the use of the sub-codes. The 2007 and 2008 versions of this

standard were restricted to FACE, SCAR, MARK and TATTOO. The sub-codes for

SCAR did not exist in those versions. Cross-referencing to the NCIC codes (See Annex

D: NCIC code table) was new for the 2011 version of the standard. 

[2015n>] In Field 10.003: Image type / IMT, SCAR indicates a visible difference

from standard tissue appearance on a body surface that is non-intentional or

(quasi)medically induced. It is broken down in Field 10.042: SMT descriptors /

SMD to SCAR, BIRTHMARK, PIERCING, ZABIBA, and IMPLANTS. The

definitions of each are shown in Table 71 Type-10 image types. MARK refers solely

to visible patterns of needle marks on the skin. TATTOO in Field 10.003: Image

type / IMT is used for (intentional) placing of patterns on the skin. It is broken down

in Field 10.042: SMT descriptors / SMD to TATTOO, CHEMICAL, BRANDED, and

CUT. The definitions of each are shown in Table 71 Type-10 image types. Note that

physical abnormalities are covered by entering the Image Code CONDITION and then

using the appropriate NCIC code in Field 10.040: NCIC code / SMT. The relevant

170 [2015n>] Field 10.994 was added. Only one of either 10.994 or 10.999 shall be in a Type-10 record.

[<2015n]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

NCIC codes are listed in Footnote 177. Image Code OTHER is used for the NCIC

codes shown in Footnote 179. Image Code MISSING corresponds to the NCIC code

MISS. [<2015n]

[2013n>] Note that patterned injuries may be on any part of the body. Patterned

injuries are not treated as a separate image type. Appropriate codes for the affected part

of the body shown in the image shall be used for patterned injuries. SCAR, MARK,

TATTOO, MISSING, OTHER and CONDITION shall not be used for patterned

injuries. [<2013n]

Table 71 Type-10 image types

Field 10.003

Image Type

Field 10.042 SMT

Code

Description 

SCAR

SCAR171 Healed tissue that was the result of an accident or 

medical procedure

BIRTHMARK172 Tissue that is differentiated from normal tissue but is not

the result of an accident or medical procedure, such as 

a 'blood stain' birthmark on part of the face.

PIERCING173 A medical or quasi-medically induced hole in or through

the skin – often to allow the insertion of jewelry.

ZABIBA172 Commonly referred to as a 'prayer bump' on the 

forehead.

IMPLANT172

Sub-dermal implants that are visible as distinct shapes 

in the skin. This category may also be used to indicate 

jewelry that has been (semi-)permanently affixed to the 

body – such as plugs in the earlobes or a microdermal 

implant that has a jewel above the skin.

TATTOO

TATTOO

An image on the skin resulting from pricking of the skin 

with a coloring material. This also includes tattoos that 

have been removed but still leave a pattern on the skin. 

Note that some tattoos may be visible only in ultra-violet

light. 

CHEMICAL Creation of an image on the skin by using chemicals.

BRANDED Creation of an image on the skin by using a branding 

iron or other form of heat.

CUT Creation of an image resulting from patterned cutting of 

the skin and resultant healing.

MARK MARK Patterns of needle marks on the skin.

171 NCIC code header SC

172 [2015n>] New for the 2015 Update. [<2015n]

173 NCIC code header PRCD

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field 10.003

Image Type

Field 10.042 SMT

Code

Description 

FACE Not applicable A mugshot. This may be used for facial recognition 

algorithms.174

FRONTAL-C 175 Not applicable

Not applicable

These Image Types are used for transmittal of 

images, such as patterned injuries on various parts 

of the body. They may also be used for general 

images of a body, such as with an unknown 

deceased. 

These Image Types are used for transmittal of images,

such as patterned injuries on various parts of the body.

They may also be used for general images of a body, 

such as with an unknown deceased. 

REAR-C175

HEAD176

FRONTAL-N175

REAR-N175

TORSO-BACK

TORSO-FRONT

CONDITION177

MISSING178

OTHER179

CHEST

FEET

EXTRAORAL176

INTRAORAL176

LIP176

HANDS-PALM

HANDS-BACK

GENITALS

BUTTOCKS

RIGHT LEG

174 [2015a>] Designation of FACE excludes the image from possibly being entered into systems for tattoo

recognition. If a face has a tattoo on it, enter one image as a mugshot, indicated by FACE, and another

marked TATTOO. [<2015a]

175 FRONTAL-C refers to frontal and clothed; FRONTAL-N refers to frontal and nude; REAR-C is rear 

view and clothed; REAR-N is rear view and nude. 176 [2013n>] New codes added are HEAD, INTRAORAL, EXTRAORAL and LIP. [<2013n]

177 This covers NCIC code headers BALD, BLIND, BLND, CATA, CATARACT, CAUL, CL, CLEFT, 

CRIP, CROSSEYED, DEV, DIMP, DISC, EXTR, FRECKLES, FRC, HERMAPHR, HFR, 

HUMPBACKED, MC, MOLE, POCKMARKS, PROT, SHRT.

178 This covers NCIC code header MISS (Showing the location on the body where the part would normally 

be).

179 This covers NCIC code headers ART, BRA, BRAC, BRACE, CANE, CARD, COLOST, CON, DENT, 

EAR, GLASSES, GOLD, HAIR, HEAR, IMPL, INTRA, ORTH, PACE, SHUNT, SKL, SLVR, 

STAPLES, SUTUR, TUBE, VASC PROT, TRANSSXL, TRANSCST, TUBE, VASC, WHEELCHAIR, 

WIRE, .

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field 10.003

Image Type

Field 10.042 SMT

Code

Description 

LEFT LEG

LEFT ARM

CHEST

[2013a>] The following NCIC code headers are not applicable to Type-10 images: DA,

DEAF, IUD, GLAUCOMA, MUTE, STUTTERS and TD. [<2013a]

8.10.4 Field 10.004: Source agency/ SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be

entered in Field 10.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.10.5 Field 10.005: Photo capture date / PHD

This mandatory field shall contain the date that the image contained in the record was

captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details. 

[2013n>] It may not be possible to know the exact date of imagery capture. [2015e>].

In such a case, specify the date to the level known. For traditional encoding, fill the

unknown portions of the date with zeros. For XML, use a date element with the correct

level of precision.180 [<2015e] In such cases, it is highly recommended that Field

10.034: Image capture date range estimate / ICDR be used in conjunction with this

field. [<2013n]

8.10.6 Field 10.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.10.7 Field 10.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.10.8 Field 10.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

8.10.9 Field 10.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details. 

8.10.10 Field 10.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

180[2015e>] Fixed and harmonized encoding guidance in accordance with section 7.7.2.3. [<2015e]

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8.10.11 Field 10.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This is a mandatory field. It shall specify the algorithm used to compress the

transmitted color or grayscale images. See Table 19 Compression codes for the labels

and Sections 7.7.9.4 and 7.7.9.5 for a detailed description of this field. Annex E: E.6.1

Compression algorithm lists conditions for facial images by SAP level. [2013a>] Note

that WSQ20 is inapplicable to Type-10 imagery. [<2013a]

8.10.12 Field 10.012: Color space / CSP

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.10 for details.

8.10.13 Field 10.013: Subject acquisition profile / SAP

The Subject Acquisition Profile (SAP) is a mandatory field when Field 10.003: Image 

type / IMT contains “FACE”. Otherwise, it shall not be entered. See Section 7.7.5.1. 

8.10.14 Field 10.014: Face image bounding box coordinates in full 

image / FIP

This field181 is only appropriate for face images (IMT = 'FACE') that do not comply with

SAP Levels 30, 32, 40, 42, 50, 51 or 52, because those images shall be cropped to a

“head only” or “head and shoulders” composition. This field is an alternative approach to

the bounding box in Field 10.015: Face image path coordinates in full image / FPFI. If

the image contains more than one face, the bounding box indicates the face of interest;

otherwise, this box can be used for cropping the single facial image. All associated Type10 fields are limited to the face defined by the bounding box in the larger image. This

field has four (4) mandatory and one (1) optional information item.

• The first information item (left horizontal coordinate value / LHC) is the

left horizontal offset of the bounding box relative to the origin positioned in

the upper left corner of the image. It is expressed in pixel counts across.

• The second information item (right horizontal coordinate value / RHC) is

the right horizontal offset of the bounding box relative to the origin

positioned in the upper left corner of the image. It is expressed in pixel

counts across.

• The third information item (top vertical coordinate value / TVC) is the top

vertical offset of the bounding box relative to the origin positioned in the

upper left corner of the image. It is expressed in pixel counts down.

• The fourth information item (bottom vertical coordinate value / BVC) is

the bottom vertical offset of the bounding box relative to the origin

positioned in the upper left corner of the image. It is expressed in pixel

181 New for the 2011 version of the standard.

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counts down.

• The fifth information item (bounding box head position code / BBC) is the

bounding box type, indicating the contents of the bounding box. If this field

is omitted, the default value shall be H (Head only). If entered, the value

shall be from the “Code’ column of Table 72.

8.10.15 Field 10.015: Face image path coordinates in full image / FPFI

If the face image (IMT = 'FACE') contains more than one face, or is not cropped to a “head

only” or “head and shoulders” composition, this optional field may contain offsets to the

location of the path defining a region containing the face of the subject within a larger

image. This field182 is only appropriate for images that do not comply with SAP Levels 30,

32, 40, 42, 50, 51, or 52 because those images shall be cropped to a “head only” or “head

and shoulders” composition. See Section 7.7.12 for a description of encoding paths. This

field is an alternative approach to the bounding box described in Field 10.014: Face image

bounding box coordinates in full image / FIP.

8.10.16 Field 10.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS for

details. 

8.10.17 Field 10.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS for

details. 

Table 72 Face position values

Code Description 

 S Head and shoulders: the image within the bounding box is conformant with a “head and shoulders” composition 

(full frontal)

H Head only: the image within the bounding box is conformant with a “head only” composition

F Face only: the image within the bounding box contains a subject's two eyes, nose and mouth

N

Non-frontal head: the image within the bounding box contains the subject's entire head, but it is not frontal-facing

or is otherwise not conformant with a “head only” composition

X Partial face: the composition consists of a partial face, containing less than two eyes, nose and mouth

8.10.18 Field 10.018: Distortion / DIST

182 New for the 2011 version of the standard.

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This optional field contains the type of distortion183, whether it is estimated or

calculated, and its relative severity. This field consists of three information items, all of

which are subjective in nature:

• The first information item is the distortion code / IDK. Allowed values are:

 “Barrel” (Image appears to be spherized), or

 “Inflated” (also known as wide angle or fisheye distortion) or

 “Pincushion” (image 'pinched' at the center or 'bowed inwards').

• The second information item is an alphabetic code, which is a distortion

measurement code / IDM, that indicates if the distortion is estimated “E” or

calculated “C”. 

• The third information item is the distortion severity code / DSC. The

allowed values are: “Mild”, “Moderate” or “Severe”.

8.10.19 Field 10.019: Lighting artifacts / LAF

This optional field (contains the type of lighting artifacts found in the Type-10 image

record. It is only applicable to face images (IMT = 'FACE'). Multiple lighting artifacts

may be repeated as separate subfields. The codes are:

F: Face shadows 

H: Hot spots 

R: Reflections from eye glasses

8.10.20 Field 10.020: Subject pose / POS

This optional field is to be used for the exchange of facial image data (IMT = 'FACE').

When included, this field shall contain one character code selected from Table 73 to

describe the pose of the subject. For the determined 3D pose entry “D”, Field 10.025:

Subject pose angles / SPA shall contain a set of determined 3D pose angles (i.e., Yaw,

Pitch, and Roll angles) away from the full frontal face orientation. 

[2013n>] A value of POS = D does not imply that the image itself is a 3D image, such

as a point cloud. 3D imagery shall be transmitted in a Type-22 record. [<2013n]

Note that the offset angle in Field 10.021: Pose offset angle / POA is opposite from the

yaw angle in Field 10.025 as indicated by a minus sign. See E.7.2 Subject Pose (POS)

and subject pose angles (SPA) for more information about pose angles.

Table 73 Subject pose

Pose description Pose

code Pose description Posecode

183 [2013n>] In 2011, this field was restricted to IMT= FACE. That restriction is removed. It may be utilized for all

image types. [<2013n]

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Full Face Frontal F Angled Pose A

Right Profile (90 degree) R Determined 3D Pose D

Left Profile (-90 degree) L

8.10.21 Field 10.021: Pose offset angle / POA

This shall only be used for the exchange of facial image data (IMT = 'FACE'). It may be

used if Field 10.020: Subject pose / POS contains an “A” to indicate an angled pose of

the subject. The field shall not be used if the entry in POS is an “F”, “R”, “L” or “D”.

This field shall be omitted for a full face or a profile. This field specifies the pose

direction of the subject at any possible orientation within a circle. Its value shall be to the

nearest degree. The offset angle shall be measured from the full-face pose position and

have a range of values from -180 degrees to +180 degrees. A positive angle is used to

express the angular offset as the subject rotates from a full-face pose to their left

(approaching a right profile). The allowed special character is the negative sign.

8.10.22 Field 10.023: Photo acquisition source / PAS

This optional field shall specify the classification of the source of the image contained in

this record. This field is mandatory if the SAP entry (Field 10.013: Subject acquisition

profile / SAP) is “40” or greater for face image records. (IMT=FACE only). When

included, the first information item in this field shall contain an attribute code selected

from Table 74 to describe the source of captured image data. When “VENDOR” is

specified in photo attribute code / PAC, a second free-format information item

(vendor-specific description / VSD) may be entered with up to 64 characters to describe

the vendor-specific source of the captured image or to enter unlisted or miscellaneous

source attributes for the facial image.

A Record Type-20 may be used to store the original reference data. For this case, Field

10.997: Source representation / SOR shall be contained in this record, and the

corresponding Record Type-20 shall be included in the transaction.

[2013n>] Note that all of the acquisition sources in Table 74 Acquisition source type

codes result in a 2D image in visible light. To transmit other types of imagery, use the

 Record Type-22: Non-photographic imagery data record. [<2013n]

Table 74 Acquisition source type codes

Acquisition source type attribute Attribute code

 Unspecified or unknown UNSPECIFIED

 Static photograph from an unknown source UNKNOWN PHOTO

 Static photograph from a digital still-image camera DIGITAL CAMERA

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 Static photograph from a scanner SCANNER

 Single video frame from an unknown source UNKNOWN VIDEO

 Single video frame from an analog video camera ANALOG VIDEO

 Single video frame from a digital video camera DIGITAL VIDEO

 Vendor specific source VENDOR 

 Record Type-20 original source representation TYPE20

 Another source image OTHER 

Note that the first seven attribute codes in the table above directly correspond to attribute

codes 0 through 6 in Table 121 Acquisition source, which is used in Field 20.014:

Acquisition source / AQS. “OTHER” corresponds to attribute code 31 in that table, as well

as attribute code 11 (computer screen image capture). “VENDOR” corresponds to code 30.

The remaining attribute codes in Table 121 relate to audio and video capture. 

8.10.23 Field 10.024: Subject quality score / SQS

This optional field shall specify quality score data for facial images (IMT = 'FACE') stored

in this record. There may be subfields for different quality scores and algorithms. See

Section 7.7.7.

8.10.24 Field 10.025: Subject pose angles / SPA

This field shall be present [2013a>] if and only if [<2013a]184 Field 10.020: Subject pose /

POS contains a “D” to indicate a set of determined 3D pose angles of the same subject for

a facial image (IMT = 'FACE'). Each angle value shall be to the nearest integer degree.

When present, this information shall be entered as three or six information items. If this

field is used, the first three are mandatory. See E.7.2 Subject Pose (POS) and subject

pose angles (SPA) for more information about pose angles.

· The first information item is the yaw angle / YAW (Rotation about the

vertical ‘y’ axis). The allowed special character is the negative sign.

· The second information item is the pitch angle / PIT (Rotation about the

horizontal ‘x’ axis). The allowed special character is the negative sign.

· The third information item is the roll angle / ROL (rotation about the ‘z’

axis). The allowed special character is the negative sign.

· The fourth information item is the uncertainty in degrees for yaw /

YAWU. 

184 [2013a>] This is not a technical change – words revised for clarity. [<2013a]

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· The fifth information item is the uncertainty in degrees for pitch / PITU.

· The sixth information item is the uncertainty in degrees for roll / ROLU.

8.10.25 Field 10.026: Subject facial description / SXS

This field is mandatory if the SAP entry for a facial image (Field 10.013: Subject

acquisition profile / SAP) is [2013e>]“30” or greater [<2013e]185. (IMT = FACE only).

In other cases, this field is optional for facial images. When present, it shall describe

attributes associated with the subject’s captured facial image. This version maintains the

upper limit of 50 repeating subfields for all encodings from the 2007 version. (The 2008

version was unrestricted). 

The value should be selected from the “Attribute code” column of Table 75. For

“Physical Characteristic”, enter a characteristic as listed in the NCIC code. See Annex D:

NCIC code table. In the 2007 version, the minimum character count for this was listed as

5; however, there was an entry of “HAT” which has 3 characters. Thus, the minimum

character count in this version is set at 3. 

Table 75 Subject facial description codes

Facial description attribute Attribute code

 Expression unspecified UNKNOWN

 Neutral (non-smiling) with both eyes open and mouth closed NEUTRAL

 Smiling (inside of the mouth and/or teeth is not exposed - closed jaw). SMILE

 Subject having mouth open MOUTH OPEN

 Having teeth visible TEETH VISIBLE

 Raising eyebrows RAISED BROWS

 Frowning FROWNING

 Looking away from the camera EYES AWAY

 Squinting SQUINTING

 Subject wearing left eye patch LEFT EYE PATCH

 Subject wearing right eye patch RIGHT EYE PATCH

 Subject wearing clear glasses CLEAR GLASSES

 Subject wearing dark or visible colored glasses (medical) DARK GLASSES

 Head covering/hat HAT

 Wearing scarf SCARF

 Having mustache MOUSTACHE

185 [2013e>] Annex E, Section E.4.9 applies to all SAPs 30 and above but in 2011 this was restricted to

40,50 or 51. [<2013e]

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Facial description attribute Attribute code

 Having beard BEARD

 Ear(s) obscured by hair NO EAR

 Blinking (either or both eyes closed) BLINK

 Having distorting medical condition impacting feature point detection DISTORTING CONDITION

 Physical characteristics From Annex D: NCIC code table

 Other characteristics Alphabetic Text, up to 20 characters

8.10.26 Field 10.027: Subject eye color / SEC 

This field is mandatory if the SAP entry (Field 10.013: Subject acquisition profile / SAP)

is [2013n>]“30” or greater [<2013n]186. For other facial images (IMT = 'FACE'), the field is

optional. When present, it shall describe the eye color of the subject as seen in the

photograph. If unknown, unusual or unnatural such as may be the case when colored

contact lenses are present and the “real” eye color cannot be ascertained, then the color

should be labeled as “XXX”. Eye color attributes and attribute codes are given by Table 29.

See Section 7.7.11 for further information. 

8.10.27 Field 10.028: Subject hair color / SHC

This field is mandatory if the SAP entry (Field 10.013: Subject acquisition profile / SAP)

is [2013n>]“30” or greater [<2013n]187. For other facial images (IMT = 'FACE'), it is

optional. When present, it shall contain one or two entries from Table 76 that describes the

hair color of the subject as seen in the photograph. For unusual or unnatural colors not listed

in the table, or the “real” color cannot be ascertained, the hair color should be labeled as

“XXX”. If the subject is completely bald, or has a completely shaved head, then the hair

color shall be labeled as “BAL”. When the subject is predominantly bald, but hair color is

discernible, then the appropriate hair color attribute code shall follow “BAL” in a second

entry. If a person has multiple hair colors (such as blue in the middle and orange on the

sides), select one color for the first entry and the other for the second. For streaked hair, use

“STR” in the first entry; use the second entry to describe the principal color of the hair.

There need not be more than one entry. 

186 [2013e>] The text here is restated to be consistent with Annex E, Section E.4.11 [<2013e]

187 [2013e>] The text here is restated to be consistent with Annex E, Section E.4.10[<2013e]

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Table 76 Hair color codes

Hair color attribute Attribute

code Hair color attribute Attribute

code

Unspecified or unknown XXX White WHI

Bald BAL Blue BLU

Black BLK Green GRN

Blonde or Strawberry BLN Orange ONG

Brown BRO Pink PNK

Gray or Partially Gray GRY Purple PLE

Red or Auburn RED Streaked STR

Sandy SDY

8.10.28 Field 10.029: 2D facial feature points / FFP

The optional field shall be used for the exchange of facial [2013n>] (IMT = 'FACE',

'HEAD', 'LIP', 'EXTRAORAL' and 'CONDITION') [<2013n]188 feature points or

landmarks. When present, it shall describe special attributes of manually or automatically

detected facial feature points of the captured facial image. This information shall be

entered as a four-information item feature point block in a repeating subfield. Multiple

facial points may be listed using these information items, each in a separate subfield. In the

2007 version of the standard, the maximum number of subfields was restricted to 88. In

the 2008 version, there was no restriction on the upper limit. This version maintains the

2007 upper limit of 88 for all encodings. This field does not contain a Z coordinate, unlike

Field 10.032: 3D facial feature points/ 3DF.

• The first information item, feature point type / FPT is a one character

value. It is mandatory. 189 It shall be either:

 1 = Denoting an MPEG4 Feature point; or,

 2 = Denoting an anthropometric landmark. 

• The second information item, feature point code / FPC is 3 to 5 characters. If

188 [2013n>] Valid values for IMT are expanded from being restricted to only FACE in 2011 [<2013n]

189 [2013e>] In the 2011 base version, there was a sentence that incorrectly indicated that a period could

be present in this one digit numerical field. [<2013e]

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FPT is 1, this information item shall be “A.B” with A and B defined in Section

8.10.28.1 MPEG4 feature points and illustrated in Figure 14. If FPT is 2, the codes

are entered as shown in the “Feature Point ID” column of Table 78. This is one to four

alphabetic characters. 

• The third information item is the x coordinate / HCX. It is 1 to 5 characters,

denoting the pixel count horizontally to the right from the upper left pixel,

which is set to 0.

• The fourth information item is the y coordinate / HCY. It is 1 to 5

characters, denoting the pixel count vertically down from the upper left pixel,

which is set to 0.

8.10.28.1 MPEG4 feature points

The feature point code / FPC item shall specify the feature point that is stored in the

feature point block. FPT = 1 in either Field 10.029: 2D facial feature points / FFP or Field

10.032: 3D facial feature points/ 3DF denotes the codes for the feature points are taken

from the MPEG4 standard and defined as MPEG4 feature points. Each feature point code is

represented by a notation A.B using a major (A) and a minor (B) value. The encoding of the

feature point code is given by the numeric ASCII representation of the value of A.B. The

period is required, and the maximum size of this entry shall be 5 characters.

For the entire face, Figure 14 denotes the feature point codes associated with feature points

as given by Annex C of ISO/IEC 14496-2. For the eyes and nose, additional detail is shown

in Figure 13. Each code is given by major value A and minor value B. For example, the

code for the left corner of the left eye is given by major value 3 and minor value 7. “A”

specifies the global landmark of the face to which this feature point belongs, such as nose,

mouth, etc. “B” specifies the particular point. In case a Landmark Point has two

symmetrical entities (left and right) the right entity always has a greater and an even minor

code value. Landmark points from the left part of the face have odd minor codes, and those

from the right part have even minor codes. Both A and B are in the range from 1 to 15.

8.10.28.2 Eye and nostril center feature points

The eye center feature points 12.1 (left) and 12.2 (right) are defined to be the horizontal and

vertical midpoints of the eye corners (3.7, 3.11) and (3.8, 3.12) respectively. The left nostril

center feature point 12.3 is defined to be the midpoint of the nose feature points (9.1, 9.15)

in the horizontal direction and (9.3, 9.15) in the vertical direction. Similarly, the right nostril

center feature point 12.4 is defined to be the midpoint of the nose feature points (9.2, 9.15)

in the horizontal direction and (9.3, 9.15) in the vertical direction. Both the eye center and

nostril center Feature points are shown in Figure 13 and values are given in Table 77.

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Figure 13: Eye and nostril center feature points

Table 77 Eye and nostril center feature point codes

Center Feature Point Midpoint of Feature Points Feature Point

code

Left Eye 3.7, 3.11 12.1

Right Eye 3.8, 3.12 12.2

Left Nostril

Horizontal Vertical

12.3

9.1, 9.15 9.3, 9.15

Right Nostril

Horizontal Vertical

12.4 9.2, 9.15 9.3, 9.15

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x

y

z

11.5

11.4

11.2

10.2

10.4

10.10

10.8

10.6

2.14

7.1

11.6 4.6

4.4

4.2

5.2

5.4

2.10

2.12

2.1

11.1

Tongue

6.2 6.4 6.3

6.1

Mouth

8.1

8.9 8.10 8.5

8.3

8.7

8.2

8.8

8.4

8.6

2.2

2.3

2.6

2.9 2.8

2.5 2.7 2.4

2.1

2.12 2.11

2.14

2.10

2.13

10.6

10.8

10.4

10.2

10.10

5.4

5.2

5.3

5.1

10.1

10.9

10.3

10.5

10.7

4.1 4.3

4.6 4.5

4.4 4.2

11.2 11.1 11.3

11.4

11.5

x

y

z

Nose

9.6 9.7

9.14 9.13

9.12

9.2

9.4 9.15 9.5

9.3

9.1

Teeth

9.10 9.11

9.8

9.9

Feature points affected by FAPs

Other feature points

Right eye Left eye

3.13

3.7

3.9

3.5

3.1

3.3

3.11

3.14

3.10

3.12 3.6

3.4

3.2

3.8

Figure 14: Feature point codes defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2

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8.10.28.3 Anthropometric landmarks with and without MPEG4 counterparts

This Section190 references the definitions specified by ISO191. Anthropometric landmarks

extend the MPEG4 feature model with points that are used in forensics and anthropology for

person identification via two facial images or image and skull. They also allow specification

of points that are in use by criminal experts and anthropologists. Figure 15192 and Table 78

show the definition of the anthropometric landmarks. The set of points represents the

craniofacial landmark points of the head and face. The latter are used in forensics for “Face

to face” and “Skull to face” identification. In Field 10.029: 2D facial feature points / FFP

and Field 10.032: 3D facial feature points/ 3DF, the FPT information item is coded with

a value of “2”. Some of these points have MPEG 4 counterparts, others not. The error of an

anthropometric 3D landmark point location should be no greater than 3 mm. The point on

the surface is a vertex, or a point on an edge, or a point on a face of the surface. 

[2013e] The locations of points ZY and FT have been corrected in the profile view in

Figure 15: Anthropometric facial landmarks defined in ISO/IEC 19794-5 [<2013e]

Figure 15: Anthropometric facial landmarks defined in ISO/IEC 19794-5

190 New for the 2011 version of the standard.

191 See ISO/IEC 19794-5 Information technology – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 5: Face

image data, Section 5.5.6 Anthropometric Landmarks.

192 Red landmarks denote with MPEG4 counterparts and blue without MPEG4 counterparts.

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Table 78 ISO definitions of the anthropometric landmarks

Feature

Point

ID

MPEG4

Feature

Point

Anthropometric Point

Name Description

v 11.4 vertex The highest point of head when the head is oriented in 

Frankfurt Horizon. 

g glabella The most prominent middle point between the eyebrows 

op opisthocranion Situated in the occipital region of the head is most distant

from the glabella 

eu eurion The most prominent lateral point on each side of the skull in

the area of the parietal and temporal bones 

ft frontotemporale The point on each side of the forehead, laterally from the 

elevation of the linea temporalis 

tr 11.1 trichion The point on the hairline in the midline of the forehead 

zy zygion The most lateral point of each of the zygomatic bones

go 

2.15

2.16 gonion The most lateral point on the mandibural angle close to the bony gonion 

sl sublabiale Determines the lower border of the lower lip or the upper 

border of the chin 

pg 2.10 pogonion

The most anterior midpoint of the chin, located on the skin 

surface in the front of the identical bony landmark of the 

mandible 

gn 2.1 menton (or gnathion) The lowest median landmark on the lower border of the 

mandible 

cdl condylion laterale The most lateral point on the surface of the condyle of the 

mandible 

en

3.11

3.8 endocanthion The point at the inner commissure of the eye fissure 

ex

3.7

3.12

exocanthion (or

ectocanthion) The point at the outer commissure of the eye fissure 

p 

3.5

3.6 center point of pupil Is determined when the head is in the rest position and the eyeis looking straight forward 

or 

3.9

3.10 orbitale The lowest point on the lower margin of each orbit 

ps

3.1

3.2 palpebrale superius The highest point in the mid-portion of the free margin of 

each upper eyelid 

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Feature

Point

ID

MPEG4

Feature

Point

Anthropometric Point

Name Description

pi 3.3

3.4 palpebrale inferius The lowest point in the mid-portion of the free margin of eachlower eyelid 

os orbitale superius The highest point on the lower border of the eyebrow 

sci 

4.3

4.4

superciliare The highest point on the upper border in the mid-portion of 

each eyebrow 

n nasion The point in the middle of both the nasal root and nasofrontal

suture 

se sellion (or subnasion) Is the deepest landmark located on the bottom of the 

nasofrontal angle (equivalent to the term “bridge of the nose”)

al 9.1

9.2 alare The most lateral point on each alar contour 

prn 9.3 pronasale The most protruded point of the apex nasi 

sn 9.15 subnasale

The midpoint of the angle at the columella base where the 

lower border of the nasal septum and the surface of the upper 

lip meet 

sbal subalare The point at the lower limit of each alar base, where the alar

base disappears into the skin of the upper lip 

ac

9.1

9.2

alar curvature (or alar

crest) point The most lateral point in the curved base line of each ala 

mf 9.6

9.7 maxillofrontale The base of the nasal root medially from each endocanthi

cph 8.9

8.10 christa philtri landmark The point on each elevated margin of the philtrum just above 

the vermilion line

ls 8.1 labiale (or labrale)

superius The midpoint of the upper vermilion line

li 8.2 labiale (or labrale)

inferius The midpoint of the lower vermilion line

ch 8.3

8.4 cheilion The point located at each labial commissure

sto stomion

The imaginary point at the crossing of the vertical facial 

midline and the horizontal labial fissure between gently 

closed lips, with teeth shut in the natural position

sa

10.1

10.2 superaurale The highest point of the free margin of the auricle

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Feature

Point

ID

MPEG4

Feature

Point

Anthropometric Point

Name Description

sba 10.5

10.6 subaurale The lowest point of the free margin of the ear lobe

pra

10.9

10.10 preaurale The most anterior point on the ear, located just in front of the helix attachment to the head

pa postaurale The most posterior point on the free margin of the ear

obs 10.3

10.4 otobasion superius The point of attachment of the helix in the temporal region

obi obotasion inferius The point of attachment of the helix in the temporal region

po porion (soft) The highest point of the upper margin of the cutaneous 

auditory meatus

t tragion The notch on the upper margin of the tragus

8.10.29 Field 10.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

This field is optional. See Section 7.7.1.3.

8.10.30 Field 10.031: Tiered markup collection / TMC

This optional field193 [2013a>] is defined only if IMT = 'FACE'. It specifies feature

points that shall [<2013a] be contained in Field 10.029: 2D facial feature points / FFP

and if the value of TMC is 5, these contours shall be contained in Field 10.033: Feature

contours / FEC. It is selected from the “Value” column of Table 79.

193 New for the 2011 version of the standard.

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Table 79 Tiered markup collections (frontal)

Value Facial feature

points / Contours Description

1 Eye centers

2D Feature Points:

Centers of eyes: 12.1 and 12.2

2 Eyes, mouth

2D Feature Points:

Centers of eyes: 12.1 and 12.2

Center of mouth: sto

3 Eyes, nose, mouth

2D Feature Points for:

Corners of eyes: 3.7, 3.11, 3.8, 3.12

Bridge and tip of nose: Se, 9.3

Corners of mouth: 8.3, 8.4

4

Eyes, nose, mouth, and

head

2D Feature Points for:

Corners of eyes: 3.7, 3.11, 3.8, 3.12

Pupils: 3.5, 3.6

Edges of nostrils: 9.4, 9.5

Corners of mouth: 8.3, 8.4

Tops and bottoms of ears: 10.1, 10.5, 10.2, 10.6

Chin: 2.1

Top of head and/or hair: 11.4, 11.5

5

Facial feature points and

contours for eyes, brows,

nose, mouth and face

outline

Top of upper lip contour

Bottom of lower lip contour

Left and right eyebrow contours

Left and right eye contours

Chin contour

2D Feature Points for:

Left and right eyes: 3.7, 3.11, 12.1, 3.8, 3.12, 12.2

Nose: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.15

Mouth corners: 8.3, 8.4

Ear tops and bottoms: 10.1, 10.5, 10.2, 10.6

6-99 Reserved Reserved for future use

100-999 User-defined user-defined

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8.10.31 Field 10.032: 3D facial feature points/ 3DF

The optional field shall describe special attributes of manually or automatically detected

facial feature points of the captured facial image [2013n>] (IMT = 'FACE', 'HEAD', 'LIP',

'EXTRAORAL' and 'CONDITION') [<2013n]188. It shall be entered as a five-information

item feature point block in a subfield. Multiple facial points may be listed using these

information items, each in a separate subfield. The maximum number of feature points is

88. This field contains a Z coordinate, unlike Section 8.10.28, which is solely a 2D set of

feature points. 

[2013a>] The 3D facial feature points are noted on a 2D image, since Type-10 records

only convey 2D visible light photographic images. [<2013a]

• The first information item, feature point type / FPT is a one character

value. It is mandatory. It shall be either:

 1 = Denoting an MPEG4 Feature point, but using a Z coordinate.

 2 = Anthropometric landmark, with a Z coordinate.

• The second information item, feature point code / FPC is 3 to 5 characters.

If FPT is 1, this information item shall be “A.B” with A and B defined in

Section 8.10.28.1 MPEG4 feature points and illustrated in Figure 14.

The allowed special character is a period. If FPT is 2, the codes are entered

as shown in the “Feature Point ID” column of Table 78. Note that this entry

is one to four alphabetic characters.

• The third information item is the x coordinate / HCX. It is 1 to 5 characters,

denoting the pixel count from the upper left pixel, which is set to 0.

• The fourth information item is the y coordinate / HCY. It is 1 to 5

characters, denoting the pixel count from the upper left pixel, that is set to 0.

• The fifth information item is the z coordinate / HCZ. It is 1 to 5 characters,

denoting the pixel count from the X-Y plane, which is set to 0.

8.10.32 Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC

Each subfield (See Section 7.7.12.2) refers to a specific contour on the [2013n>] image

[<2013n]194 and contains a minimum of three points. [2013a>] This field shall appear if

TMC = 5. It is optional otherwise. [<2013a]

8.10.33 Field 10.034: Image capture date range estimate / ICDR

[2013n> This is the amount of time (plus and minus) of which PHD is the center point

during which the image data could have been originally collected. In Traditional format,

it is entered in the format as Y

yyMmmDdd

. It is possible to enter only a year, month

194 [2013n>] In 2011, this field was restricted to use when IMT = FACE. That restriction has been

removed in the 2013 Update. [<2013n]

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and/or day range, such as D5, meaning that the actual date of collection is estimated to

be 5 days plus or minus from that specified in PHD. Leading zeros need not be

entered. 

[2015a>]For XML implementations, this element is represented using an XML duration

type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that there is a date value range

and T indicates that there is a time value range. Under P, nY is the number of years,

nM is the numbers of months, nD is the number of days. Under T, nH is the number of

hours, nM is the number of minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

8.10.34 Field 10.038: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4. 

8.10.35 Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10

This is an optional field. It [2015 a>] may be [<2015a] used when several images cover

either the entire scar, (needle) mark, tattoo (SMT) or portions of it. 

[2013d>] This field shall be present if lip print comparison descriptive text / LPCD

is present in Field 10.049: Cheiloscopic image data / CID or dental visual image

comparison descriptive text / VICD is present in Field 10.050: Dental visual image

data information / VID. [<2013d]

The same T10 is used when referring to a particular image. This field shall only be

present if multiple Type-10 records in the transaction contain the same SMT or body

part. It can be used for any image type specified in Field 10.003: Image type / IMT.

T10 is a positive integer. The only requirement is that a value for T10 only links

related images. 

An example would be to assign a value of 1 to two different Type-10 records, the first

of which has an image of a tattoo over the entire chest of a male. A second image of a

small portion of the tattoo on the chest showing a gang symbol is contained in another

Type-10 with the same value of 1 for T10. No other Type-10 records (in this

example) would have a value of 1 for T10. 

8.10.36 Field 10.040: NCIC code / SMT

This field shall be used only when Field 10.003: Image type / IMT = “SCAR”,

“MARK”, “TATTOO”, [2015n>] “CONDITION”, “MISSING” or “OTHER”. [<2015n] 

It is not used for other images. It is used to identify a general location of the captured scar,

mark, tattoo, or other characteristic (including piercings) in an image. The contents of this

field shall be from the NCIC code (See Annex D: NCIC code table). The captured image

may encompass an area larger than that specified by a single NCIC body part code for the

particular image type. This situation may be accommodated by listing multiple NCIC

codes, each in a separate subfield. In this case the primary code is listed first. There need

not be more than one subfield. 

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For the “marks” category, the NCIC manual lists the common locations for needle track

marks. For other body part locations not listed under the “marks” category, use the body

location codes listed for scars.

8.10.37 Field 10.041: SMT size or size of injury or identifying 

characteristic / SMS

This optional field shall contain the dimensions of the portion of image contained in this

record (it may be the entire scar, mark, tattoo, injury or identifying characteristic). It shall

consist of two information items: height / HGT and width / WID. Each dimension shall be

entered to the nearest centimeter. 195

8.10.38 Field 10.042: SMT descriptors / SMD

This optional field is used to describe the content of the SMT image to an extent greater than

documented in Field 10.040: NCIC code / SMT. It shall consist of one or more sets of

information items. The 2007 version of the standard restricted the number of subfields to 9.

It was unrestricted in the 2008 version. This version maintains the upper limit of 9 for all

encodings. This field shall be used only when Field 10.003: Image type / IMT= “SCAR”,

“MARK”, or “TATTOO”.

• The first information item (SMT code indicator / SMI) shall identify the

type of SMT. The value for this information item is selected from the “Image

sub-code” column of Table 71. It shall contain “SCAR” to indicate healed

scar tissue that was the result of an accident or medical procedure.

“PIERCING” is a deliberately made hole through body tissue, usually to

wear body ornamentation. An entry of “MARK” shall be used for the

pattern resulting from needle or track marks. For deliberately applied or

drawn images, the first information item shall contain “TATTOO” to

indicate a common tattoo or indelible image resulting from the pricking of

the skin with a coloring matter; “CHEMICAL” if the image was created by

the use of chemicals to burn the image into the skin; “BRANDED” if the

image was burned into the skin using a branding iron or other form of heat;

or “CUT” if the image was caused by incision of the skin. 

 [2015a>] Published best practice guidelines on the collection of tattoo

images to support image-based tattoo recognition are available at

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/tattoo.cfm [<2015a]

• The second information item (tattoo class / TAC) shall be the general class

code of tattoo chosen from the “Class Code” column of Table 80. This

information item does not apply to scars and marks.

• The third information item (tattoo subclass / TSC) shall be the appropriate

subclass code selected from Table 80. For each general class of tattoo, there

195 [2013n>] The restriction against using this field if Field 10.003 is set to FACE is lifted in this update.

[<2013n]

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are several defined subclasses. This information item does not apply to scars

and marks.

• The fourth (optional) information item (tattoo description / TDS) shall be a

text string that provides additional qualifiers to describe the image or portion

of the image. For example, to fully describe a tattoo, there may be a class

description of “ANIMAL”, with a subclass description of “DOG”, and

qualified by “golden retriever with an overbite”. This information item does

not apply to scars and marks.

An SMT image consisting of several parts or sub-images shall use subfields to fully

describe the various parts or features found in the total image. The first subfield shall

describe the most predominant feature or sub-image contained in the SMT image.

Subsequent repeating subfields shall describe additional portions of the image that are not

part of the main or central focal point of the image. For example, a tattoo consisting of a

man with a snake on the arm being followed by a dog may contain three subfields: one

describing the man, a second describing the snake, and a third describing the dog.

Table 80 Tattoo classes and subclasses

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

HUMAN

Male Face MFACE

 ANIMAL

 Cats & Cat Heads CAT

Female Face FFACE Dogs & Dog Heads DOG

Abstract Face ABFACE Other Domestic Animals DOMESTIC

Male Body MBODY Vicious Animals (Lions,

etc.) 

 VICIOUS

Female Body FBODY Horses (Donkeys, Mules,

etc.)

 HORSE

Abstract Body ABBODY Other Wild Animals WILD

Roles (Knight, Witch,

man, etc.)

ROLES Snakes SNAKE

Sports Figures

(Football Player,

Skier, etc.)

SPORT Dragons DRAGON

Male Body Parts MBPART Birds (Cardinal, Hawk, etc.) BIRD

Female Body Parts FBPART Spiders, Bugs, and Insects INSECT

Abstract Body Parts ABBPART Abstract Animals ABSTRACT

Miscellaneous Human

Forms

MHUMAN Animal Parts PARTS

Skulls SKULL Miscellaneous Animal

Forms

 MANIMAL

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Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

 PLANT

 Narcotics NARCOTICS

 FLAG

 American Flag USA 

 Red Flowers REDFL State Flag STATE

 Blue Flowers BLUEFL Nazi Flag NAZI

 Yellow Flowers YELFL Confederate Flag CONFED

 Drawings of Flowers DRAW British Flag BRIT

 Rose ROSE Miscellaneous Flags MFLAG

 Tulip TULIP

 Lily LILY

 Misc. Plants, Flowers, 

 Vegetables.

 

 MPLANT

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

OBJECT

 Fire FIRE

ABSTRACT

 Figure(s) FIGURE

 Weapons (Guns, Arrows,

 etc.)

 WEAP 

 Sleeve

 

 SLEEVE

 Airplanes and other Air

 vehicles (incl. Blimps)

 PLANE 

 Bracelet

 BRACE

 Boats, Ships, & Other

 Water Vessels

 VESSEL 

 Anklet

 

 ANKLET

 Trains TRAIN Necklace NECKLC

 Cars, Trucks, and other

 Land Vehicles (except

 Trains)

 VEHICLE 

 Shirt

 

 SHIRT

 Mythical (Unicorns, etc.) MYTH Body Band BODBND

 Sporting Objects

 (Football, Ski, Hurdles,

 etc.)

 SPORT 

 Head Band

 

 HEDBND

 Water & Nature Scenes

 (Rivers, Sky, Trees, etc.)

 NATURE Miscellaneous

 Abstract

 

 MABSTRACT

 Miscellaneous Objects MOBJECTS

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

Class

Code

Subclass

Description 

Subclass

Code

SYMBOL

 National Symbols NATION 

 OTHER 

 Wording (Mom, 

Dad, Mary, etc.)

 WORDING

 Political Symbols POLITIC Freeform Drawings FREEFRM

 Military Symbols MILITARY Miscellaneous 

Images 

 MISC 

 Fraternal Symbols FRATERNAL

 Professional Symbols PROFESS 

 Gang Symbols GANG

 Miscellaneous Symbols MSYMBOLS

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8.10.39 Field 10.043: Tattoo color / COL

This field is optional, but it can only be used when Field 10.042: SMT descriptors /

SMD is in the record. It shall contain one subfield corresponding to each subfield

contained in Field 10.042: SMT descriptors / SMD. Each subfield shall contain up to 6

information items that state the color(s) of the tattoo or part of the tattoo. For each

subfield entry, the first one shall be the predominant color chosen from Table 81.

Additional colors may be entered as optional subsequent information items of the form

tattoo color code 1 through tattoo color code 6. There need not be more than one

information item. 

Table 81 Tattoo color codes

Color Description Color code Color Description Color code

Black BLACK Purple PURPLE

Brown BROWN Red RED

Gray GRAY Yellow YELLOW

Blue BLUE White WHITE

Green GREEN Multi-colored MULTI

Orange ORANGE Outlined OUTLINE

8.10.40 Field 10.044: Image transform / ITX

This optional field is used in the case when the image in this Type-10 record has been

transformed from the original image. The untransformed image(s) (optionally) may be

included in a Type-20 record. The information item in this field may be repeated if

multiple transforms were performed. It can be used for any image type specified in Field

10.003: Image type / IMT.

Table 82 Image transform values

Value Description

AGE Age progressed

AXIS Off-axis image rectification / Angle correction

COLORSHIFT Color shifted

CONTRAST Contrast stretched

CROP Cropped

DIST Distortion corrected (e.g., fisheye correction)

DOWNSAMPLE Down-sampled

GRAY Grayscale from color

ILLUM Illumination transform

IMGFUSE Image-level fusion of two or more images

INTERPOLATE Up-sampled

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Value Description

MULTCOMP Multiply compressed

MULTIVIEW Multi-view image

POSE Face-specific pose correction

ROTATE Rotated (in-plane)

SNIR Simulated Near IR

SUPERRES Super-resolution image, derived from multiple lower resolution images

WHITE White balance adjusted

8.10.41 Field 10.045: Occlusions / OCC

This optional field defines the outline and contents of any occlusions that partially or

totally blocks the image of the face (IMT = 'FACE'). This is a polygon. For details on

polygons, see Section 7.7.12. For details on entering data for this Field, see Section

7.7.12.2. Each point on the polygon is represented by a pair of information items. In

addition to the polygon, it contains two other information items:

• The first information item contains the alphabetic code from Table 32.

• The second information item contains the alphabetic code from Table 33.

8.10.42 Field 10.046: Image subject condition / SUB

[2013n>] This field is optional. This field is particularly useful if the image contained in

this record is of an injury. However, its use is not limited to such circumstances. 

SUB reflects the status of the subject when the image was taken, not necessarily the

current status of the individual. For instance, if a photograph is furnished by a family to

assist in Disaster Victim Identification, the subject would be listed as alive at the time

of the image capture. A different instance of Record Type-10 may contain a

postmortem image, with SSC recorded as deceased. Use of X for SSC would be for

instances such as an image of a person who died of injuries but the status of the

individual at the time of imagery was not recorded – or for a detached body part (such

as an arm) imaged at a disaster scene. 

SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

X = Status of individual unknown 

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or persons 

unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased)

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• The second information item is mandatory if SSC is D. It is optional for

codes X or A. It is subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to

indicate whether the information relates to an entire body or a separate body

part. The numeric value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

SBSC may occur with a value of SSC equal to X, A or D when a detached body

part is imaged. IMT would be set to the appropriate code for the body part and

SBSC would be set to 2. 

IMT = MISSING shall be used to image the area of the body from which a body

part was separated and SBSC would be set to a value of 1 in that case.

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code / SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

3 = Skeletal

8.10.43 Field 10.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

10.004: Source agency/ SRC and Field 10.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. For example,

• The photograph of a subject's mouth (intraoral) was taken at a dentist's office

two years ago – and now could be used for possible identification of a body

following a disaster. That Dentist office is entered as the CON.

• The local police department that would create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2011 conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in

Field 10.004: Source agency/ SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in

Field 10.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke

Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final transmitting

organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI. Its

name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN in Field 1.017: Agency

names / ANM.

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8.10.44 Field 10.048: Suspected patterned injury detail / PID

This optional field allows the entry of information concerning suspected patterned

injuries. Values for Field 10.003: Image type / IMT of SCAR, MARK, TATTOO,

MISSING, OTHER and CONDITION shall not be used for patterned injuries, and thus

this field shall not appear if IMT is set to any of those values. Field 10.041: SMT size

or size of injury or identifying characteristic / SMS should be included in the record

if this field is present. This field contains an unlimited number of subfields with

the following information items: 

• [2015n>] The first information item is the patterned injury - reference

code list / PARC. If there is a definitive code list for patterned injuries

agreed upon for use by the sending and receiving organizations, this

information item may contain that code. (This expands the possibilities from

the 2013 version.) [<2015n]

• The second information item is the patterned injury - additional

descriptive text / PADT. It is a Unicode free text information item. It

shall appear in a subfield if PARC is not present in the subfield. It is

optional if PARC is present in the subfield. [<2013n]

8.10.45 Field 10.049: Cheiloscopic image data / CID

[2013d>] This is an optional field. If this field is encoded in Traditional format, each of

the values in information items designated as a 'list' shall be separated by '|' (vertical

bar). For XML each value in a list should be entered as a separate element. This field

may be used only if Field 10.003: Image type / IMT is LIP. 

For cheiloscopic analysis, it may be useful to include information in Field 10.029: 2D

facial feature points / FFP indicating the position of certain features of the lips on the

image, using the points shown in Figure 14: Feature point codes defined in ISO/IEC

14496-2. Note that Field 10.032: 3D facial feature points/ 3DF may also be used, with

the feature points selected from Figure 15: Anthropometric facial landmarks defined

in ISO/IEC 19794-5. Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC may be used to outline

distinctive features in a lip print. When distinct features are outlined for comparison on

an exemplar and a latent image, then Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10

should be used to link the two Type-10 records. Measurements are millimeters.

• The first information item, lip print width / LPW, is optional. It corresponds

to the distance from feature point code 8.4 to feature point code 8.3 on the

MOUTH in Figure 14: Feature point codes defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2.

It is measured in millimeters.

• The second information item, lip print height / LPH, is optional. It contains

the distance from feature points 8.2 to feature point 2.3 PLUS the distance

from feature point 2.2 to feature 8.1 on the MOUTH in Figure 14: Feature

point codes defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2. It is measured in millimeters. 

• The third information item, philtrum width / PHW is optional197. It is the

distance from feature point 8.9 to 8.10 as shown in Figure 14: Feature

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point codes defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2. It is measured in millimeters. 

• The fourth information item, philtrum height / PHH is optional197. It is the

distance in millimeters from feature point 8.1 to 9.15 (on the nose) as shown

in Figure 14: Feature point codes defined in ISO/IEC 14496-2. 

• The fifth information item, upper lip print characterization list/ ULCL, is

optional. [2015a>]It is a list of codes that may be used to describe the print.

Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] The characterizations are

those developed by Suzuki and Tsuchihashi196 The Type-code from Table

83 Cheiloscopic characterization codes is entered in this information item.

It is highly recommended that any distinctive patterns be outlined using

Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC. 

• The sixth information item, lower lip print characterization list/ LLCL, is

optional. [2015a>] It is a list of codes that may be used to describe the print.

Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] The characterizations are

those developed by Suzuki and Tsuchihashi196. The Type-code from Table

83 Cheiloscopic characterization codes is entered in this information item.

It is highly recommended that any distinctive patterns be outlined using

Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC. 

An example, coded as lists is: ULCL = II | I | <> | I | II 

 and LLCL = III| I | <> | I | II

The vertical bar “|” is used in Traditional format in a list as a separating character. In

XML encoding, each value (including <>) is a separate element and the vertical bar

does not appear. 

Table 83 Cheiloscopic characterization codes

Type-code Description

Suzuki and Tsuchihashi descriptors

I A clear cut groove running vertically across the lip

IP Partial-length groove of Type I (IP is used in lieu of I' in coding)

II Branched groove (fork-like; fork in their transit of the lip)

III An intersected groove

IV A reticular groove (cross-hatch or a net-like pattern)

<> Indicator for center of the lip (left < followed by right > )

O Other pattern(s) – Describe in LPCT 

 (Also called Type V by Suzuki and Tsuchihashi)

• The seventh information item is the lip contact line descriptor / [2015e>]

LPCT [<2015e]. It is 

196 [2013d>] Suzuki K, Tsuchihashi Y., Personal identification by means of lip prints, Journal of

Forensic Medicine 1970, 17-52-7 and New attempt of personal identification by means of lip prints,

Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal, 1971; 4:154-58 [<2013d]

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optional197. Its values are:

L = Linear contact line of the two lips

C = Curved contact line of the two lips 

M = Mixed shape contact line

• The eighth information item lip print characterization descriptive text/

LPCT. It is optional; however, 

[2015e>]it is mandatory if ULCL or LLCL contains the value O. [<2015e]

 It is UNICODE free text.

• The ninth information item is the lip pathologies and peculiarities list /

LPPL.197 It is optional. It is chosen from the Type-codes in Table 84 Lip

Pathologies and peculiarities codes. If Type-code 99 is selected, then

LPPT shall be used to describe the condition. Only one of the values 8, 9,

10, 11 or 12 may appear in the list. [2015a>] It is a list of codes that may be

used to describe the print. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] 

Table 84 Lip Pathologies and peculiarities codes

Type-code Description

1 Herpetic lesions

2 Scar(s)

3 Severe cracking

4 Blood varicosities

5 Intense 'whirls'

6 Mole

7 Cuts and scabs

8 Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) – unilateral incomplete - left 

9 Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) – unilateral incomplete - right 

10 Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) – unilateral complete - left

11 Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) – unilateral complete - right

12 Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) – bilateral incomplete 

13 Cleft lip (cheiloschisis) – bilateral complete

14 Piercing – upper lip

15 Piercing – lower lip

16 Tattoo – upper lip

17 Tattoo – lower lip

99 Other (describe in LPPT)

• The tenth item is optional; however, it shall appear if LPPL has a value of

197 [2013d>] See R.C. Coward, The Stability of Lip Pattern Characteristics Over Time, The Journal of

Forensic Odonto-Stomatology, Vol. 25 No. 2, December 2007. [<2013d]

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99. It is lip print pathologies and peculiarities descriptive text / LPPT. It

is UNICODE free text. [2015a>] It is a list of codes that may be used to

describe the print. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] 

• The eleventh information item is lip print surface list / LPSL. It is optional.

Multiple codes may be selected from Table 85 Lip print surface codes,

since a lip print may be on multiple surfaces. An exemplar of a lip print

may be made on a standard surface, such as a glass photographic slide

mount. If a Type-code other than 1 is selected, then lip print surface

descriptive text / LPST shall be entered. If Type-code 1 is chosen, then no

other values shall be entered in the list. Thus, there is a maximum of 3 items

in the list. [2015a>] It is a list of codes that may be used to describe the

print. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] 

Table 85 Lip print surface codes

Type-code Description

1 Glass photographic mount or other surface used for exemplars

2 Human skin (describe in LPST)

3 Clothing - such as a shirt collar (describe in LPST)

9 Other - such as a drinking glass (describe in LPST)

• The twelfth information item is lip print surface descriptive text / LPST. It

is optional; however, it shall appear if LPSL has a value other than 1. It is

UNICODE free text. [2015a>] It is a list of codes that may be used to

describe the print. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] 

• The thirteenth information item is lip print medium code / LPMC. It is

optional. It shall be selected from Table 86 Lip print medium codes. If

Type-code 9 is selected, then lip print medium descriptive text / LPMT

shall be entered.

Table 86 Lip print medium codes

Type-code Description

1 Lipstick / lip balm 

2 Water / sweat / natural moisture / other liquid

3 Food residue (such as cream cheese)

9 Other (describe in LPMT)

• The fourteenth information item is optional; however, if LPMC has a value

of 9, then it shall be entered. It is the lip print medium descriptive text /

LPMT. It is UNICODE free text. 

• The fifteenth information item is optional. It is the facial hair descriptive

text / FHDT197. It should be used to describe the presence, pattern,

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distribution and density of the follicles – if they are visible in the image.

This may be useful in establishing the sex of the individual based upon the

cheiloscopic image.

• The sixteenth information item is optional. It is the lip position and tension

descriptive text / LPDT. There may be considerable variation in lip prints

if the lips were pursed or open or if a print is taken post-mortem. This

information item should describe in general terms the probable, possible or

verified relative position of the lips to each other and the muscle tension and

shape of the lip print. It is UNICODE free text.

• The seventeenth information item is optional. It is the lip print additional

descriptive text/ LPAT. It is UNICODE free text. This information item

should be used to describe any relevant information that may assist in the

analysis of the cheiloscopic image. 

• The eighteenth information item is optional, [2015a>] but shall be present if

ULCL or LLCL contains the value O (See Table 83 Cheiloscopic

characterization codes) [<2015a]. It is the lip print comparison

descriptive text / LPCT. It may be used by an analyst to note the results of

a comparison against another image. If this information item is present, then

Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10 shall be present in the

record to indicate the image against which the image in this instance of the

Record Type-10 is compared. It is UNICODE free text. 

One approach for comparing lip prints is based upon identifying and

counting the number of superimposed vermillion patterns (stars, Ys, and

notches) and rating the quality of the contact line and the general appearance

of the images197. If this approach is followed, use LPCD to describe the

results. 

8.10.46 Field 10.050: Dental visual image data information / VID

This field shall only be used if Field 10.003: Image type / IMT has a value of

EXTRAORAL or INTRAORAL. 

Field 10.033: Feature contours / FEC may be used to highlight distinctive features in

an image. 

When distinct features are outlined for comparison on an exemplar and a latent image,

then Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10 should be used to link the two

Type-10 records. 

• The first information item is the visual image view code / VIVC. It is an

entry selected from the “View Code” column of Table 87 Dental image

codes.

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Table 87 Dental image codes

View Type View Position /

Type

View

Code Description

IMT = EXTRAORAL Image is taken from outside of the oral

cavity. IMT = EXTRAORAL is not intended

for use on living individuals. IMT = FACE

should be used for living individuals and

those images shall adhere to the

photographic guidelines in Annex E:

 Facial Capture – SAPs 30 and above.

Frontal Image should fill at least 90% of the image

and extend from above the top of the head

to the inferior border of the hyoid bone.

Both the Frankfort horizon line and the

interpupillary line should be at right angles

to the image with no rotation of the head.

The image should be centered on the

midline of the face both vertically and

horizontally. 

 Natural state EFNS The subject's face without any incisions

performed by the medical examiner or

coroner. 

 With incisions present EFWI Image taken after incisions made that

were part of the examination of the subject

 Lips retracted EFLR Image with device present that retracts the

lips

Oblique (45o)

 LEFT

 RIGHT

EFOL

EFOR

Image should fill at least 90% of the image

and extend from above the top of the head

to the inferior border of the hyoid bone.

The subject's head is rotated 45o. This

position is independent of the size of the

nose in contrast to the alignment of the

nose with the cheek. Focus point and

center of the picture is on the Frankfort

horizontal line at the junction with the

lateral acanthus. The lower margin is the

steno-clavicular joint. 

Profile (90o)

 LEFT

 RIGHT

EFPL

EFPR

Image should fill at least 90% of the image

and extend from above the top of the head

to the inferior border of the hyoid bone.

The head should be positioned so that the

ala-tragus line is parallel to the floor of the

jaw in the rest position. The head should

be turned so that the contralateral eyebrow

is barely visible. The image should be

centered midline of the face both

horizontally and vertically. 

IMT = INTRAORAL These are images focused upon the

interior of the oral cavity. They need not

be captured with the imager actually

inserted into the oral cavity.

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View Type View Position /

Type

View

Code Description

Frontal The lips should be retracted and the

image should be parallel to the occlusal

plane. The image should be center

between the occlusal plane and the

midline of the maxillary central incisors. 

 Jaws open – upper 

(maxillary) teeth

IFJU The image is taken from the front of the

mouth and shows a view of the upper

(maxillary) teeth. This code should be

selected when the lower jaw is not present

on the subject or there are no upper teeth

present on the subject. 

 Jaws open – lower 

(mandibular) teeth

IFJL The image is taken from the front of the

mouth and shows a view of the upper

(maxillary) teeth. This code should be

selected when there are no lower teeth

present on the subject. 

 Jaws open – both 

sets of teeth

IFJB The image shows the full set of teeth,

including anterior teeth as well as a partial

view of the premolar and possibly the first

molar region. This is the most common

code associated with an intraoral frontal

view. 

Facial (cheek side) The tongue should be placed so that it is

not in the image. 

 Subject's upper right 

(maxillary) teeth

IBUR The image should extend from the right

maxillary canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the right maxillary second

molar should be included. 

 Subject's upper left 

(maxillary) teeth

IBUL The image should extend from the left

maxillary canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the left maxillary second

molar should be included. 

 Subject's lower right 

(mandibular) teeth

IBLR The image should extend from the right

mandibular canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the right mandibular

second molar should be included. 

 Subject's lower left 

(mandibular) teeth

IBLL The image should extend from the left

mandibular canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the left mandibular

second molar should be included. 

 Subject's right teeth – 

both sets

IBRB The image should extend from the right

canines to as far distally as possible.

Ideally the right second molars should be

included. 

 Subject's left teeth – 

both sets

IBLB The image should extend from the left

canines to as far distally as possible.

Ideally the left second molars should be

included. 

Lingual (from the 

tongue / palatal 

side of the teeth)

The tongue should be placed so that it is

not in the image. 

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View Type View Position /

Type

View

Code Description

 Subject's upper right 

(maxillary) teeth

ILUR The image should extend from the right

maxillary canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the right maxillary second

molar should be included. 

 Subject's upper left 

(maxillary) teeth

ILUL The image should extend from the left

maxillary canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the left maxillary second

molar should be included. 

 Subject's lower right 

(mandibular) teeth

ILLR The image should extend from the right

mandibular canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the right mandibular

second molar should be included. 

 Subject's lower left 

(mandibular) teeth

ILLL The image should extend from the left

mandibular canine to as far distally as

possible. Ideally the left mandibular

second molar should be included. 

 Subject's right teeth – 

both sets

ILRB The image should extend from the right

canines to as far distally as possible.

Ideally the right second molars should be

included. 

 Subject's left teeth – 

both sets

ILLB The image should extend from the left

canines to as far distally as possible.

Ideally the left second molars should be

included. 

 Subject's upper front 

teeth

ILUF The image should include left maxillary

canine to right maxillary canine. 

 Subject's lower front 

teeth

ILLF The image should include left mandibular

canine to right mandibular canine. 

Occlusal (biting edge) These images are of the occlusal surfaces

of the teeth. The images should be taken

perpendicular to the plane of the teeth

surface. 

 Subject's full upper 

(maxillary) teeth

IOUA This view should include all anterior teeth,

all premolars and at least the maxillary first

molar.

 Subject's full lower 

(mandibular) teeth

IOLA This view should include all anterior teeth,

all premolars and at least the mandibular

first molar.

 Subject's upper right 

(maxillary) teeth

IOUR This view should include all anterior teeth,

all premolars and at least the maxillary first

molar.

 Subject's upper left 

(maxillary) teeth

IOUL This view should include all anterior teeth,

all premolars and at least the maxillary first

molar.

 Subject's lower right 

(mandibular) teeth

IOLR This view should include all anterior teeth,

all premolars and at least the mandibular

first molar.

 Subject's lower left 

(mandibular) teeth

IOLL This view should include all anterior teeth,

all premolars and at least the mandibular

first molar.

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View Type View Position /

Type

View

Code Description

 Subject's upper front 

teeth

IOUF This image should contain the occlusal

surface of the teeth from left maxillary

canine to right maxillary canine.

 Subject's lower front 

teeth

IOLF This image should contain the occlusal

surface of the teeth from left mandibular

canine to right mandibular canine.

Palatal This is a view of the 'roof' of the mouth.

The rugae should be in focus with an

adequate depth of field, since they may be

useful in subject identification. This image

should be taken if the subject has a cleft

palate or other abnormality. It should also

be taken when the palate is tattooed.

 Subject's palate 

(including 

rugae)198

IPC This should be a centered view of the

palate. 

Tongue This view should be used if there is any

jewelery, piercing abnormalities of the

tongue (including 'ornamental

disfiguration') and tattoos.

 Upper tongue surface ITU This view should be taken with the tongue

as flat as possible.

 Lower tongue area ITL This view should be taken with the tongue

raised or in retroflex position, centered on

the frenulum. 

Cheeks This view should be used if there is any

jewelery piercing, abnormalities of the

cheek (including 'ornamental disfiguration')

and tattoos.

 Subject's right 

interior cheek

ICR This view should be centered on the right

oral linea alba and should include the right

parotid papilla.

 Subject's left interior 

cheek

ICL This view should be centered on the left

oral linea alba and should include the left

parotid papilla.

Pharynx 

 back of mouth

IPB This view is focused upon the soft tissue at

the back of the mouth. It should include

the uvula and oropharynx regions.

 Inside of lips 199 This view should be used if there is any

jewelery piercing, abnormalities of the lip,

(including 'ornamental disfiguration') and

tattoos. 

198 [2013d>] For a discussion of the use of rugae in DVI, see Muthusubramanian M., Limson, K.S.,

Julian R., Analysis of rugae in burn victims and cadavers to simulate rugae identification in cases of

incineration and decomposition, The Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology, Vol. 23, No. 1, June 2005

Human remains were successfully identified by comparing the rugae to those imprinted in a spare upper

denture, as described in Thomas C.J., van Wyk C.W., The palatal rugae in an identification, Journal of

Forensic Odonto-Stomatology, Volume 6, June 1988. [<2013d]

199 [2013d>] Note that this is considered intraoral and does not have IMT = LIP (which is intended for

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View Type View Position /

Type

View

Code Description

 Upper inside lip ILU This image should be captured of the

maxillary vestibule if there is a significant

finding (i.e., tattoo or oral lesion) or an

abnormailty of the superior labial frenulum

such as connecting to the palate between

the front teeth.

 Lower inside lip ILL This image should be captured of the

mandibular vestibule if there is a

significant finding (i.e., tattoo or oral lesion)

or an abnormailty of the inferior labial

frenulum such as connecting to the palate

between the front teeth.

• The second information item is the visual image additional descriptive

text / VIDT. It is a Unicode free text information item. 

• The third information item is the visual image comparison descriptive

text / VICD. It may be used by an analyst to note the results of a

comparison against another image. If this information item is present, then

Field 10.039: Type-10 reference number / T10 shall be present in the

record to indicate the image against which the image in this instance of the

Record Type-10 is compared. It is UNICODE free text.

[<2013d] [2013n>]

8.10.47 Field 10.051: Ruler or scale presence / RSP

This optional field allows the user to state whether a ruler or other known scale is

present in the image. The field consists of four information items. 

• The first information item, ruler or scale units / RSU, indicates the units of

measurement visible on the ruler or measurement scale:

 IN = inches; MM = millimeters; BOTH = both inches and millimeters

• The second information item, ruler or scale make / RSM, lists the maker of

the ruler or scale (if known). 

• The third information item, ruler or scale model / RSO, lists the model of

the ruler or scale (if known). For patterned injuries, the ABFO # 2 Reference

Scale (commonly called the ABFO # 2 ruler) shall be used.200

cheiloscopic analysis) [<2013d]

200 [2013d>] The guidelines of the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) shall be followed

for patterned injuries of possible oral origin. The ABFO Guidelines are available at

http://www.abfo.org/resources/abfo-manual/ [<2013d]

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Figure 16: ABFO # 2 Reference Scale

[<2013n]

8.10.48 Fields 10.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

The size and content of these fields shall be defined by the user and be in accordance

with the receiving agency.

8.10.49 Field 10.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.10.50 Field 10.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.10.51 Field 10.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.10.52 Field 10.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

[2013n>] This is an optional field. When used, it contains the IDC value of the Type-2

record that contains relevant biographic information and other data concerning the subject

of this instance of the record, who may be different from the subject of the transaction.

See Section 7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C. [<2013n]

8.10.53 Field 10.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

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agency referenced in Field 10.004: Source agency/ SRC.

[2015n>]

8.10.54 Field 10.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field may be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for the image, if the data is not contained in Field 10.999: Body part

image / DATA. If this field is used, Field 10.999 shall not be used. However, one of

the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. It is highly

recommended that the user state the format of the external file in Field 10.038:

Comment / COM. [<2015n]

8.10.55 Field 10.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. See

Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the

biometric data in Field 10.999: Body part image / DATA but that may be relevant to

the collection of that data, such as general scenes of the area where the body of the

subject was found.

8.10.56 Field 10.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of data in Field 10.999: Body part 

image / DATA.

8.10.57 Field 10.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN from

which the data in Field 10.999: Body part image / DATA.

8.10.58 Field 10.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the image was acquired – not where it is 

stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.10.59 Field 10.999: Body part image / DATA

[2015n>] This field may contain the image. See Section 7.2 for details on the Data

field entry. If Field 10.994: External file reference / EFR is present in this record,

then this field shall not be present. However, one of the two fields shall be present in

the record. [<2015n]

[2013v>]

8.11Record Type-11: Forensic and investigatory voice record

The Type-11 is focused upon the analysis of voice signals for forensic and

investigatory purposes. Voice analysis is often divided into two general areas:

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Speech Recognition

Speaker Recognition

Both of these areas may play a part in forensic and investigatory analyses. 

Speech recognition involves the interpretation of vocalizations for their linguistic

content. Automatic speech recognition may be speaker dependent (based upon

enrollment data from the individual speaker) or speaker independent201. Speech

recognition can also be performed manually, such as when a phonetic transcript or a

translation is generated. This content is contained in Field 11.026: Vocal content

diary / VCD. 

Speaker recognition involves determining who is performing the vocalizations. The

human voice - generally carrying both speech and non-speech sounds - propagates

varying distances through air (principally) or another medium to reach acoustic

transducers (usually microphones, when recorded) of varying amplitude and phase

response. For purposes of the Type-11 record, a “speaker” is any person producing

“vocalizations” from the throat or oral cavity, which may be voiced (activating the

vocal cords) or unvoiced (such as aspirations, whispers, tongue clicks and other similar

sounds). An automated interlocutor is considered to be a “speaker” for the purposes of

this record type, since the intent is to directly mimic human speech, although such a

speaker will not be the primary subject of an ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction. 

When voice sounds carry speech, that speech usually occurs within a social context

involving more than one speaker. Consequently, a recorded speech signal may contain

the voices of multiple speakers. Thus, the Type-11 record accommodates recordings

with multiple speakers; can designate whether any of the speakers are already

identified; can convey the count of the number of individual speakers; and can convey

when the same person is speaking at multiple points during the recording. It can also

convey the transcribed linguistic content of each speaker.

An ANSI/NIST-ITL transaction is typically focused upon the identification of one

individual. However, in order to effectively perform that identification (or verification

of identity), it may be necessary to include information about other persons in the

transaction. With voice recordings, it may be necessary to contain in a transaction

‘known’ clips of certain persons who are possibly speaking in the recording under

investigation, in order to separate out the speech of the known individuals and

concentrate on the identification of the remaining speakers. Thus, there may be a

difference between the ‘subject of the transaction’ and the ‘subject of the record.’ 

Multiple Type-11 records may be contained in a single transaction. The type of action

desired by the submitter of the transaction (to be performed by the receiver of the

transaction) is specified in a Type-1 record in the TOT field. 

There are factors that had to be considered in developing this record type. Some of the

most significant ones include:

201See David S. Pallett, Performance Assessment of Automatic Speech Recognizers, Journal of the

National Bureau of Standards, Volume 90, Number 5, September-October 1985 for a set of terms used by

the IEEE Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing Society Working Group on Speech I/O Systems

Performance Assessment. 

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· Voice signals generally contain both speech and non-speech elements, either of

which might be useful in speaker recognition applications.

· Unlike other modalities, voice signals are collected in time - not spatial -

dimensions and will not have a single “time of collection”. 

· In mobile applications, even a single segment of a voice signal may not be linkable

to a single geographic location or to a specific speaker. 

· Voice signals containing speech have direct informational content. Unlike other

forms of biometric recognition, the speech itself means something and, even if stripped

of all personally identifiable information including the acoustic content itself, may

require protection for privacy or security reasons.

· Unlike other modalities, voice signals may reflect and depend upon the social and

behavioral conditions – as well as the environmental conditions -- of the collection

environment, including the relationship between the data subject and any interlocutors. 

Application profiles of this standard shall specify the applicable upper limit for all

elements with a maximum occurrence of * (unlimited). 

Table 88 Type-11 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

11.001 RECORD HEADER M

Encoding specific;

See Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

Encoding specific;

See Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

11.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99 

integer

1 1

11.003 AOD

AUDIO OBJECT 

DESCRIPTOR CODE

M N 1 1

0 < AOD < 5

integer

1 1

11.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

11.005

 VRSO

VOICE RECORDING 

SOURCE 

ORGANIZATION 

O 0 1

 STC

 source organization type

code

M↑ A 1 1

STC = U, P, I, G or

O

1 1

 SON source organization 

name

O↑ U 1 400 none 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 POC point of contact O↑ U 1 200 none 0 1

 CSC

 source organization 

country code

O↑ AN 2 3

 values from ISO3166-1 or GENC

0 1

11.006

 VRC

 VOICE RECORDING 

CONTENT 

DESCRIPTOR

O 0 1

 AVI assigned voice indicator M↑ A 1 1 AVI = A, N or Q 1 1

 SPC speaker plurality code O↑ A 1 1 SPC = M or S 0 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.007

 AREC

 AUDIO RECORDING 

DEVICE

O 0 1

 RDD

 recording device 

descriptive text

O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

 MAK recording device make O↑ U 1 50 none 0 1

 MOD recording device model O↑ U 1 50 none 0 1

 SER

 recording device serial 

number

O↑ U 1 50 none 0 1

11.008

 AQS

 ACQUISITION 

SOURCE

D 0 1

 AQC acquisition source code M↑ N 1 2

value from Table

121 Acquisition

source

1 1

 A2D

 analog to digital 

conversion description

D U 1 * none 0 1

 FDN

 radio transmission 

format description

D U 1 * none 0 1

 AQSC

 acquisition special 

characteristics

O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.009 RCD

 RECORD CREATION 

DATE

M

See Section

7.7.2.4 Local date

& time

See Section

7.7.2.4 Local date

& time 

1 1

11.010 VRD

 VOICE 

RECORDING 

CREATION DATE O

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

11.011 TRD TOTAL RECORDING 

DURATION

O 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 TIM voice recording time O↑ N 1 11

1 < TIM <

99999999999 

integers, no commas

or periods

0 1

 CBY compressed bytes O↑ N 1 14

1 < CBY <

99999999999999 

integers, no commas

or periods

0 1

 TSM total digital samples O↑ N 1 14

1 < TSM <

99999999999999 

integers, no commas

or periods

0 1

11.012

 PMO

 PHYSICAL MEDIA 

OBJECT

D 0 1

 MTD media type description M↑ U 1 300 none 1 1

 RSP recording speed O↑ NS 1 9

numbers, with

decimals allowed

0 1

 RSU

 recording speed 

measurement units 

description text

D U 1 * none 0 1

 EQD equalization description O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

 TRC track count O↑ N 1 4

1 < TRC < 9999

integer

0 1

 STK speaker track number O↑ NS 1 4 List 0

LIST203 of up to

TRC elements

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.013

 CONT CONTAINER D

202

0 1

 CONC container code M↑160N 1 2

 code specified in

Table 90 Audio

Visual Container

Codes 

1 1

 ECON

 external container 

reference code

D U 1 80

reference code from

external container

table

0 1

 COM comment D U 1 * none 0 1

11.014 CDC CODEC D 0 1

202 [2015a>] This was listed as O since the field itself is optional. However, it can only appear if AOD is

set to 0, 1 or 2. Some commenters felt that it was more accurate to describe it as D. [<2015a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 CODC codec code M↑160

N 1 2

code specified in

Table 91 Codec

Type Codes

1 1

 SRTN sampling rate number O↑ N 1 9

0 < SRTN <

100000000

positive integer, no

commas

0 1

 BITD bit depth count O↑ N 1 4

0 < BITD < 1024

positive integer

0 1

 ENDC endian code O↑ N 1 1 ENDC = 0 or 1 0 1

 NFMT numeric format O↑ AN 1 5

NFMT = positive

integer with an

optional letters s,

b, or d following it

0 1

 CHC channel count O↑ N 1 4

1 < CHC < 9999

positive integer

0 1

 ECOD

 external codec 

reference code

D U 1 80

reference code from

external codec table

0 1

 COM comment D U 1 * none 0 1

11.015 – 11.020

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.021

 RED REDACTION O 0 1

 RDI redaction indicator M↑ N

1

1 RDI = 0, 1 or 2 1 1

 RDA

 redaction authority 

organization name

D U 1 300 none 0 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.022 RDD REDACTION DIARY D 0 1

Subfields:

Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 600000

 SID segment identifier M↑ N 1 6 1 < SID < 600000

positive integer, no

commas

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 TRK

 track and channel 

number list

D NS 1 4

 list of non-negative

integers 

0

LIST 203 of up to

9999 tracks and

channels.

 RST relative start time M↑ N 1 *

1 < RST 

positive integer

1 1

 RET relative end time M↑ N 1 *

 RET > RST 

positive integer

1 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.023

 DIS DISCONTINUITIES O 0 1

 DCI discontinuity indicator M↑ N 1 1

SGI = 0 , 1 or 2

non-negative integer

1 1

 CTA

 cutting authority 

organization name

D U 1 300 none 0 1

 COM comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.024

DCD DISCONTINUITIES 

DIARY

D 0 1

Subfields:

Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 600000

 SID segment identifier M↑ N 1 6

1 < SID < 600000

positive integer, no

commas

1 1

 TRK

 track and channel 

number list

D NS 1 4

 list of non-negative

integers 

0

LIST 203of up to

9999 tracks and

channels

 RST relative start time M↑ N 1 * 1 < RST integer 1 1

 RET relative end time M↑ N 1 *

RET > RST 204

integer

1 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.025 VOC VOCAL CONTENT O 0 1

 DII diarization indicator M↑ N 1 1 DII = 0 or 1 1 1

203 [2015a>] Lists are handled differently in traditional and XML encodings. See Annex B: Traditional

encoding and Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules. Character Min# and Max# refers to each

element in the list. The number of elements in the list is mentioned in Occurrence Max#. There is a

maximum of one list.[<2015a]

204 Note that this allows RET to equal RST, unlike the redaction and vocal content diaries. 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 DAU

 diarization authority 

organization name

D U 1 300 none 0 1

 COM comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.026

 VCD

 VOCAL CONTENT 

DIARY

D 0 1

Subfields:

Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 600000

 SID segment identifier M↑ N 1 6

1 < SID < 600000

integer, no commas

1 1

 TRK

 track and channel 

number list

D NS 1 4

 list of non-negative

integers 

0

LIST 203 of up to

9999 tracks and

channels

 RST relative start time M↑ N 1 11

1 < RST 

integer

1 1

 RET relative end time M↑ N 1 *

 RET > RST

integer

1 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

 TDT tagged date O↑

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date 0 1

 TST tagged start time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 TET tagged end time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 ORD original recording date O↑ See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date 0 1

 SRT segment recording start

time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 END segment recording end

time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 TMD time source description 

text O↑ U 1 300 none 0 1

 TCOM timing comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.027

 OCON OTHER CONTENT O 0 1

 DII diarization indicator M↑ N 1 1 DII = 0 or 1 1 1

 DAU diarization authority D U 1 300 none 0 1

 COM comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

11.028

 OCD

 OTHER CONTENT 

DIARY

O 0 1

Subfields:

Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 600000

 SID segment identifier M↑ N 1 6

1 < SID < 600000

positive integer, no

commas

1 1

 TRK

 track and channel 

number list

D NS 1 4

 list of non-negative

integers 

0

LIST 203 of up to

9999 tracks and

channels

 RST relative start time M↑ N 1 11

1 < RST 

positive integer

1 1

 RET relative end time M↑ N 1 *

 RET > RST

positive integer

1 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

 TDT tagged date O↑ See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date 0 1

 TST tagged start time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 TET tagged end time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 ORD original recording date O↑ See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date 0 1

 SRT segment recording start

time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 END segment recording end

time O↑ See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 TMD time source description 

text O↑ U 1 300 none 0 1

 TCOM timing comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.029 – 11.031

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.032

 SGEO

VOCAL SEGMENT 

GEOGRAPHICAL 

INFORMATION

D 0 1

Subfield: repeating sets 

of information items

M↑ 1600000

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 SIL segment identifier list M↑ NS 1 6

 list of non-negative

integers 

1 LIST 203of up to

600000 values

 SCT segment cell phone 

tower code O↑ U 1 100 none 0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 ≤ LTD ≤ 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 ≤ LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8 0 ≤ LTS < 60 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 ≤ LGD ≤ 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 ≤ LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8 0 ≤ LGS < 60 0 1

 ELE elevation O↑ NS 1 8

-442.000 < ELE <

8848.000

Decimal point is the

allowed special

character.

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O↑ AN 3 6

value from

Table 7 Geographic

coordinate datum

code values

0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

mercator zone

D AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a single

letter

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference 

text O↑ U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate 

other system identifier (or 

landmark) 

O↑ U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV geographic coordinate 

other system value D U 1 126 none 0 1

11.033

 SQV

 VOCAL SEGMENT 

QUALITY VALUES

D 0 1

Subfield: repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 9

 SIL segment identifier list M↑ NS 1 6

 list of non-negative

integers 

1

LIST203 of up to

600000 values

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

 integer, 0 ≤ QVU ≤

100 or = 255 1 1

 QAV algorithm vendor 

identification M↑ H 4 4 0000 ≤ QAV ≤ FFFF 1 1

 QAP algorithm product 

identification M↑ N 1 5

integer, 0 ≤ QAP ≤

65534 1 1

 COM comments D U

1 * none 0 1

11.034

 VCI

 VOCAL SEGMENT

COLLISION

IDENTIFIER D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

values M↑ N 1 6 non-negative integer 1 600,000

11.035 PPY VOCAL SEGMENT 

PROCESSING 

PRIORITY

D 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

Subfield: repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 9

 SIL segment identifier list M↑ NS 1 6

 list of non-negative

integers 

1

LIST 203of up to

600000 values

 PTY priority M↑ N 1 1

positive integer, 1 ≤

PTY ≤ 9 1 1

11.036

 VSCD

 VOCAL SEGMENT 

CONTENT 

DESCRIPTION

D 0 1

Subfield: repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 600000

 SIL segment identifier list M↑ NS 1 6

 list of non-negative

integers 

1

LIST 203of up to

600000 values

 TRN transcript text D U 1 * none 0 1

 LNG transcript language D A 3 3

Value from

ISO 639-3 0 1

 PTT phonetic transcript text D U 1 * none 0 1

 PTC phonetic transcript 

convention

D U 1 100 none 0 1

 TLT translation text D U 1 * none 0 1

 TLG translation language D A 3 3

Value from

ISO 639-3 0 1

 COM segment content 

comments D U 1 * none 0 1

 TAC transcript authority 

comment text D U 1 * none 0 1

11.037 SCC

 VOCAL SEGMENT 

SPEAKER 

CHARACTERISTICS

D 0 1

Subfield: repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 600000

 SIL segment identifier list M↑ NS 1 6

 list of non-negative

integers 

1

LIST203of up to

600000 values

 SPL speaker list D U 1 4

 list of non-negative

integers 

0

LIST 203 of up to

9999 speakers

 T2C

 type-2 record cross 

reference 

D NS 1 2

 list of non-negative

integers 

1 < T2C value < 99

0

LIST 203 of up to

98 references

 IMP impairment level 

number D N 1 1 integer, 0 < IMP < 5 0 1

 DSL dominant spoken 

language code D A 3 3

value from

ISO 639-3 0 1

 LPS language proficiency 

scale number D N 1 1 integer, 0 < LPS < 9 0 1

 STY speech style code D N 1 2

See Table 92

 Speech Style Codes 0 1

 INT intelligibility scale code D N

1 1 integer, 0 < INT < 9 0 1

 FDC familiarity degree code D N

1 1 integer, 0 < FDC < 5 0 1

 HCM health comment D U 1 * none 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 EMC emotional state code D N 1 2

See Table 93

Emotional State

Codes

0 1

 VES vocal effort scale 

number D N 1 1 integer 0 < VES < 5 0 1

 VSC vocal style code D N 1 2

See Table 94 Vocal

Style Codes 0 1

 RAI recording awareness 

indicator D N 1 1 RAI = 0, 1 or 2 0 1

 SCR script text D U 1 * none 0 1

 COM comments D U 1 * none 0 1

11.038

 SCH VOCAL SEGMENT 

CHANNEL D 0 1

Subfield: repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 600000

 SIL segment identifier list M↑ NS 1 6

 list of non-negative

integers 

1

LIST 203 of up to

600000 values

 ACD audio capture

 device code O↑ N 1 2

See Table 95 Audio

Capture Device

Type Codes

0 1

 MTC microphone type

 code O↑ N 1 1

MTC = 0 , 1, 2, 3 or

4

0 1

 ENV capture environment 

description text O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

 DST transducer distance O↑ N 1 5

integer, 0 < DST <

99999 0 1

 AQC acquisition source code O↑ N 1 2

See Table 121

Acquisition source 0 1

 VMT voice modification

 description text O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

 COM comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.039 – 11.050

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.051 COM COMMENTS O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

11.052 – 11.099

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.100 – 11.900 UDF

USER-DEFINED 

FIELDS

O user-defined user-defined user-defined

11.901

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.902

ANN

 ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets 

of information items

M↑ 1 *

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GMT

 Greenwich Mean 

Time

M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific

1 1

 NAV

 processing 

algorithm name / version

M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

11.903 - 11.992

RESERVED FOR

FUTURE USE ONLY

BY ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.993 SAN

 SOURCE AGENCY 

NAME

O U 1 125 none 0 1

11.994 EFR

 EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE D U 1 200 none 0 1

11.995

 ASC

 ASSOCIATED 

CONTEXT O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 255

 ACN

 associated context 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

11.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

11.997 205

 SOR SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION

 O

0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets

of information items M↑ 1 255

 SRN source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

11.998

RESERVED FOR

FUTURE USE ONLY

BY ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

11.999 DATA VOICE DATA D Base64 1 * none 0 1

205 Atypically, this instance of SOR does not include a second information item RSP (reference segement 

position) since this record type does not deal with images.

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8.11.1 Field 11.001: Record header

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.1 Record header.

8.11.2 Field 11.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-11 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1 Information designation character / IDC.

8.11.3 Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor code /AOD

This mandatory field shall be a numeric entry selected from the attribute code column

of Table 89 Audio Object Descriptor. Only one value is allowed and indicates the

type of audio object containing the voice recording which is the focus of this Type-11

record. Attribute code 0 indicates that the audio object of this record is a digital voice

data file in the Field 11.999: Voice record data / DATA. Attribute code 1 indicates

that the audio object is a digital voice data file at the location specified in Field 11.994:

External file reference / EFR. Attribute codes 2-4 indicate that the audio object is a

physical media object at a location described in Field 11.994.

If the Type-11 record contains only metadata (such as in a response to a voice

recording submission), attribute code 5 shall be selected.

Note that the difference between Attribute code 1 and Attribute code 2 is that 1

indicates a file that is accessible without the physical media object itself – such as being

stored at a URL. Code 2 indicates that something that is a physical object like a digital

telephone answering machine contains the digital file. Therefore, the physical media

object is required to retrieve and analyze the data.

Table 89 Audio Object Descriptor

Audio Object Attribute

Code

Internal digital voice data file 0

External digital voice data file 1

Physical Media Object containing digital data 2

Physical Media Object containing analog signals 3

Physical Media Object containing unknown data or

signals

4

 No audio object associated with this record 5

8.11.4 Field 11.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The SRC is a code for a

particular agency that is assigned by the implementation domain (such as

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NORAM, which is maintained by the FBI). It is often not the common name of

the organization. The source agency name may be entered in Field 11.993:

Source agency name / SAN.

This field denotes the agency that prepared this record. It is not necessarily the

agency that is transmitting this transaction (which is designated in Field 1.008:

Originating agency identifier / ORI). It also need not be the agency that

gathered the biometric samples and/or metadata. That organization (if different)

is specified in Field 11.993: Source agency name / SAN.

Note that changes and additions or subtractions to/from the original Type-11

record may be made. Thus, when an agency updates a Type-11 record, Field

11.004 is updated to reflect this new agency name and the previous value for

Field 11.004 can be recorded in Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF.

8.11.5 Field 11.005: Voice recording source organization / VRSO

This is an optional field and shall contain information about the person, group, site or

agency that created the voice recording pointed to or included in this record. In the case

of files created from previous recordings, this is not necessarily the source of the

original transduction of the acoustic vocalizations from the person to whom the Type11 record pertains. This need not be the same as the Field 11.004: Source agency /

SRC (which created the record) or Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI

(which sent the transaction to the receiving agency). 

• The first information item is the source organization type code / STC. It is

mandatory if this field is used. There may be no more than one occurrence

of this item. This information item contains a single character describing the

site or agency that created the voice recording:

U = Unknown

P = Private individual

I = Industry/Commercial

G = Government

O = Other 

• The second information item is the source organization name / SON. It is

optional and shall be the name of the group, organization or agency that

created the voice recording. There may be no more than one occurrence for

this item. This is an optional information item in Unicode characters and is

limited to 400 characters in length.

• The third information item is the point of contact / POC. It states who

composed the voice recording. This is an optional information item that

could include the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the person

or persons responsible for the creation of the voice recording. This

information item may be up to 200 Unicode characters.

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• The fourth information item the country code of the sending country /

CSC. It is optional. This is the code of where the voice recording was

created – not necessarily the nation of the agency entered in Field 11.993:

Source agency name / SAN. All three formats specified in ISO-3166-1 are

allowed (Alpha2, Alpha3 and Numeric). A country code is either 2 or 3

characters long. Note that if Field 1.018: Geographic name set / GNS is set

to GENC, the entry in this information item is from GENC. 

8.11.6 Field 11.006: Voice recording content descriptor / VRC

This field is optional and shall describe the content of the voice recording. It consists of

four information items. 

• The first information item is the assigned voice indicator / AVI. It is

mandatory if this field is used. It indicates if the voice recording sample was

obtained from a known subject. 

 A = the subject of this record is 'assigned' an identity (whether or not

there is biographical information associated with the individual.

 Q = this record contains a voice sample of a 'questioned' identity

(such as a sample to be compared against a database for identification)

• The second information item is the speaker plurality code / SPC. It is

optional and indicates plurality of speakers represented on voice recording: 

M = multiple speakers

 S = single speaker

• The third information item is a comment / COM. It is optional and describes

methods by which the plurality and nationality of the speakers was

determined, along with any supporting text. 

8.11.7 Field 11.007: Audio recording device / AREC

This field is optional and shall indicate information about the recording equipment that

created the voice recording contained in or pointed to by this record. There may be no

more than one occurrence of this field. 

As recordings or data files may be transcoded from previously recorded or broadcast

content, this equipment may or may not be the equipment used to record the original

acoustic vocalization of the person to whom the Type-11 record pertains.

• The first information item is the recording device descriptive text / RDD. It

is an optional text field describing the recording device that created the voice

recording. An example would be “Home telephone answering device”. 

• The second, third and fourth information items (recording device make /

MAK, recording device model / MOD, recording device serial

number/SER) are optional items of up to 50 characters each and shall

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contain the make, model and serial number, respectively, for the recording

device. There may be no more than one entry for each of these information

items. 

8.11.8 Field 11.008: Acquisition source / AQS

This is a mandatory field if AOD does not equal 5. It shall not appear if AOD = 5. It

shall specify and describe the acquisition source. 

• The first information item is the acquisition source code / AQC. It is

mandatory and it shall be a numeric entry selected from the 'attribute code'

column of Table 121 Acquisition source. 

• The second information item is analog to digital conversion description /

A2D. It is optional if an analog to digital conversion occurred. It shall not

be present if no such operation occurred. If the original acquisition source is

analog, and the data is stored in digital format, it should be entered if the

conversion is an explicit separate step in preparation of the data and the

process is known. It is a text field that describes the analog to digital

equipment used to transform the source (which may be embedded in a

general processing program and the analog to digital process is unknown to

the user; in such a case this information item would not be used). This field

should be used to enter the make, model and serial number of the analog to

digital conversion equipment used, if known. This field should also address

parameters used, such as the sampling rate, if known. Additional

information about the digital conversion process can be contained in Field

11.902: Annotation information / ANN.

• The third information item, the radio transmission format description /

FDN is a text field. It is mandatory if the AQC is 23 or 24. It is optional for

other radio transmission codes.

• The fourth information item is the acquisition special characteristics /

AQSC. It is an optional free text field, that is used to describe any specific

conditions not mentioned in Table 121 Acquisition source.

8.11.9 Field 11.009: Record creation date / RCD

This mandatory field shall contain the date and time of creation of this Type-11 record

(not the original source recording contained in Record Type-20, if it is different from

that). This date will generally be different from the voice recording creation date and

may be different from the date at which the acoustic vocalization originally occurred.

See Section 7.7.2.4 Local date & time for details.

8.11.10 Field 11.010: Voice recording creation date / VRD

This optional field shall contain the date and time of creation of the voice recording

contained in this Type-11 record (not the original source recording contained in Record

Type-20, if it is different from that). If pre-recorded or transcoded materials were used,

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this date may be different from the date at which the acoustic vocalization originally

occurred. See Section 7.7.2.4 Local date & time for details. 

8.11.11 Field 11.011: Total recording duration / TRD

This field is optional and gives the total length of the voice recording time for this

Type-11 record (not the original source recording contained in Record Type-20, if it is

different from that). At least one of the three information items must be entered if this

field is used. The second and third items of this field only apply to digital audio objects,

as indicated by a value of 0, 1 or 2 in Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor code

/AOD.

• The first information item is the voice recording time / TIM. It is optional

and gives the total time of the voice recording in microseconds. The size of

this item is limited to 11 digits, limiting the total time duration of the signal

to 99,999 seconds, which is approximately 28 hours. See Section 7.7.2.6.

• The second information item is the compressed bytes / CBY. It is optional

and gives the total number of compressed bytes in the digital voice data file.

Consequently, this information item applies only to digital voice recordings

stored as voice data files. The size of this item is limited to 14 digits,

limiting the total size of the voice data file to 99 terabytes.

• The third information item is the total digital samples / TSM. It is optional.

It gives the number of digital samples in the voice data file after any

decompression of the compressed signal. This information item applies only

to digital voice recordings stored as voice data files. The size of this item is

limited to 14 digits. 

8.11.12 Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO

This field is optional and identifies the characteristics of the physical media

containing the voice recording. There can be only one physical media object per

Type-11 record, but multiple Type-11 records can point to the same physical

media object. This field only applies if Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor

code /AOD has an attribute code of 2, 3 or 4. The location of the physical media

object is given in Field 11.994: External file reference / EFR.

• The first information item is the media type description / MTD. It is

mandatory if this field is used and contains text describing the general type

of media (e.g., analog cassette tape, reel-to-reel tape, CD, DVD, phonograph

record) upon which the voice recording is stored. If an analog media is used

for storage, and AQC of Field 11.008: Acquisition source / AQS is 14,

then a description of the digital to analog procedure should be noted in Field

11.902: Annotation information / ANN and the reasons for such a

conversion noted in COM of this field. 

• The second information item is recording speed / RSP. It is optional and

gives a numerical value to the speed at which the physical media object must

be played to reproduce the voice signal content. This value may be integer

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or floating point and shall not exceed 9 characters (such as 33.33 or 78).

• The third information item is recording speed measurement units

description text / RSU. It is mandatory if the second information item,

RSP, is entered and contains text to indicate the units of measure to which

RSP refers (such as Rotations per minute). Otherwise, it is not entered.

• The fourth information item is equalization description / EQD. It is an

optional text field and indicates the equalization that should be applied for

faithful rendering of the voice recording on the physical media object. 

• The fifth information item is the track count / TRC. It is an optional integer

between 1 and 9999, inclusive, that gives the number of tracks on the

physical media object. For example, a stereo phonograph record will have 2

tracks. 

• The sixth information item is the speaker track number / STK. It is an

optional list of integers which indicate which tracks carry the voices of the

speaker(s). [2015a>] Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] A value

of 0 or no entry for this information item indicates that all tracks contain

voice data for the speaker(s).

• The seventh information item is comments / COM. It is optional and allows

for additional comments describing the physical media object.

8.11.13 Field 11.013: Container / CONT

This [2015a>] conditional field, which need not appear in the record,[<2015a] contains

information about the container format that encapsulates the audio data of the electronic

file used to carry the voice data in the digital recording. This field is not used if the

voice recording is stored on a physical media object as an analog signal – so it [2015a>]

should [<2015a] only appear if Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor code /AOD is

set to 0, 1 or 2. If present, this field overrides Field 11.014: Codec / CDC. There

cannot be multiple container formats specified within a single Type-11 record. The

container format shall be entered as the appropriate integer code from Table 90 Audio

Visual Container Codes. This field contains three information items. The first

information item (container code / CONC) is mandatory. The second information item

[2015a>] shall be used when CONC is set to 1; it is not used otherwise. [<2015a] The

third information item is required when CONC is set to 1 and is optional otherwise.

Files having container formats incorporate audio specifications to properly decode the

audio, such as the number of channels, sampling rate, bit/byte depth, and whether the

data is big/little endian. More generally, container formats can specify an audio format

used to encode the data, or simply encapsulate one or more audio channels as Linear

PCM. The well known Wave container specification (WAV) has fields such as chunk ‐

ID, chunk size, audio format (codec format), sampling rate, number of channels, space

for extra parameters (for the codec or other uses).

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Table 90 Audio Visual Container Codes

Container Type Common file extension(s) Container code

RAW audio format undefined 0

Container Type Reference various 1

Other various 2

WAV (RIFF audio) .wav 3

3GP and 3G2 mobile video .3gp .3g2 4

AIFF .aiff .aif 5

MP3 (MPEG-1, Layer 3 audio) .mp3 6

NIST Sphere .sph 7

QuickTime (Apple VBRaudio/video/image)(Note: allows 

pointers to external files and servers)

.mov .qt 8

Video for Windows .avi 9

Vorbis (OGG audio) .ogg 10

Windows Media Type 1 .wmv .wma 11

Windows Media Type 2 (Note: allows 

pointers to external files and servers)

.asf .asx 12

MPEG-4 Part 14 .mp4 .m4p 13

All of the audio characteristics required to properly interpret RAW format data (CONC

= 0) must be provided; so if RAW is specified, then Field 11.014: Codec / CDC is

mandatory.

If CONC has a value other than zero then the presence of Field 11.014: Codec / CDC

is dependent upon the type of container format.

• If a container format specifies a codec which cannot be changed, then Field

11.014: Codec / CDC should not be included in the record.

• For container types that allow different codecs and codec format, and if the

container format does not specify the codec format, then Field 11.014:

Codec / CDC should be included in the record. 

The information items for this field are described below.

• The first information item, which is mandatory, is container code / CONC.

It is taken from the container code column of Table 90 Audio Visual

Container Codes . A container code of Other (CONC = 2) indicates that

the container is given neither in Table 90 Audio Visual Container Codes

nor in the external container table and must be specified. If CONC = 2, the

Field 11.051: Comment / COM shall be used to describe the container. See

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm for additional

containers. Such additional containers (not listed in Table 90 Audio Visual

Container Codes ) shall use the value CONC = 1. 

• The second information item only appears if CONC = 1. It is the external 

container reference code / ECON and contains the 'reference code' from 

the table of containers available at

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http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm. 

• The third information item is comments / COM. It is an optional,

unrestricted text string. However, it is required if CONC = 2. It can contain

additional information about the container or additional instructions for

reconstruction of audio output from the stored digital data. Container

parameters shall be specified in this information item when required for

unambiguous decoding. This item should include a description of any noise

reduction processing or equalization that must be applied to faithfully render

the voice recording.

8.11.14 Field 11.014: Codec / CDC

This is an optional field that gives information about the codec used to encode the voice

and audio data in the digital recording. It may only appear when Field 11.003: Audio

object descriptor code /AOD is set to 0, 1 or 2. (This field is not used if the voice

recording is stored on a physical media object as an analog signal).

• If a container format in Field 11.013: Container / CONT specifies a codec

which cannot be changed, then Field 11.014: Codec / CDC should not be

included in the record.

• For container types specified in Field 11.013: Container / CONT that

allow different codecs and codec formats then Field 11.014: Codec / CDC

should be included in the record.

• Field 11.013: Container / CONT need not be present for RAW files, but

CDC is mandatory if CONT is set to RAW.

• This field should be present if Field 11.013: Container / CONT is not

present in the record. 

The information items in the field are described below:

• The first information item is the codec code / CODC. It is mandatory if this

field is used and indicates the single codec type used for all audio segments

in the record. This standard does not accommodate multiple codec types

within a single record. CODC shall be a numeric entry selected from the

Codec code column of Table 91 Codec Type Codes.

If the codec code is identified as Other (CODC = 2), the final information

item (comments / COM) shall be used to describe the codec. 

See http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm for additional codecs. Such

additional codecs (not listed in Table 91 Codec Type Codes) shall use the value

CODC = 1 and the 'reference code' shall be entered in external codec reference code /

ECOD.

It is STRONGLY encouraged that the other information items in this field be used.

However, they are optional since the record creator may not be able to correctly specify

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these values. 

Table 91 Codec Type Codes

Codec type Codec

code

Linear PCM 0

Codec type reference 1

Other 2

Floating-point linear PCM208 3

ITU-T G.711206 (PCM): μ-law with forward order digital

samples

4

ITU-T G.711 (PCM): μ-law with reverse order digital samples 5

ITU-T G.711 (PCM): A-law with forward order digital samples 6

ITU-T G.711 (PCM): A-law with reverse order digital samples 7

• The second information item is the sampling rate number / SRTN. It

indicates the number of digital samples per second that represent a second of

analog voice data upon conversion to an acoustic signal. The sampling rate

is expressed in Hz and must be an integer value. Acceptable values are

between 1 and 100,000,000 Hz, but unknown or variable sampling rates

shall be given the value of 0. Common values of SRTN are 8000, 11025,

16000, 22050, 32000, 44100, and 48000 Hz. The value of 0 shall only be

used to indicate unknown or variable sampling rate.

• The third information item is the bit depth count / BITD. It indicates the

number of bits that are used to represent a single digital sample of voice

data. Acceptable values are between 1 and 1024 207, inclusive. Encoders of

unknown or variable bit depth shall be given the value of 0. (This field is not

intended to be an indication of the actual dynamic range of the voice data).

Changes to the bit depth should be logged in Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF

or Field 11.902: Annotation information / ANN audit logs. Common

values for BITD are 8, 16, 24, and 32 bits.

• The fourth information item is the endian code / ENDC. It indicates which

byte goes first for digital samples containing two or more bytes. The values

for ENDC are 0 = big and 1 = little. (ENDC is optional and ignored for

digital samples that do not contain two or more integer multiples of bytes).

• The fifth information item is the numeric format / NFMT. Integer and

floating point representations are described below: 

 A) An integer followed by s (signed) indicates a signed integer:

 8s = 8 bit signed integer 

206 ITU-T G.711, Pulse code modulation (PCM) of voice frequencies, is available at

http://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-G.711/e

207 At the time of the 2013 Update, the maximum value used in practice is 128.

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 13s = 13 bit signed integer

 B) Floating point representation is entered as an integer and optional

letter b (binary) or d (decimal). Rounding is assumed towards zero at the

half point (i.e. 12.50 → 12. and 12.51 → 13.), unless otherwise stated in

COM. Examples are:

 32b = 32 bit floating point (binary)208

 64b = 64 bit floating point (binary) 208

 64d = 64 bit floating point (decimal) 208

 80 = 80 bit double extended precision floating point 209

 128b = 128 bit floating point (binary) 208

 128d = 128 bit floating point (decimal) 208

• The sixth information item is the channel count / CHC. It contains the

integer number of channels of data represented in the digital voice data file.

The number of channels must be between 1 and 9999, inclusive. Common

values for CHC are 1 and 2 channels.

• The seventh information item is the external codec reference code / ECOD.

It can only appear if CODC = 1. It contains the 'reference code' from the

table of codecs available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm. If

the codec is not listed in the external table, enter the name and description of

the codec in COM.

• The eighth information item is comments / COM. It is an unrestricted text

string. It can contain additional information about the codec or additional

instructions for reconstruction of audio output from the stored digital data.

Codec parameters shall be specified in this information item when required

for unambiguous decoding. This item should include a description of any

noise reduction processing or equalization that must be applied to faithfully

render the voice recording. 

8.11.15 Field 11.021: Redaction / RED

This field is optional and indicates whether the voice recording has been redacted,

meaning that some of the audio record has been overwritten (“Beeped”) or erased to

delete speech content without altering the relative timings within, or the length of, the

segments. This field is not to be used to indicate that audio content has been snipped

with the alteration of the relative timings in, or length of, the recording. This field may

be present to indicate that redaction has or has not occurred, even if Field 11.022:

Redaction diary / RDD is not present in the record to provide timings and tracks for

208 Formatted according to IEEE 754-2008, IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic. See 

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=4610933

209 Used in AIFF. See http://www-mmsp.ece.mcgill.ca/Documents/AudioFormats/AIFF/Docs/AIFF1.3.pdf for an explanation. It is based on the 1985 version of IEEE Standard for Floating-Point 

Arithmetic. 

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the affected segments (if redaction did occur). 

• The first information item is the redaction indicator / RDI. It is mandatory

if this field is present in the record. It indicates whether the voice recording

contains overwritten or erased sections intended to remove, without altering

the length of the segment, semantic content deemed not suitable for

transmission or storage. A value of 0 indicates no redaction occurred and a

value of 1 indicates that redaction has occurred. A value of 2 indicates that

the organization creating this record is not able to assert or does not assert

that redaction has occurred or not occurred. 

• The second information item is the redaction authority organization

name / RDA. It is an optional field (but can only be present if RDI = 1) of

up to 300 characters in length containing information about the agency that

directed, authorized or performed the redaction. Agencies undertaking

redaction activities should log their actions by noting the change of field

contents in Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF and/or Field 11.902:

Annotation information / ANN. 

• The third information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that may contain text information about the redactions affecting

the stored voice recording. 

8.11.16 Field 11.022: Redaction diary / RDD

This optional field indicates that redaction has occurred and lists the timings within the

voice recording of redacted (overwritten) audio segments. This field accommodates up

to 600,000 redactions. It may be present even if Field 11.021: Redaction / RED is not

in the record. If Field 11.021: Redaction / RED is present in this instance of the

record, then this field shall only appear if the redaction indicator / RDI is set to a

value of 1. RDD isn't required to be present when RDI is set to 1 – although it is

highly recommended that it be present.

• The first information item is the segment identifier / SID. It is mandatory. It

uniquely numbers the redaction to which the following items in the subfield

apply. There is no requirement that the redactions be numbered sequentially.

The number of redactions is limited to 600,000. 

• The second information item is the track and channel number list / TRK. It

is mandatory if item TRC in Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO

or CHC of Field 11.014: Codec / CDC is greater than one and it lists all

tracks or channels on the recording to which the segment identifier applies.

This information item may appear even if neither TRC nor CHC are present

in the record. No value in this list shall be greater than the value of TRC or

CHC, whichever applies. For example, in the case of a two-track stereo

recording where both tracks contain a redaction at the same start and end

times, this list will be “1” and “2”. A single value of 0 indicates that all

tracks or channels are to be used. [2015a>] Lists are described in Section

7.7.13. [<2015a]

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• The third information item is the relative start time / RST. It is a mandatory

entry for the redaction identified by SID within each subfield. It is an

integer. It indicates in microseconds the time of the start of the redaction

relative to the beginning of the voice recording in this Type-11 record (not

in the Type-20 original source recording, if such a record exists in this

transaction). Redactions on the same track of the audio object should not

overlap. The RST of a redaction specified in one subfield should not occur

between the RST and RET of any other redaction on the same track

specified in any other subfield. If the Type-11 record refers to an analog

recording, the method of determining the start time shall be given in the

comment item of this field. See Section 7.7.2.6 Relative start time / RST,

relative end time / RET and voice recording time / TIM -- measured in

microseconds.

• The fourth information item is the relative end time / RET. It is a mandatory

integer for the redaction identified by SID within each subfield. It is an

integer. It indicates in microseconds the time of the end of the redaction

relative to the beginning of the voice recording. As with the RST, redactions

on the same track of the audio object should not overlap. See Section 7.7.2.6

Relative start time / RST, relative end time / RET and voice recording

time / TIM -- measured in microseconds.

• The fifth information item is comments/COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that allows for comments of any type to be made on a redaction. 

8.11.17 Field 11.023: Discontinuities / DIS

This field is optional and indicates by its presence that the voice recording referenced in

this Type-11 record has had segments removed or that signals are not present for

another reason. This field is used to indicate post-recording removal (cutting) of a

signal or non-presence of a useful signal, for any reason, from the original recording of

the acoustic vocalizations in a way that disrupts time references. This field may be

present to indicate that signals are discontinuous in time, even if Field 11.024:

Discontinuities diary / DCD is not present in the record to provide timings and tracks

for the timing discontinuities. Non-presence of a signal can occur, for instance if there

is a partial equipment failure – such as for a particular channel. Such a case should be

indicated in COM, since the lack of a signal was not caused by a post-recording action

upon the recording. Non-presence of a useful signal can be total absence of any

recorded data, or a case such as having a constant hum due to failure to correctly

connect all of the recording devices. 

• The first information item is the discontinuity indicator / DCI. It is

mandatory if this field is used. It indicates whether the voice recording

contains temporal discontinuities. A value of 0 indicates that there are no

discontinuous signals on the recording and a value of 1 indicates that there

are discontinuities. A value of 2 indicates that the organization creating this

record is not able to assert or does not assert that there are or are not

discontinuities in the recording.

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• The second information item is the cutting authority organization name /

CTA. It is an optional text field of up to 300 characters containing

information about the agency that performed a post-processing cutting upon

the original recording (removing signal content). Agencies undertaking postprocessing cutting activities should log their actions in Field 98.900: Audit

log / ALF and/or Field 11.902: Annotation information / ANN of this

record. This information item shall only appear if DCI = 1.

• The third information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that may contain text information about the snip activities

affecting the voice recording. A practical use of this information item is to

log the reasons for discontinuities that occurred during the recording of the

signals (such as when the equipment was turned off for 18 1⁄2 minutes). 

8.11.18 Field 11.024: Discontinuities diary / DCD

This optional field allows the documentation of discontinuities in the signal. There may

be up to 600,000 segments, each registered in an individual subfield. If there are no

discontinuities (DCI = 0 in Field 11.023: Discontinuities / DIS), then all of the data in

the voice recording shall be considered as being in toto and this field shall not be

present in this instance of the record. This field may be present even if Field 11.023:

Discontinuities / DIS is not present in the record. This field need not be present if

Field 11.023: Discontinuities / DIS is present in the record and DCI = 1, but it is

highly recommended in such a case that this field be present. A very practical use of

DCD is when an original recording is stored in a Type-20 record and segments relating

to a single speaker are combined together and conveyed in a Type-11 record. DCD

then indicates the locations of the temporal discontinuities within the resulting Type-11

record. 

• The first information item is the segment identifier / SID. It is mandatory in

each subfield and uniquely numbers the discontinuity to which the following

items in the subfield apply. There is no requirement that the discontinuities

be numbered sequentially. The SID may list up to 600,000 segments

(discontinuities). If Field 11.023: Discontinuities / DIS is present and it

indicates discontinuities (DCI = 1), then the voice recording shall have at

least one discontinuity indicated. 

• The second information item is track and channel number list / TRK. It is

mandatory if TRC in Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO or CHC

of Field 11.014: Codec / CDC is greater than one and lists all tracks or

channels on the recording to which SID applies . No value in this list should

be greater than the value of TRC or CHC, whichever applies. For

example, in the case of a two-track stereo recording where both tracks have

snipped segments (removed signal) at the same start and end times, this list

will be “1” and “2”. If a single track recorder failed for a period of time

(such as having the cord accidentally unplugged to it), then it could be

possible to have a list comprised solely of the value “2”. A single value of 0

indicates that all tracks or channels are to be used. [2015a>] Lists are

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described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the relative start time / RST. It is mandatory

for every discontinuity identified by an SID. It is an integer. It indicates in

microseconds the time of the start of the discontinuity relative to the

beginning of the voice recording contained in this Type-11 record (not the

original source recording contained in a Type-20 record, if such a record

exists in the transaction). Discontinuities on a single track on the audio

object described in Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor code /AOD

shall not overlap, meaning that the RST of a discontinuity shall not occur

between the RST and RET of any other discontinuity on the same track. If

the Type-11 record refers to an analog recording, the method of determining

the start time shall be given in the comment item of this field. See Section

7.7.2.6. 

• The fourth information item is the relative end time / RET. It is a mandatory

integer for every discontinuity identified by an SID and indicates in

microseconds the time of the end of the discontinuity relative to the

beginning of the voice recording contained in this Type-11 record (not the

original source recording contained in a Type-20 record, if such a record

exists in the transaction). Discontinuities on the same track of the audio

object of Field 11.003: Audio object descriptor code /AOD shall not

overlap, meaning that the RET for a particular discontinuity shall not occur

between the RST and RET of any other discontinuity on the same track. See

Section 7.7.2.6. It is possible for RET to be equal to RST (such as when a

recording session is stopped and later restarted). If RET > RST, that

indicates that the content has been removed or is not present210, but not

redacted (masked). 

• The fifth information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that allows for comments of any type to be made about a

discontinuity. This comment field could contain word or phonic level

transcriptions, language translations or security classification markings, as

specified in exchange agreements.

8.11.19 Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC

This field is optional and indicates whether the voice recording content has been

diarized, meaning that time markings are included in Field 11.026: Vocal content

diary / VCD to indicate the speech segments of interest pertaining to the subject of this

Type-11 record. If content has been extracted from a longer recording, it is referred to

as a 'snip.' This field may be used for individual snips, as well as concatenated snips.

If snips are handled in this Type-11 record, it is highly recommended that the original

recording be contained in, or referenced by a Type-20 record. This field may also be

used to indicate diarization of a complete recording that has not been snipped. 

• The first information item is the diarization indicator / DII. It is mandatory

210 It may happen that there is a failure to pick up audio signals for a period of time (perhaps only in

selected channels or tracks). 

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if this field is used. It indicates whether the voice recording is accompanied

by a segment diary in Field 11.026 indicating speech segments from the

voice signal subject of the Type-11 record. A value of 0 indicates that there

is no accompanying diary and a value of 1 indicates the presence of Field

11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD.

• The second information item is the diarization authority / DAU. It is an

optional text field of up to 300 characters containing information about the

agency that performed the diarization. Agencies undertaking diarization

activities on the original speech should log their actions by appending to this

item and noting the change of field contents in the Type-98 record and/or

Field 11.902: Annotation information / ANN of this record. This

information item shall only appear if DII = 1. 

• The third information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that may contain text information about the diarization activities

undertaken on the voice data.

8.11.20 Field 11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD

This field contains subfields that locate the segments within the voice recording of this

Type-11 record that are associated with a single speaker – the subject of the record (not

necessarily the subject of the transaction).211 Although Field 11.025: Vocal content /

VOC need not be present in the record if this field is included in the record, it is highly

recommended that it be present. If Field 11.025 is included in the record, then this field

shall be present only if DII = 1. 

A speaker's involvement in a conversation may be segmented in a way independent of

turn taking as the content, speaking style and collection conditions change. Within each

Type-11 record, there may be only one segment diary describing a single speaker within

the single voice recording. If additional diarizations of this voice recording are

necessary -- for example, to locate segments of speech from a second speaker in the

voice recording, additional Type-11 records must be created. The identity of each

speaker can be cross-referenced to biographic information contained in a Type-2 record.

This field may be used for individual snips, as well as concatenated snips. If snips are

handled in this Type-11 record, it is highly recommended that the original recording be

contained in, or referenced by a Type-20 record. This field may also be used for a

complete recording that has not been snipped. 

Each diarized segment shall contain speech from the subject of this record, although a

segment may contain speech collisions. This record type accommodates up to 600,000

speech segments. 

• The first information item is the segment identifier / SID. It is mandatory in

each subfield and uniquely numbers the segment to which the following

items in the subfield apply. There is no requirement that the segments be

numbered sequentially in sequential subfields. The SID may contain up to 6

211 It is possible to have multiple Type-11 records, each dealing with a separate subject, from the same 

recording. 

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digits. The number of segments identified in the field is limited to 600,000.

• The second information item is the track and channel number list / TRK. It

is mandatory if TRC in Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO or

CHC of Field 11.014: Codec / CDC is greater than one and lists all tracks

or channels on the recording to which the segment identifier applies. No

value in this list should be greater than the value of TRC or CHC,

whichever applies. For example, in the case of a two-track stereo recording

where both tracks contain a segment at the same start and end times, this list

will be “1” and “2”. A single value of 0 indicates that all tracks or channels

are to be used. [2015a>] Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the relative start time / RST. It is mandatory.

It is an integer. It indicates in microseconds the time of the start of the

segment relative to the absolute beginning of the voice recording contained

in this Type-11 record (not the original source recording contained in a

Type-20 record, if such a record exists in the transaction). Because each

segment is expected to be dominated by the primary subject of this Type-11

record, segments from the same track of the audio object identified in Field

11.003: Audio object descriptor code /AOD should not overlap. The RST

of a segment should not occur earlier than the end of a previous segment

from the same track, although this is not prohibited. If the Type-11 record

refers to an analog recording, the method of determining the start time shall

be given in the comment item of this subfield. See Section 7.7.2.6 Relative

start time / RST, relative end time / RET and voice recording time /

TIM -- measured in microseconds.

• The fourth information item is the relative end time / RET. It is mandatory.

It indicates in microseconds the time of the end of the segment relative to the

absolute beginning of the voice recording contained in this Type-11 record

(not the original source recording contained in a Type-20 record, if such a

record exists in the transaction). RET from different segments in this Type11 record should not overlap, although this is not prohibited. See Section

7.7.2.6 Relative start time / RST, relative end time / RET and voice

recording time / TIM -- measured in microseconds.

• The fifth information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that allows for comments of any type to be made on a segment. 

The following information items concern the tagged date and time. These are useful,

for instance, if a video recorder had not had the correct date and time set.

• The sixth information item is the tagged date / TDT. It is optional and gives

the date indicated on the original, contemporaneous capture of the voice

recording in the segment identified in this Type-11 record (not the original

source recording contained in a Type-20 record, if such a record exists in the

transaction). This item may be different from the value of the ORD if the tag

is determined to be inaccurate. See Section 7.7.2.3 Local date.

• The seventh information item is the tagged start time / TST. It is optional

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and gives the time tagged on the original, contemporaneous capture of the

voice recording in the segment identified. See Section 7.7.2.4 Local date &

time for details.

• The eighth information item is the tagged end time / TET. It is optional and

gives the time tagged on original, contemporaneous capture of the voice data

at the end of the segment identified. See Section 7.7.2.4 Local date &

time for details.

• The ninth information item is the original recording date / ORD. It is

optional and gives the date of the original, contemporaneous capture of the

voice recording in the segment identified. This item may be different from

the value of TDT if the tag is determined to be inaccurate. See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date for details.

• The tenth information item is the segment recording start time / SRT. It is

optional and gives the local start time of the original, contemporaneous

capture of the voice recording in the segment identified. This item may be

different from the value of TST if the tag is determined to be inaccurate. See

Section 7.7.2.4 Local date & time for details. 

• The eleventh information item is the segment recording end time / END. It

is optional and gives the local end time of the original, contemporaneous

capture of the voice recording in the segment identified. This item may be

different from the value of TET if the tag is determined to be inaccurate.

See Section 7.7.2.4 Local date & time for details. 

• The twelfth information item is the time source description text / TMD. It

is an optional string that gives the reference for the values used in ORD,

SRT and END.

• The thirteenth information item is timing comments / TCOM. It is an

unrestricted text string that allows for comments of any type to be made on

the timings of the segment recording, including the perceived accuracy of

the values of ORD, SRT and END.

8.11.21 Field 11.027: Other content / OCON

This field is optional and indicates whether the recording content has been diarized,

meaning that time markings are included, in Field 11.028: Other content diary /

OCD in order to indicate the segments of the recording that may contain sounds other

than the voice of the subject of the record that could assist in the investigation (such as

the sound of an automobile accident in a recording). 

If content has been extracted from a longer recording, it is referred to as a 'snip.' The

use of snips is for the convenience of the user. The start and end times for a snip could,

for instance, be very approximate when initially submitted, and be refined upon analysis

in a laboratory. 

• The first information item is the diarization indicator / DII. It is mandatory

if this field is used. It indicates whether the recording is accompanied by a

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segment diary in Field 11.028 indicating segments from the signal contained

in or referred to by the Type-11 record. A value of 0 indicates that there is

no accompanying diary and a value of 1 indicates the presence of Field

11.028: Other content diary / OCD.

• The second information item is the diarization authority / DAU. It is an

optional text field containing information about the agency that performed

the diarization. Agencies undertaking diarization activities should log their

actions by appending to this item and noting the change of field contents in

the Type-98 record and/or Field 11.902: Annotation information / ANN of

this record. This information item shall only appear if DII = 1. 

• The third information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that may contain text information about the diarization activities

undertaken on the recording.

8.11.22 Field 11.028: Other content diary / OCD

This field contains subfields that locate the segments within the recording of this Type11 record that may be of interest for investigatory purposes but are not focused upon

speech. Although Field 11.027: Other content / OCON need not be present in the

record if this field is included in the record, it is highly recommended that it be present.

If Field 11.027 is included in the record, then this field shall be present only if DII = 1.

This record type accommodates up to 600,000 segments. 

• The first information item is the segment identifier / SID. It is mandatory in

each subfield and uniquely numbers the segment to which the following

items in the subfield apply. There is no requirement that the segments be

numbered sequentially in sequential subfields. The SID may contain up to 6

digits. The number of segments identified in the field is limited to 600,000.

• The second information item is the track and channel number list / TRK. It

is mandatory if TRC in Field 11.012: Physical media object / PMO or

CHC of Field 11.014: Codec / CDC is greater than one and lists all tracks

or channels on the recording to which the segment identifier applies. No

value in this list should be greater than the value of TRC or CHC,

whichever applies. For example, in the case of a two-track stereo recording

where both tracks contain a segment at the same start and end times, this list

will be “1” and “2”. A single value of 0 indicates that all tracks or channels

are to be used. [2015a>] Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the relative start time / RST. It is mandatory.

It is an integer. It indicates in microseconds the time of the start of the

segment relative to the absolute beginning of the recording. Segments from

the same track of the audio object identified in Field 11.003: Audio object

descriptor code /AOD should not overlap. The RST of a segment should

not occur earlier than the end of a previous segment from the same track,

although this is not prohibited. If the Type-11 record refers to an analog

recording, the method of determining the start time shall be given in the

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comment item of this subfield. See Section 7.7.2.6.

• The fourth information item is the relative end time / RET. It is mandatory.

It indicates in microseconds the time of the end of the segment relative to the

absolute beginning of the recording. RET from different segments in this

Type-11 record should not overlap, although this is not prohibited. See

Section 7.7.2.6.

• The fifth information item is comments / COM. It is an optional unrestricted

text string that allows for comments of any type to be made on a segment. 

The following information items concern the tagged date and time. These are useful,

for instance, if a video recorder had not had the correct date and time set.

• The sixth information item is the tagged date / TDT. It is optional and gives

the date indicated on the original, contemporaneous capture of the recording

in the segment identified. This item may be different from the value of the

ORD, if the tag is determined to be inaccurate. See Section 7.7.2.3.

• The seventh information item is the tagged start time / TST. It is optional

and gives the time tagged on the original, contemporaneous capture of the

recording in the segment identified. See Section 7.7.2.4 for details.

• The eighth information item is the tagged end time / TET. It is optional and

gives the time tagged on original, contemporaneous capture of the data at the

end of the segment identified. See Section 7.7.2.4 for details.

• The ninth information item is the original recording date / ORD. It is

optional and gives the date of the original, contemporaneous capture of the

recording in the segment identified. This item may be different from the

value of TDT if the tag is determined to be inaccurate. See Section 7.7.2.3

for details.

• The tenth information item is the segment recording start time / SRT. It is

optional and gives the local start time of the original, contemporaneous

capture of the recording in the segment identified. This item may be

different from the value of TST if the tag is determined to be inaccurate. See

Section 7.7.2.4 for details. 

• The eleventh information item is the segment recording end time / END. It

is optional and gives the local end time of the original, contemporaneous

capture of the recording in the segment identified. This item may be

different from the value of TET if the tag is determined to be inaccurate.

See Section 7.7.2.4 for details. 

• The twelfth information item is the time source description text / TMD. It

is an optional string that gives the reference for the values used in ORD,

SRT and END.

• The thirteenth information item is timing comments / TCOM. It is an

unrestricted text string that allows for comments of any type to be made on

the timings of the segment recording, including the perceived accuracy of

the values of ORD, SRT and END.

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The fields numbered 11.03x pertain to the vocal content segments individually (or in

groups) or to the entire recording. There may be different segment identifier list /

SIL values for the different subfields in each of these fields. Note that Field 11.034

only has one set of values (a list of the segments having voice collision). A value of

zero in SIL indicates that the values in that particular subfield are the default values for

the entire recording. Values in other subfields of the same field, with lists of specific

segment identifiers, take precedence over the default values specified in the subfield

with SIL set to a single value of zero.

8.11.23 Field 11.032: Vocal segment geographical information / SGEO

This field gives the geographical location of the primary subject of the Type-11 record

at the beginning of that segment. If Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC is present, then

this field shall only be present if DII = 1. This field shall only be present if Field

11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD is present.

• The first information item is the segment identifier list / SIL. It is

mandatory in each subfield and gives the segment identifiers to which the

values in this subfield pertain. The number of segment identifiers listed is

limited to 600,000. A value of 0 in this subfield indicates the segment

geographical information in this subfield shall be considered the default

value for all segments not specifically identified in other occurrences of this

subfield. If multiple segments are identified, they are designated as integers

in a list. [2015a>] Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The second information item is the segment cell phone tower code / SCT. It

is optional and identifies the cell phone tower, if any, that relayed the audio

data at the start of the segment or segments referred to in this subfield. It is

a text field of up to 100 unrestricted characters. 

• The next six information items are latitude and longitude values. See Section

7.7.3.

• The ninth information item is the elevation / ELE. It is optional. It is

expressed in meters. See Section 7.7.3. Permitted values are in the range of

-442 to 8848 meters. For elevations outside of this range, the lowest or

highest values shall be used, as appropriate (e.g., in an airplane).

• The tenth information item is the geodetic datum code / GDC. It is optional.

See Section 7.7.3.

• The eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth information items (geographic

coordinate universal transverse mercator zone / GCM; geographic

coordinate universal transverse mercator easting / GCE; and geographic

coordinate universal transverse mercator northing /GCN) are treated as

a group and are optional as a group – however, if one appears all three shall

be present (thus they are listed as Dependent in the record layout table).

These three information items together are a coordinate which represents a

location with a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate. See

Section 7.7.3.

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• The fourteenth information item is the geographic reference text / GRT.

It is optional. See Section 7.7.3.

• A fifteenth information item is the geographic coordinate other system

identifier / OSI. It is optional and allows for other coordinate systems and

the inclusion of geographic landmarks. See Section 7.7.3.

• A sixteenth information item is the geographic coordinate other system

value / OCV. It is optional and may only be present if OSI is present in the

record (which is the dependency listed in the record layout table). See

Section 7.7.3.

8.11.24 Field 11.033: Vocal segment quality values / SQV

If Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC is present, then this field shall only be present if

DII = 1. This field shall only be present if Field 11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD is

present. If segments have multiple quality values based on different types of quality

assessments, a separate subfield is entered for each assessment.

• The first information item is the segment identifier list / SIL. It is

mandatory in each subfield and gives the segment identifiers to which the

values in this subfield pertain. The number of segment identifiers listed is

limited to 600,000. [2015a>] This is a list of codes. Lists are described in

Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

A value of 0 in this subfield indicates the segment geographical information

in this subfield shall be considered the default value for all segments not

specifically identified in other occurrences of this subfield. If multiple

segments are identified, they are designated as integers in a list. 

• The second information item is the quality value / QVU. It is mandatory and

shall indicate the segment quality value between 0 (low quality) and 100

(high quality). A value of 255 indicates that quality was not assessed. An

example would be the Speech Intelligibility Index, (ANSI S3.5-1997). 

• A third information item is the algorithm vendor identification / QAV. It is

mandatory and shall specify the ID of the vendor of the quality assessment

algorithm used to calculate the quality score. This 4-digit hex value (See

Section 5.5 Character types) is assigned by IBIA and expressed as four

characters. The IBIA maintains the Vendor Registry of CBEFF Biometric

Organizations that map the value in this subfield to a registered organization.

A value of 0000 indicates a vendor without a designation by IBIA. In such

case, an entry shall be made in COM of this subfield describing the

algorithm and its owner/vendor.

• A fourth information item is the algorithm product identification / QAP. It

is mandatory and shall specify a numeric product code assigned by the

vendor of the quality assessment algorithm, which may be registered with

the IBIA, but registration is not required. This information item indicates

which of the vendor’s algorithms was used in the calculation of the quality

score. This information item contains the integer product code and should be

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within the range 0 to 65,534. A value of 0 indicates a vendor without a

designation by IBIA. In such case, an entry shall be made in COM of this

subfield describing the algorithm and its owner/vendor.

• The fifth information item is comments / COM. It is optional but shall be

used to provide information about the quality assessment process, including

a description of any unregistered quality assessment algorithms used. (if

QAV= 0x00 or QAP = 0).

8.11.25 Field 11.034: Vocal segment collision identifier / VCI

If Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC is present, then this field shall only be present if

DII = 1. This field shall only be present if Field 11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD is

present. This optional field indicates that a vocal collision (two or more persons talking

at once) occurs within the segment. This field has repeating values. Each value

represents a separate segment. There may be up to 600,000 segments identified in this

field. 

8.11.26 Field 11.035: Vocal segment processing priority / PPY

This optional field shall only appear if Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC exists in

this record. If this field exists, segments not identified should be given the lowest

priority. The priority specified in this field does not conflict with that of Field 1.006:

Priority / PRY, which indicates the processing priority of the entire transaction.

• The first information item is the segment identifier list / SIL. It is

mandatory in each subfield and gives the segment identifiers to which the

values in this subfield pertain. The number of segment identifiers listed is

limited to 600,000. A value of 0 indicates the segment geographical

information in this subfield shall be considered the default value. If multiple

segments are identified, they are designated as integers in a list. [2015a>]

This is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The second information item is the processing priority/ PTY. It is

mandatory if this field is used and indicates the priority with which the

segments identified in this subfield should be processed. Priority values

shall be between 1 and 9 inclusive. A value of 1 will indicate the highest

priority and 9 the lowest. 

8.11.27 Field 11.036: Vocal segment content description / VSCD

This optional field shall only appear if Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC exists in

this record. Each subfield gives an assessment of the content of the voice data within

the identified segment and includes provision for semantic transcripts, phonetic

transcriptions and translations of the segment. At least one of the information items in

addition to [2015e>] SIL [<2015e] shall be present in this field. 

• The first information item is the segment identifier list / SIL. It is

mandatory in each subfield and gives the segment identifiers to which the

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values in this subfield pertain. The number of segment identifiers listed is

limited to 600,000. A value of 0 in this subfield indicates the segment

geographical information in this subfield shall be considered the default

value for all segments not specifically identified in other occurrences of this

subfield. If multiple segments are identified, they are designated as integers

in a list. [2015a>] This is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section

7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The second information item is the transcript text / TRN. It is dependent

and is a text field. It may contain a semantic transcription of the segment. 

• The third information item is the transcript language / LNG. [2015a>]It is

optional but shall only be in the subfield if TRN is present in the subfield.

[<2015a] It states the 3 character ISO 639-3 code for the language of the

translation included in this subfield. 

• The fourth information item is the phonetic transcript text / PTT. It is an

dependent text field containing a phonetic transcription of the segment. This

may be informal (based upon the language conventions of the record

creator), the International Phonetic Alphabet, the Americanist phonetic

notation, or other system. The IPA extensions in Unicode, such as ɣ or ʁ or

ɽ, can thus be used. 

• The fifth information states the phonetic transcript convention / PTC. It is

dependent but shall only be in the subfield if PTT is present in the subfield.

It is a text entry. Recommended entries are:

 IPA International Phonetic Alphabet212

 Informal Informal transcription using spelling conventions of the 

language of the transcriber

 American Americanist phonetic notation213

 Arpabet Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) phonetic transcription214, also 

used in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary215

 Merriam Pronunciation symbols defined in the Merriam-Webster 

dictionary 216 

• The sixth information item is the translation text / TLT. It is an dependent

text field containing a translation of the segment into a language other than

the one in which the original segment was spoken. If a text is translated into

multiple languages, a separate subfield is generated for each language. 

• The seventh information item is the translation language /TLG. [2015a>]It

is optional but shall only be in the subfield if TRN is present in the subfield.

[<2015a] It states the 3 character ISO 639-3 code for the language of the

translation included in this subfield. 

212 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet

213 See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americanist_phonetic_notation

214 See http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Arpabet 

215 See www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict

216 See http://assets2.merriam-webster.com/mw/static/pdf/help/guide-to-pronunciation.pdf 

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• The eighth information item is the segment content comments / COM. It is

an dependent text field containing comments on the content of the segment.

• The ninth information item is the transcript authority comment text /

TAC. It is an dependent text field and, if used, it states the authority

providing the transcription, translation or comments in TRN, PTT, TLT or

COM. If an automated process was used to develop the transcript,

information about the process (i.e., the automated algorithm used) should be

stated.

8.11.28 Field 11.037: Vocal segment speaker characteristics / SCC

This optional field gives an assessment of the characteristics of the voice within the

segment, including intelligibility, emotional state and impairment. This field shall only

appear if Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC exists in the record. At least one of the

information items in addition to [2015e>] SIL [<2015e] shall be present in this field. 

• The first information item is the segment identifier list / SIL. It is

mandatory in each subfield and gives the segment identifiers to which the

values in this subfield pertain. The number of segment identifiers listed is

limited to 600,000. 0 in this subfield indicates the segment geographical

information in this subfield shall be considered the default value for all

segments not specifically identified in other occurrences of this subfield. If

multiple segments are identified, they are designated as integers in a list.

[2015a>] this is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13.

[<2015a]

• The second information item is the speaker list / SPL. It is dependent. It is a

list of unique identifiers for the speakers in the segments identified in SIL.

The identifiers are user-specified and are not in any pre-specified or

correlated order of appearance in the information item. Examples may be:

'S1 S2 S3' or 'Whisperer-A Crier-A Whisperer-B' The entries are Unicode

The special character “|” shall not be in the text, since this reserved as a

separator character between the elements in this list, when using Traditional

encoding. This information item may be used in conjunction with T2C. It is

also used when separate Type-2 records are not contained in the transaction

for each speaker in a recording, but when it is possible to establish them as

separate identities, or as possibly separate identities (which in certain

circumstances could later be consolidated into one identity reference if the

determination is so made). The level of certainty of the creator of the record

of a truly unique separate identity is not implied by this information item or

by T2C. [2015a>] this is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section

7.7.13. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the type-2 record cross reference / T2C. It

is dependent. When used, it contains the IDC value of the Type-2 record that

contains relevant biographic information and other data concerning the subject

of this instance of the record, who may be different from the subject of the

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transaction. Its content is similar to Field xx.992 in certain other Record types.

See Section 7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.

1. The fourth information item is the impairment level number / IMP. It is

dependent and shall indicate a subjective, observed level of neurological

diminishment, whether from fatigue, disease, trauma, or the influence of

medication/substances, across the speech segments identified. No attempt is

made to differentiate the sources of impairment. The value shall be an

integer between 0 (no noticed impairment) and 5 (significant), inclusive.

• The fifth information item is the dominant spoken language code / DSL. It

is dependent and gives the 3 character ISO 639-3 code for the dominant

language in the segments identified in this subfield.

• A sixth information item is the language proficiency scale number / LPS. It

is an dependent integer and rates the subjective estimation of the fluency of

the language being spoken on a scale of 0 (no proficiency) to 9 (high

proficiency). 

• The seventh information item is the speech style code / STY. It is is

dependent and shall be an integer as given in Table 92 Speech Style

Codes. There may be no more than one value for each of the segments

identified in this subfield and will indicate the dominant style of speech

within the segments. If attribute code “12” is chosen to indicate “other”,

additional explanation should be included in (comments / COM) below.

Table 92 Speech Style Codes

Speech style description Speech style code

Unknown 0

Public speech (oratory) 1

Conversational telephone 2

Conversation face-to-face 3

Read 4

Prompted/repeated 5

Storytelling/Picture description 6

Task induced speech 7

Interview 8

Recited/memorized 9

Spontaneous/free 10

Variable 11

Other 12

• The eighth information item is the intelligibility scale code / INT. It is

dependent. It is an integer describing the subjective evaluation of the speech

from 0 (unintelligible) to 9 (clear and fully intelligible). 

• The ninth information item, familiarity degree code / FDC, is dependent. It

is an integer between 0 and 5, inclusive, and indicates the perceived degree

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of familiarity between the data subject and the interlocutor, which ranges

from 0 indicating no familiarity to 5 indicating high familiarity/intimacy.

• The tenth information item is a health comment / HCM. It is dependent

text noting any observable health issues impacting the data subject during

the speech segment, such as symptoms of the common cold (hoarse voice,

pitch lowering, increased nasality), has emphysema, and/or if the data

subject regularly smokes tobacco or uses other products that may affect the

voice.

• The eleventh information item is the emotional state code / EMC. It is

dependent. It is an integer giving a subjective estimation of the emotional

state of the data subject across the segments identified in this subfield.

Admissible emotional state codes are given in Table 93 Emotional State

Codes. Only one value for this item is allowed across all of the segments

identified in this subfield. If emotional state code “9” or “10” is chosen to

indicate “variable” or “other”, additional explanation may be included in the

information item (comments/COM) below.

Table 93 Emotional State Codes

Emotional state description Emotional state code

Unknown 0

Calm 1

Hurried 2

Happy/joyful 3

Angry 4

Fearful 5

Agitated /Combative 6

Defensive 7

Crying 8

Variable 9

Other 10

• The twelfth information item is the vocal effort scale number / VES. It is a

dependent integer between 0 (very low vocal effort) and 5

(screaming/crying) which reports the subjective, perceived vocal effort of

the subject across the identified segments. Only one value is allowed for this

item in each subfield.

• The thirteenth information item is the vocal style code / VSC. It is an

optional integer assessing the subjective predominant vocal style of the data

subject across the identified segments. The vocal style code shall be chosen

from Table 94 Vocal Style Codes. Only one value is allowed for this item

in each subfield.

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Table 94 Vocal Style Codes

Vocal style description Vocal style code

Unknown 0

Spoken 1

Whispered 2

Sung 3

Chanted 4

Rapped 5

Mantra 6

Falsetto/Head voice 7

Spoken with laughter 8

Megaphone/Public Address System 9

Shouting/yelling 10

Other 11

• The fourteenth information item is the recording awareness indicator /

RAI. It is dependent and indicates whether the data subject is aware that a

recording is being made. 0 indicates unknown, 1 indicates aware and 2

indicates unaware.

• The fifteenth information item is the script text / SCR. It is dependent and

may be used to give the script used for read, prompted or repeated speech. 

• The sixteenth information item is comments / COM. It is dependent and

may be used to give additional information about the characteristic

assessment process, including a description of any characteristic assessment

algorithms used, notes on any known external stresses applicable to the data

subject, such as extreme environmental conditions or heavy physical or

cognitive load, and a description of how the values in the items of this

subfield were assigned. If the sixth information item indicates read or

prompted speech, this item may contain the read or prompted text. 

[2015n>] The restriction limiting this information to 4,000 characters is

lifted. There is now no size restriction. However, application profiles may

still restrict the number of characters. [<2015n]

8.11.29 Field 11.038: Vocal segment channel / SCH

This field describes the transducer and transmission channel within the identified

segments. This field shall only be present if Field 11.025: Vocal content / VOC

appears in this record. 

• The first information item is the segment identifier list / SIL. It is

mandatory in each subfield and gives the segment identifiers to which the

values in this subfield pertain. The number of segment identifiers listed is

limited to 600,000. A value of 0 in this subfield indicates the segment

geographical information in this subfield is the default value for all segments

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not specifically identified in other occurrences of this subfield. If multiple

segments are identified, they are designated as integers in a list. [2015a>]

this is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a] 

• The second information item is the audio capture device type code / ACD.

It is optional. It is an integer with values given in Table 95 Audio Capture

Device Type Codes. A value of “2” indicates that more than one type of

microphone is being used simultaneously to collect the audio signal. For

many of the acquisition sources in Field 11.008: Acquisition source /

AQS, as specified by Table 121 Acquisition source, the audio capture

device type and microphone type code (MTC) shall be unknown.

Table 95 Audio Capture Device Type Codes

Device type description Device type code

Unknown 0

Array 1

Multiple style microphones 2

Earbud 3

Body Wire 4

Microphone 5

Handset 6

Headset 7

Speaker phone 8

Lapel Microphone 9

Other 10

• The third information item is the microphone type code / MTC. It is

optional. It is an integer that specifies the transducer type from Table 96

Microphone Type Codes. Transducer arrays using mixed transducer types

shall be designated “other”.

Table 96 Microphone Type Codes

Microphone type description Microphone type code

Unknown 0

Carbon 1

Electret 2

Dynamic 3

Other 4

• The fourth information item is the capture environment description text /

ENV. It is an optional text field describing the acoustic environment of the

recording. Examples of text placed in this item would be “busy restaurant”,

“urban street”, “public park during day”.

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• The fifth information item is the transducer distance / DST. It is optional.

It is an integer and specifies the approximate distance in centimeters,

rounded to the nearest integer number of centimeters, between the speaker in

the identified segments and the transducer. A value of 0 will be used if the

distance is less than one-centimeter. Some example distances: handheld = 5

cm; throat mic = 0 cm, mobile telephone = 15 cm; voice-over-internetprotocol (VOIP) with a computer = 80 cm, unless other information is

available.

• The sixth information item is the acquisition source code / AQC. It is an

optional integer that specifies the source from which the voice in the

identified segments was received. Only one value is allowed. Permissible

values are given in Table 121 Acquisition source of the Record Type-20:

Source Representation record. Any conflict between this value and Field

11.008: Acquisition source / AQS shall be resolved by taking this item to

be correct for all segments identified in the [2015>a] relevant [<2015a]

subfield in Field 11.038. 

• The seventh information item is the voice modification description text /

VMT. It is an optional, unrestricted string for a description of any digital

masking between transducer and recording, disguisers or other attempts to

change the voice quality. Any processing techniques used on the recording

should be indicated, such as Automated Gain Control (AGC), noise

reduction, etc.

• The eighth information item is comments / COM. It is an optional,

unrestricted string for additional information to identify or describe the

transduction and transmission channels of the identified segments. 

8.11.30 Field 11.051: Comment / COM

This field is an optional unrestricted text string that may contain comments of any type

on the Type 11 record as a whole. Comments on individual segments shall be given in

the information item COM in Field 11.024: Discontinuities diary / DCD, or Field

11.026: Vocal content diary / VCD. This field should record any intellectual property

rights associated with any of the segments in the voice recording, any court orders

related to the voice recording and any administrative data not included in other fields.

See Section 7.4.4.

8.11.31 Field 11.100-900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user

and be in accordance with the receiving agency.

8.11.32 Field 11.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. This field logs information

pertaining to this Type-11 record and the voice recording pointed to or included herein.

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See Section 7.4.1. This section is not intended to contain any transcriptions or

translations themselves, but may contain information about the source of such fields in

the record.

8.11.33 Field 11.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. This is the name

of the agency referred to in Field 11.004: Source agency / SRC.

8.11.34 Field 11.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for all digital representations, if the data is not contained in Field

11.999: Voice record data / DATA. It may be a physical location, as well, such as for

analog recordings. If this field is used, Field 11.999 shall not be set. However, one of

the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type unless Field 11.003:

Audio object descriptor code /AOD is set to a value of 5. A non-URL reference might

be similar to: “Case 2009:1468 AV Tape 3 from Convenience Store We-Got-It-All4U”. It is highly recommended that the user state the format of the external file in Field

11.051: Comment / COM. 

8.11.35 Field 11.995: Associated Context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 instances with the same

ACN. See Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive

biometric data but may be relevant to the collection of that data, such as an image of a

document authorizing redaction.

8.11.36 Field 11.996: Hash / HAS

This optional field applies to all digital audio records, whether stored in Field 11.999:

 Voice record data / DATA or reference to an external storage location in Field

11.994: External file reference / EFR and shall contain the hash value of the data,

calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2. Use of the hash enables the receiver of

the digital data to check that the data has been transmitted correctly, and may also be

used for quick searches of large databases to determine if the data already exist in the

database. It is not intended as an information assurance check, which is handled by

 Record Type-98: Information assurance record. 

8.11.37 Field 11.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20: Source

Representation record with the same SRN. This may be useful if, for instance, a

recorded television program is stored in its entirety at a location denoted in Record

Type-20, but only a segment of it is relevant to the transaction and has been cut from

the original for further analysis using Record Type-11. Note that for this record type,

the information item RSP is not used, since segementation of an image is not applicable

to voice. 

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8.11.38 Field 11.999: Voice record data / DATA

If this field is used, Field 11.994: External file reference / EFR shall not be set. One

of the two fields shall be present in this record unless Field 11.003: Audio object

descriptor code /AOD has a value of 5. See Section 7.2 for details. [<2013v]

[2013d>]

8.12Record Type-12: Forensic dental and oral record

Record Type-12 is designed to accommodate oral biometric and forensic data based

upon the ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 - Forensic Dental Data Set and ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1067 – Standard Functional Requirements for an Electronic Dental

Record System. This record type facilitates the exchange of data to agencies that may

use different data storage and/or matching systems, such as NCIC, WinID, NamUs,

UVIS/UDIM, and FastID.

The term ‘current data’ refers to the available data for the individual in his/her current

state, and does not necessarily mean data sampled at the present point in time. ‘Prior

data’ refers to data collected when that individual was in a different, previous

state/condition than the current condition.

Disaster Victim Identification and Unknown Deceased Identification

Prior data (antemortem)

Current data (postmortem)

Person Unable (or Unwilling) to Identify Themselves

Prior data (antemortem)

Current data (antemortem)

In the first case (which is the most common use of Type-12 record), separate Type-12

records are generated for the prior (antemortem) and for the current data (postmortem).

Likewise, separate Type-12 records are created for prior and current data for persons

unable / unwilling to identify themselves. Data elements are included in the Type-12

record to clearly distinguish the timeframe of the data collection from the subject of the

transaction. In order to minimize confusion the word antemortem is used in this

document instead of prior data and postmortem is used instead of current data in those

cases where identification only concerns a decedent.

The Type-12 record shall contain and be used to exchange information that may be

used to identify or confirm the identity of persons using dental biometrics and forensic

odontological procedures. It is consistent with the ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 -

Forensic Dental Data Set of the American Dental Association (ADA) and uses the

tooth numbering system stated in ANSI/ADA Designation System for Teeth and Areas

of the Oral Cavity, Standard No. 3950. 

For identification of unknown deceased, as noted by the ADA in Section 6 of Standard

No. 1058, the antemortem forensic data set should consist of:

• familial data set (recommended to be contained in Record Type-2)

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• dental history data set (contained in Record Type-12)

• tooth data set (contained in Record Type-12)

• mouth data set (contained in Record Type-12)

• visual image data set (contained in Record Type-10)

• radiographic image data set (contained in Record Type-22)

The postmortem forensic dental data set should consist of 4 components:

• tooth data set (contained in Record Type-12)

• mouth data set (contained in Record Type-12)

• visual image data set (contained in Record Type-10)

• radiographic image data set (contained in Record Type-22)

For living persons unable / unwilling to identify themselves, the same sets of data apply

but the first group should be viewed as 'prior' and the second grouping as 'current.' For

cases involving the transmission of dental and oral data about an individual for potential

law enforcement purposes, the most current data available on that individual should be

supplied in a Type-12 record. 

It is important to emphasize that lack of specification of a condition in the data for this

record does NOT mean that a condition is NOT present, but simply that the sender did

not convey the information. 

Application profiles of this standard shall specify the applicable upper limit for all

elements with a maximum occurrence of * (unlimited).

While the standard allows Traditional encoding for a Type-12 record, the user should

be aware that many forensic dental systems are (or are being) designed to use XML

encoding for ANSI/NIST-ITL transactions. 

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Table 97 Type-12 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

12.001 RECORD HEADER M

Encoding specific;

See Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

Encoding specific;

See Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

12.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2 0 < IDC < 99 integer 1 1

12.003

FDS

FORENSIC DENTAL 

SETTING 

O 0 1

 FACC

 forensic analyst 

category code

M↑ A 1 1

FACC = M, D, A, T,

or O

1 1

 FOPC

 forensic organization 

primary contact 

information

O↑ U 1 1000 none 0 1

 FSCC

 forensic source 

country code

O↑ AN 2

3 value from ISO3166-1 or GENC

0 1

12.004 SRC

SOURCE AGENCY 

IDENTIFICATION ID

M U 1 * none 1 1

12.005

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

12.006

DSI

DENTAL SUBJECT 

INFORMATION

M 1 1

 DSC subject status code M A 1 1 DSC = X, A or D 1 1

 DLCD

 subject - last contact 

date

O See Section 7.7.2.3 See Section 7.7.2.3 0 1

 DRLC

 subject - range of 

last contact date estimate

D AN 2 9

time measure

indicator followed by

1 or 2 digits. May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day

0 1

 DPBD subject - person birth 

date

O see Section 7.7.2.3 see Section 7.7.2.3 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 DRBD

 subject - range of birth 

date estimate

D AN 2 9

time measure

indicator followed by

1 or 2 digits. May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day

0 1

 DPET

 subject - person 

ethnicity text

O U 1 50 none 0 1

 DRAC

 subject - DNA records

availability code

O N 1 1

DRAC = 1 or 2

integer

0 1

 DCLD

 subject collection 

location description

O U 1 * none 0 1

 DEDD

 subject - estimated 

death date

O

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

0 1

 DRDE

 subject - range of death

date estimate

D AN 2 15

time measure

indicator followed by

1 or 2 digits. May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day, h

hour, m minute

0 1

 DTER

 subject – death time 

estimate rationale text

D U 1 * none 0 1

 DEAT

 subject – death age 

estimate text

D U 1 * none 0 1

12.007

ODES

 ORIGINAL 

DENTAL ENCODING 

SYSTEM 

INFORMATION 

D 0 1

 OSNC

 original system name 

code

M↑ A 3 6

See Table 98

Dental System

Codes

1 1

 OSVT

 original system version

text

D U 1 * None 0 1

 OTPC

 original tooth 

permanence category 

code 

M↑ N 1 1

See Table 99 Tooth

Permanency Codes

1 1

 ORDG original restoration 

data granularity code

M↑ N 2 2 See Table 100

Restoration Data

Granularity Codes

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 OMPN

 original morphology – 

positional numbering 

code

O↑ N 1 1

See Table 101

Morphology /

Positional

Numbering Codes

0 1

12.008

 TDES

TRANSMITTAL 

DENTAL ENCODING 

SYSTEM 

INFORMATION 

D 0 1

 TSNC

 transmittal system 

name code

M↑ A 36

See Table 98 Dental

System Codes

1 1

 TSVT

 transmittal system 

version text

D U 1 100 None 0 1

 TTPC

 transmittal tooth 

permanence category 

code

M↑ N 1 1

See Table 99 Tooth

Permanency Codes

1 1

 TRDG

 transmittal restoration 

data granularity code

M↑ N 2 2

See Table 100

Restoration Data

Granularity Codes

1 1

 TMPN

 transmittal morphology

– positional numbering 

code

O↑ N 1 1

TMPN = 0, 1, 2, 3 

or 4

0 1

12.009

HDD

DENTAL HISTORY 

DATA DETAIL

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

sets of information 

items

M↑ 1 *

 HARC

dental history ADA 

reference code217 M↑ NS 3 30

valid code from

ANSI/ADA Standard

No. 1058, Section 8

(integers and periods

are in the codes)

1 1

 HADT

dental history additional

descriptive text

D U 1 * none 0 1

12.010

TDD

TOOTH DATA 

DETAIL

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

sets of information 

items

M↑ 1 *

 TDR tooth data - date of 

recording

D

218

See Section 7.7.2.3 See Section 7.7.2.3 0 218 1 

217 Note that this is not a list, unlike TARC or MARC. Each code is entered in a separate subfield. This

is due to the nature of the data, with most codes requiring text. 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 TDRR

 tooth data - date of 

recording estimated 

accuracy range

D AN 2 9

time measure

indicator followed by

1 or 2 digits. May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day

0 1

 TID tooth ID M↑ N 2 2

tooth numbers

chosen from

ANSI/ADA Standard

No. 3950

1 1

 TOET

tooth data – original 

system data encoding 

text

D U 1 * none 0 1

 TARC

tooth data– ADA 

reference code list

M↑ NS 3 30

list of valid codes

from ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1058,

Section 9 (integers,

and periods are in the

codes) 

1

LIST203 with

no fixed upper

count limit.

 TTET

tooth data - transmitted 

encoding text

D U 1 * none 0 1

 TICC tooth ID certainty code O↑ N 1 1 TICC = 0, 1 or 2 0 1

 TADT

tooth data - additional 

descriptive text

D U 1 * none 0 1

12.011

MDD

MOUTH DATA 

DETAIL

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

sets of information 

items

M↑ 1 *

 MDR

mouth data - date of 

recording 

D 218

see Section 7.7.2.3 see Section 7.7.2.3 0 218 1

 MDRR mouth data - date of 

recording estimated 

accuracy range

D AN 2 9 time measure

indicator followed by

1 or 2 digits. May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day

0 1

218

 It is mandatory that this information item appear in at least one subfield. However, it need not appear

in all subfields of this field. 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 MARC

 mouth data - ADA 

reference code list

M↑ NS 3 30

list of valid codes

from ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1058,

Section 10 (integers

and periods are in the

codes) 

1

LIST203 with

no fixed upper

count limit.

 MADT

 mouth data - additional

descriptive text

D U 1 * none 0 1

12.012

DSTI

DENTAL STUDY 

AND TOOTH 

IMPRINTS

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

sets of information 

items

M↑ 1 *

 SDR

 dental study and tooth 

imprints - date of 

recording 

D

218

See Section 7.7.2.3 See Section 7.7.2.3 0 218 1

 SDRR

dental study and tooth 

imprints - date of 

recording estimated 

accuracy range

D AN 2 9

time measure

indicator followed by

1 or 2 digits. May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day

0 1

 SRC

 dental study and tooth 

imprints - reference 

code 217

M↑

N 1 1 SRC = 1, 2, 3 or 4 1 1

 SADT

 dental study and tooth 

imprints - additional 

descriptive text

M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

12.013 – 12.019

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

12.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 * none 0 1

12.021 – 12.046

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

12.047 CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION 

NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

12.048 – 12.199

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

12.200 – 12.900 UDF

USER-DEFINED 

FIELDS

O user-defined user-defined user-defined

12.901

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

12.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

sets of information 

items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT

 Greenwich Mean 

Time

M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

12.903 – 12.989

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

12.990

 T10C

 TYPE-10 RECORD 

CROSS-REFERENCE

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

values

M↑ N 1 2

0 < T10C < 99

integer

1 99

12.991

 T22C

 TYPE-22 RECORD 

CROSS-REFERENCE

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating 

values

M↑ N 1 2

0 < T22C < 99

integer

1 99

12.992 T2C

 TYPE-2 RECORD 

CROSS-REFERENCE

O N 1 2

0 < T2C < 99

integer

0 1

12.993 SAN

SOURCE AGENCY 

NAME

O U 1 125 none 0 1

12.994 EFR

 EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE D U 1 200 none 0 1

12.995 ASC ASSOCIATED 

CONTEXT

O 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

Subfields: Repeating 

sets of information 

items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN

 associated context 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

12.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

12.997

RESERVED FOR 

FUTURE USE only by 

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

12.998

GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC 

SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION 

LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑ See Section 7.7.2.2 See Section 7.7.2.2 0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8 0 < LTS < 60 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8 0 < LGS < 60 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000 < ELE <

8848.000

real number

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6

value from Table 7

Geographic

coordinate datum

code values

0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a single

letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GRT

 geographic reference 

text

O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate 

other system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate 

other system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

12.999 DATA

DENTAL CHART 

DATA

D Base64 1 * none 0 1

8.12.1 Field 12.001: Record header

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.1 Record header.

8.12.2 Field 12.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-12 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1 Information designation character / IDC.

8.12.3 Field 12.003: Forensic dental setting / FDS

This optional field is used to describe the forensic setting that carried out the analysis of

the dental and oral data to identify or confirm the identity of the subject. This field is

not used when data is gathered and transmitted without forensic analysis. The field is

comprised of the following information items:

• The first information item is the forensic analyst category code / FACC. It

is mandatory if this field is used. It contains a single letter describing the

head of the team that processed the forensic data:

M Medical Examiner

D Dental Professional / Forensic Odontologist

A Forensic Anthropologist

T Technician

O Other

• The second information item is the forensic organization primary contact

information / FOPC for the forensic analysis. This is an optional item. It

should include the name, telephone number, and e-mail address of the

person responsible for the analysis.

• The third information item is optional. It is the forensic source country code

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/ FSCC. This is the code of the location where the forensic analysis was

performed, not the code of the location from which the forensic data or

sample were sent for analysis. FSCC defaults to ISO-3166-1 coding. If

Field 1.018: Geographic name set / GNS is set to GENC, then FSCC is

from the GENC list. 

8.12.4 Field 12.004: Source agency identification ID / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The SRC is a code for a particular

agency that is assigned by the implementation domain (such as NORAM, which is

maintained by the FBI). It is often not a readable name. The source agency name may

be entered in Field 12.993: Source agency name / SAN.

This field denotes the agency that prepared this record. It is not necessarily the agency

that is transmitting this transaction (which is designated in Field 1.008: Originating

agency identifier / ORI). It also need not be the agency that gathered the biometric

samples and/or metadata. That organization (if different) is specified in Field 12.047:

Capture organization name / CON.

Note that changes and additions or subtractions to/from the original Type-12 record

may be noted in Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF. Thus, when an agency updates a

Type-12 record, Field 12.004 is updated to reflect this new agency name and the

previous value for Field 12.004 may be recorded in Field 98.900.

8.12.5 Field 12.006: Dental subject information / DSI

This field is mandatory. The first information item is mandatory. This field contains

data that would not typically be contained in Type-2 records but are very important for

identification of unknown deceased or persons unable to identify themselves. Here, the

term ‘subject’ refers to the person (alive or dead) to whom the information applies.

This field is used to record the status of the individual at the time when the relevant data

was recorded. For instance, if data is provided from a dentist's office to assist in

Disaster Victim Identification, the value for DSC would be A, since the patient was

alive at the time of the last dental appointment. For a different instance of a Type-12

record, created by a Medical Examiner, the value for DSC would be D. 

• The first information item is the subject status code / DSC. It is an integer

with one of the following values:

 X Status of individual unknown

 A Data obtained from a living person (for unknown deceased 

= antemortem)

 D Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased)

Note that separate records shall exist for prior and current information,

which may have the same or different DSC value, depending upon the

circumstances. 

• The second information item, subject – last contact date / DLCD, is an

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optional information item. This is particularly useful in missing persons

cases. See Section 7.7.2.3 for the format. This is typically the last

examination date if the records are from a dentist's office. 

• The third information item, subject – range of last contact date estimate /

DRLC is entered in the format Y

yyMmmDdd. The bold letters are entered

with Y indicating years, M indicating months, D indicating days. Not all

levels of time need be entered – only the relevant one(s). Leading zeros

need not be entered. The range is centered upon DLCD. Thus, for a value of

DLCD being 20020500 (zeros being used to indicate lack of knowledge of

the day), a range might be M1, indicating plus or minus 1 month from

March, 2002. 

[2015a>] For XML implementations, this element is represented using an

XML duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that

there is a date value range and T indicates that there is a time value range.

Under P, nY is the number of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the

number of days. Under T, nH is the number of hours, nM is the number of

minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

• The fourth information item, subject – person birth date / DPBD, is an

optional information item. See Section 7.7.2.3 for the format. If records are

available, enter the birth date as known. In forensic examination, enter an

approximate date. 

• The fifth information item, subject – range of birth date estimate / DRBD

is entered in the format Y

yyMmmDdd. The bold letters are entered with Y

indicating years, M indicating months, D indicating days. Not all levels of

time need be entered – only the relevant one(s). Leading zeros need not be

entered. The range is centered upon DPBD. Thus, for a value of DPBD

being 19910000 (zeros being used to indicate indicate lack of knowledge of

month or day), a range might be Y3, indicating plus or minus 3 years from

1991. 

[2015a>] For XML implementations, this element is represented using an

XML duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that

there is a date value range and T indicates that there is a time value range.

Under P, nY is the number of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the

number of days. Under T nH is the number of hours, nM is the number of

minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

• The sixth information item, subject – person ethnicity text / DPET, is an

optional string of 50 Unicode characters used to describe the ethnic group to

which the subject belongs. This is not selected from a fixed list, since

terminology that is useful in one area may not be relevant in another. For

instance, in certain locations, if tribal membership (e.g., Zulu, Hopi) is

known, it may be entered in this information item. In the United States,

‘Hispanic’ is a common term that may assist in identification, but that term

would be meaningless (or simply cause confusion) in Guatemala or

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Argentina. 'Aboriginal’ describes specific peoples in Australia but is not a

term commonly in use in the U.S.

• The seventh information item is optional and indicates if DNA records are

available for the subject. It is subject DNA records availability code /

DRAC. This need not be specified if a Type-18 record is contained in the

transaction, but it is highly suggested to do so. Allowed values are:

 1 = Yes

 2 = No

• The eighth optional information item is the subject collection location

description / DCLD. It is an optional string of Unicode characters. An

example is “Lower jaw recovered 4.3 meters from the tip of the left wing of

the airplane, in grid 7W. Separated from skull. Four teeth found within 20

centimeters of the lower jaw.” This may be a more descriptive entry than

that of Field 12.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO,

which is typically the geographic location specified in GPS coordinates or

with reference to a fixed landmark.

• The ninth item is optional but shall only appear if the subject is deceased and

the data sample was collected postmortem. (DSC = [2015e>] D [<2015e]). It

is the subject – estimated death date / DEDD. See Section 7.7.2.4 for the

format.

• The tenth item is optional but shall only appear if DEDD is present in the

field. It is subject – range of death date estimate / DRDE. This is the

amount of time (plus and minus) of which DEDD is the center point during

which the death could have taken place. It is entered in the format

Y

yyMmmDddhhhmmm. The bold letters are entered with Y indicating years,

M indicating months, D indicating days, h indicating hours and m indicating

minutes. Not all levels of time need be entered – only the relevant one(s).

Thus, with DEDD set at 201203150000 DRDE could have a value of D05,

meaning that the death could have occurred from March 10 through March

20. The letters do not need to be in bold case in the actual data. Leading

zeros need not be entered.

[2015a>] For XML implementations, this element is represented using an

XML duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that

there is a date value range and T indicates that there is a time value range.

Under P, nY is the number of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the

number of days. Under T nH is the number of hours, nM is the number of

minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

• The eleventh item is optional but shall only appear if DRDE is present in the

field. It is subject- death time estimate rationale text / DTER. It is entered

in Unicode. A typical entry may be “Using the Glaister equation, time of

death was able to be estimated to be approximately 4 hours before the

measurements were taken at 18:15 on May 2. Thus, the time of death was

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approximately 14:15 on May 2.” 219

• The twelfth item is optional but shall appear only if DRDE is present in the

field. It is subject – death age estimate text/ DEAT. It is entered in

UNICODE and a typical entry may be “DCIA {dental cementum increment

analysis} was performed on the left mandibular second premolar. The tooth

was embedded in epoxy, sectioned, and mounted to a glass slide ground and

polished and examined under 10, 20 and 40X magnification under polarized

light. Subject estimated to be 23.5 to 24.5 years based on DCIA.”220 

8.12.6 Field 12.007: Original dental encoding system information / ODES

This field is used to describe the data collection schema that was used for the original

recordation of dental information. ODES need not be a forensic data system or a system

capable of formulating an ANSI/NIST-ITL conformant record or transaction. The

purpose of this field is to specify the rules and definitions that were used to specify the

original data collection. If Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD appears in this

record, then this field should appear in the record.221 Either this field and / or Field

12.008: Transmittal dental encoding system information / TDES shall be present in

the record if Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD appears in this record.

Table 98 Dental System Codes

Dental System

Code Description

EDR Electronic Dental Record System

FastID Interface for completing the INTERPOL Disaster Victim Identification forms222

NamUs The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System223

NCIC The National Dental Image Repository of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) 

run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)224

219 See Silver W.E., Souviron R.R, Dental Autopsy, CRC Press, 2009 p.9: “Algor mortis occurs as body

temperature changes after death occurs. There is usually decline in temperature until the body reaches the

ambient temperature. According to the seasons and the geographical area, the ambient temperature may

vary widely and should be a consideration. Using the Glaister equation: 36.9oC (98.6oF) minus the rectal

temperature divided by 1.5 will give the approximate hours elapsed since death. Then, as decomposition

occurs, the temperature of the body tends to increase. The rate of decomposition will depend upon local

conditions, for example, sun, water, or ice.” 

220 See: Wedel V, Found G, Nusse G, A 37-Year-Old Case Identification Using Novel and Collaborative

Methods, Journal of Forensic Identification, Vol. 63. No. 1 p. 10.

221 If the transmitting system is different than the original system, then both Field 12.007 and Field

12.008 should be contained in the record. However, the standard allows a record to be created with only

the transmitting system data, for cases where the original system data may no longer be available. 

222Information is available at http://www.interpol.int/INTERPOL-expertise/Forensics/DVI

223Information is available at http://namus.gov/

224Information is available at http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ncic/ncic

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PLASS The DVI System International marketed by Plass Data Software A/S225

UDIM The Unified Dental Identification Module (UDIM) of the Unified Victim Identification System

(UVIS) 226

WinID Dental Identification System227

Other The coding system is not listed but is formally documented

None The ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 – Forensic Dental Codes are selected and entered 

directly. 

• The first information item is mandatory. It is the original system name code

/ OSNC. The code is selected from Table 98.

• The second information item is the original system version text / OSVT.

This item is optional unless ‘Other’ or ‘EDR’ is specified for OSNC. It

specifies version of the data system that was used in the original coding

(such as ‘2012 version’ for UVIS/UDIM). When OSNC is set to ‘Other’ or

‘EDR’, this information item is mandatory and specifies the official brand

name of the software utilized, and optionally the version number if known.

If information of the location of documentation for the software is available

such as a URL / URI it can also be included with a text beginning with the

word “URL: “.

• The third information item is the original tooth permanence category

code / OTPC. It is mandatory. It is used to designate the way that permanent

and deciduous teeth are coded according to the system used to enter the data.

Codes are listed in Table 99 Tooth Permanency Codes.

Table 99 Tooth Permanency Codes

Tooth Permanency

Code Description

0 Specified by tooth number (e.g., FastID, PLASS). For systems such as

WinID and UDIM, which internally list the tooth number with a 

permanent tooth number but use a deciduous indicator, those two 

pieces of information shall be combined together to assign the tooth 

number according to ANSI/ADA Standard No. 3950 prior to inclusion 

in this record.

1 Unable to determine if the teeth are permanent or deciduous at the 

tooth level but the system does allow a marker to indicate that 

deciduous teeth are present in the dentition (e.g., NCIC). The 

permanent tooth number shall be used. 

225Information is available at http://www.plassdata.com/products-services/software-products.html#dvi

226Information is available at

http://www.nyc.gov/html/ocme/downloads/pdf/Special%20Operations/UVIS%20Information%20Guide_20090917.pdf

227Information is available at http://abfo.org/winid/

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2 Coding system incapable of distinguishing deciduous from permanent

teeth (e.g., NamUs). The permanent tooth number shall be used.

3 Unknown whether the coding is capable of indicating deciduous and 

permanent teeth and / or whether the coding was performed using that

capability. The permanent tooth number shall be used.

• The fourth information item is the original restoration data granularity

code / ORDG. It is mandatory. This index indicates the type and level of

restoration and surface information coded in Field 12.010: Tooth data

detail / TDD. The codes in Table 100 Restoration Data Granularity

Codes are entered228. 

Table 100 Restoration Data Granularity Codes

Granularity

Codes Description

11 The system is capable of specifying individual restorations with the restored 

surface information and material composition coded separately for each 

restoration on the tooth; however, the submission of restorations with materials 

specified for each restoration is optional.

21 The system is capable of specifying individual restorations with the restored 

surface coded separately; however, all of the individual material compositions are 

combined into a single code for the tooth. Material specification is optional. 

Unknown material composition may be implicitly or explicitly coded.

31 The system is capable of coding individual restorations with restored surfaces into 

a single code. All the materials utilized in all the restorations are combined into a 

single code when materials are represented. The codes are specified by tooth.

41 The presence of restorations without surface information is combined to a single 

code for the tooth. All materials utilized in all the restorations are combined into a 

single code for the tooth, when materials are represented. 

51 Only the presence of restorations without surface or material information is 

included in the coding. 

99 The level of detail contained in Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD

concerning restorations, materials and/or surfaces is unknown.

• The fifth information item is the original morphology – positional

numbering code / OMPN. It is optional. It is used to indicate whether the

assignment of tooth numbers was done on a morphological basis (shape of

the tooth regardless of the location in the arch) or positional basis (the

location of the tooth regardless of the morphology). There is often no

distinction, but in certain cases, the result can be different. Values are

selected from the Code column of Table 101 Morphology / Positional

228 In 2013, the granularity codes for some major systems are: 11=Plass, FastID, any EHR that utilized

the ADA Code on Dental Procedures and Nomenclature (CDT) Coding system; 21=None; 31=WinID,

UDIM; 41=NCIC; 51=NamUs

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Numbering Codes. 

Table 101 Morphology / Positional Numbering Codes

 Code Description

0 Unknown

1 Developer specified morphological coding

2 Developer specified positional coding

3 Coder specified morphological coding independent of developer specification 

4 Coder specified positional coding independent of developer specification 

8.12.7 Field 12.008: Transmittal dental encoding system information / 

TDES

This field is mandatory only if the record creation data reference / encoding system is

different from the original system and Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD appears

in this record. This field is used to describe the encoding system that is associated with

this record. Either this field and / or Field 12.007: Original dental encoding system

information / ODES shall be present in the record if Field 12.010: Tooth data detail /

TDD appears in this record.

If there is a chain of systems involved in creating the record, it is highly recommended

that Fields 12.200 through 12.900: User-defined fields / UDF be used to log the steps

involved from origin to present state. Note that if the record creation organization

wishes to transmit the information that was received from an intermediate organization

(before modification), Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD allows for this

possibility.

• The first information item is mandatory. It is the transmittal system name

code / TSNC. The code is selected from Table 98 Dental System Codes.

• The second information item is the transmittal system version text / TSVT.

This item is optional unless ‘Other’ is specified for TSNC. It specifies the

version of the system that was used in the transmitted coding (such as ‘2012

version’ for UVIS/UDIM). When TSNC is set to ‘Other’ or ‘EDR’, this

information item is mandatory and specifies the official brand name of the

software utilized, and optionally the version number if known. If

information for the location of documentation concerning the software is

available, such as a URL / URI, it can also be included with a text beginning

with the word “URL:”.

• The third information item is the transmittal tooth permanence category

code / TTPC. It is mandatory. It is used to designate the way that permanent

and deciduous teeth are coded according to the system used to enter the data.

Possible values are the codes in Table 99 Tooth Permanency Codes.

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• The fourth information item is the transmittal restoration data granularity

code / TRDG. It is mandatory. This index indicates the type and level of

restoration and surface information coded in Field 12.010: Tooth data

detail / TDD. The codes in Table 100 Restoration Data Granularity

Codes are entered229. 

• The fifth information item is the transmittal morphology – positional

numbering code / TMPN. It is optional. It is used to indicate whether the

assignment of tooth numbers was done on a morphological basis (shape of

the teeth) or positional. There is often no distinction, but in certain cases,

the result can be different. Values are selected from the Code collumn of

Table 101 Morphology / Positional Numbering Codes.

8.12.8 Field 12.009: Dental history data detail / HDD

This optional field should be included when prior data is available. This field

includes a subfield with a repeating set of information items. Each subfield has one

mandatory information item. There may be multiple subfields. 

• The first information item is the dental history ADA reference code /

HARC. It is mandatory. Any code value corresponding to the data set

descriptors in Section 8 of the ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 may be

entered. An example is 8.1.3.9.1.5 for the National Provider Identifier

Number of Dentist that treated the patient.

• The second information item is the dental history additional descriptive

text / HADT. It is a Unicode free text information item. It is used for those

codes that require text, such as 8.1.1 Name of Practice – the full name of the

practice where the patient was treated. Other reference codes, such as

8.1.3.8.4 Chart Available – used when chart information is available from

the practice where the patient was treated, would not have any information

recorded in HADT.

If HARC is set to 8.1.3.10 (the ADA code for CHART), the chart is contained in

Field 12.999: Dental chart data / DATA. If the chart is already in electronic

format, it should be converted into Base 64 prior to sending to avoid the use of any

‘reserved’ characters in XML. If the chart is physical, the most common approach is

to scan the chart and transmit the PDF or JPEG of the scan, also converted to Base

64. However, it is possible to specify an external storage location for the chart in

Field 12.994.

8.12.9 Field 12.010: Tooth data detail / TDD

If this field is present, then Field 12.007: Original dental encoding system

information / ODES and / or Field 12.008: Transmittal dental encoding system

information / TDES shall also be also present in the record.221 There may be

multiple subfields with the same tooth number. For coding systems that combine

229 In 2013, the granularity codes are: 11=Plass, FastID, any EHR that utilized the ADA Code on Dental

Procedures and Nomenclature (CDT) Coding; 21=None; 31=WinID, UDIM; 41=NCIC; 51=NamUs

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tooth conditions into a single subfield at the tooth level, one subfield is used per

tooth. If information is available separately for conditions on a particular tooth, each

condition shall be a separate subfield with the same tooth number.

All destination systems should be capable of receiving data relating to a single tooth

in multiple subfields, even if tooth conditions in the destination system are

expressed jointly at the tooth level. If a destination system that is capable of

expressing tooth conditions separately does receive information from a system that

is not capable of expressing tooth conditions separately, the destination system

should take care concerning the assignment of ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 codes

to individual conditions on the tooth. 

For cases when there is no information about a tooth (e.g., even whether it was

missing or present on the subject), there shall be no field entry. However, if it is

known that a tooth was missing, the appropriate ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 –

Forensic Dental Codes should be represented, such as 9.3.2.2 – Missing not replaced

– used regardless of the etiology of the lost (extracted, congenital, unknown) with

the exception of the case where the tooth lost was believed to be an avulsion, or

9.4.4.5.3 – Avulsion of Tooth – describing that a tooth has been forcefully

exfoliated from its socket and the socket has exhibited virtually no healing, used

only if there is substantial evidence that the loss was traumatic and not therapeutic

or through natural causes.

• The first information item is the tooth data - date of recording / TDR. It

corresponds to Section 9.2 of ANSI/ADA Standard No. 3950. It is mandatory

that this information item appear in one subfield. It need not appear in all

subfields. See Section 7.7.2.3 for the format. 

• The second information item is optional. However, it shall not appear in a

subfield if TDR is not present in that instance of the subfield. It is tooth

data - date of recording estimated accuracy range / TDRR. This is the

amount of time (plus and minus) of which TDR is the center point during

which the tooth data could have been originally collected. [2015a>] In

Traditional format,[<2015a] it is entered in the format as Y

yyMmmDdd

. It is

possible to enter only a year, month and/or day range, such as D5, meaning

that the actual date of collection is estimated to be 5 days plus or minus from

that specified in TDR. Leading zeros need not be entered.

[2015a>] For XML implementations, this element is represented using an

XML duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that

there is a date value range and T indicates that there is a time value range.

Under P, nY is the number of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the

number of days. Under T nH is the number of hours, nM is the number of

minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the tooth ID / TID. It is mandatory. Teeth shall

be numbered utilizing the permanent and deciduous teeth codes in

ANSI/ADA Specification No. 3950. Note that if OTPC indicates that there is

no distinction between deciduous teeth and permanent teeth in the original

coding, the tooth shall be listed as permanent, even if the transmittal coding

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is capable of distinguishing between the two types of teeth. The analyst

should be aware of this when reviewing the data. 

Figure 17: Digital designation of the teeth and of the oral cavity

as specified in ANSI/ADA Standard No. 3950

Figure 18: Simulated Restorations in Tooth 36

• The fourth information item is the tooth data - original system data

encoding text / TOET. It is a Unicode field. It shall be entered unless

OSNC has a value of ‘None’ (representing that the coding was performed by

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using the codes of ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 – Forensic Dental Data

Set without specific reference to a dental forensic processing system’s data

restrictions). 

If data is coming from a dental practice management software system

(OSNC is set to ‘EDR’), this information item shall contain all of the

conditions treated and they shall be listed in order, from the most recent to

the first treated. The order is critical for the forensic analysis.

A tooth with three restorations (as in Figure 18: Simulated Restorations in

Tooth 36) may be described differently by various storage and comparison

systems. See the XML exemplar for the actual coding.

Plass : amf O cef DO tif O

Plass distinguishes each restoration and describes their 

material content individually. The Plass coding is:

restoration 1 is an amalgam restoration (amf) in occlusal 

location (O)

restoration 2 is a composite restoration (cef) in distal – 

occlusal location (DO)

restoration 3 is a tooth colored restoration (tif) in occlusal 

location (O)

Note: This would be coded using three subfields. 

UDIM: DO mAC 

UDIM does not distinguish the number of restorations or 

describe them individually. The coding indicates the 

presence of restorations at the distal and occlusal locations 

(DO) and that the materials (m) are amalgam (A) and 

composite (C). UDIM has four code types: tooth surface 

status (required), restoration code – r (optional), condition 

code – c (optional), material code – m (optional). 

WinID: DO ES

WinID does not distinguish the number of restorations or 

describe them individually. The coding indicates the 

presence of restorations at the distal and occlusal locations 

(DO). The fillings are listed as resin (E) and silver (S).

NCIC: OD

NCIC does not distinguish the number of restorations or 

describe them individually. The required surface sequence 

for restoration data is MODFL. This coding example 

indicates the presence of restorations in the distal and 

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occlusal locations (OD).

NamUs: F

NamUs does not distinguish the number of restorations or 

describe them individually. In addition, NamUs does not 

directly code the restoration composition, nor does NamUs 

describe which surfaces are restored. The coding only 

indicates the presence of a restoration. 

• The fifth information item is the tooth data - ADA reference code

list / TARC. This information item is mandatory. Any code value in

Section 9 of the ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 may be entered. The

ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 coding system has a hierarchical

arrangement so that codes with more nodes (represented by periods)

provide greater specificity of the information concerning a

characteristic. Note that if only general information is available, a code

with fewer nodes may be entered, such as 9.3.2.5, which corresponds

to present – restored. If available information is more detailed, a code

with more nodes should be entered, such as 9.3.2.5.1.3, which

indicates present – restored; surfaces restored; distal. The listing of a

reference code indicates the presence of the characteristic. [2015a>] this

is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13. [<2015a]

Several values can be entered for the same tooth in TARC. There may

be 100 entries for TARC. In XML, each code is listed separately. The

coding is order independent, so a code of 9.3.2.5.1.3 (Distal) followed

by 9.3.2.5.1.2 (Occlusal) is treated identically to an entry of 9.3.2.5.1.2

(Occlusal) followed by a code of 9.3.2.5.1.3 (Distal). If the original

system coding is very detailed but the transmitting system coding is at

a summary (represented by codes with fewer nodes) level the mapping

is straightforward. However, if the converse is true, care must be taken

not to introduce ‘false’ information in the mapping of codes. Using the

example for Figure 18: Simulated Restorations in Tooth 36:

 Plass: Three subfields describe the tooth.

 In the first subfield, for the first condition (restoration 1) (amf O)

TARC = 9.3.2.5.1.2 9.3.2.5.4.1 

(present-restored, occlusal location) 

(present-restored, amalgam material) 

 In the second subfield, for the second condition (restoration 2)

 (cef DO)

TARC = 9.3.2.5.1.3 9.3.2.5.1.2 9.3.2.5.4.2 

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(present-restored, distal location)

(present-restored, occlusal location)

(present-restored, composite/acrylic material)

 In the third subfield, for the third condition (restoration 3) (tif O)

TARC = 9.3.2.5.1.2 9.3.2.5.4.9 

(present-restored, occlusal location)

(present-restored, other – by report) Note: ‘By 

report’ indicates that TADT should explain that 

9.3.2.5.4.9 here represents tooth colored filling. 

9.3.2.5.4.9 is used since the composition of the 

restorative material is not specified in the code.

UDIM: TOET = OD mAC 

One subfield that describes the entire tooth:

TARC = 9.3.2.5.1.2 9.3.2.5.1.3 9.3.2.5.4.1 9.3.2.5.4.2

(present-restored, occlusal location)

(present-restored, distal location)

(present-restored, amalgam material)

(present-restored, composite/acrylic material)

WinID: TOET = OD ES

One subfield that describes the entire tooth:

TARC = 9.3.2.5.1.2 9.3.2.5.1.3 9.3.2.5.4.1 9.3.2.5.4.2

 (present-restored, occlusal location)

(present-restored, distal location)

(present-restored, amalgam material)

(present-restored, composite/acrylic material) 

NCIC: TOET= OD

One subfield describes the entire tooth:

TARC = 9.3.2.5.1.2 9.3.2.5.1.3

(present-restored, occlusal location)

(present-restored, distal location)

NamUs: TOET = F

One subfield that describes the entire tooth:

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TARC = 9.3.2.5 

(present-restored)

An example of how a person might code the tooth without reference to

a particular system using the ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 –

Forensic Dental Codes could be:

Two subfields with one describing the tooth. 

In the first subfield, the restoration is described, but without 

a location.

TARC = 9.3.2.5.4.1 

(present-restored, amalgam material)

In the second subfield, the other restorations are jointly 

described, again without location associated to the 

restorations on the tooth.

TARC = 9.3.2.5.4.9

(present-restored, other – by report) The analyst

may have indicated in TADT that there are other restorations that

appear to be NON-metallic on the same tooth. 

• The sixth information item is the tooth data - transmitted system

encoding text/ TTET. This is important since the record creation

systems may be different from the original system where the coding of

the test first occurred. It is a Unicode information item. 

Using some of the examples above (also referring to Figure 18:

Simulated Restorations in Tooth 36 ):

 The first subfield for Plass would be amf O; the second subfield

would be cef DO

The entry for UDIM would be OD mAC. 

For OSNC = ‘None’ in Field 12.007: Original dental encoding

system information / ODES and when Field 12.008: Transmittal

dental encoding system information / TDES is not present in the

record, there shall not be an entry in this information item. For all

other coding, this information item is mandatory.

• The seventh information item is the tooth ID certainty code / TICC.

This information item is optional. If it is not entered, a TICC of 0 is

assumed. Possible values are:

0 Unspecified (the system does not have the capability of 

stating that there is certainty or uncertainty in the tooth 

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number)

1 Certain

2 Uncertain 

• The eighth information item is the tooth data - additional descriptive

text / TADT. It is Unicode free text information. It is used for those

codes that require text, such as 9.3.2.5.3.1.1.5 – restoration material /

Other (by report) – used to describe a restoration material not

described by other descriptors. Other reference codes, such as

9.3.2.1.2.1.3 Type of Pontic / Resin – used for a pontic that is

adhesive attached to adjacent teeth by an extra coronal partial

coverage restoration of any material, would not have any information

recorded in TADT.

8.12.10 Field 12.011: Mouth data detail / MDD

This optional field allows the entry of information concerning the mouth. For

instance, periodontal disease may be noted, as may partial removable dentures. 

• The first information item is the mouth data – date of recording /

MDR. It is mandatory that it appear in at least one subfield of this

field. See Section 7.7.2.3 for the format.

• The second information item is optional. However, it shall not appear

in a subfield if [2015e>] MDR [<2015e] is not present in that instance

of the subfield.

It is mouth data – date of recording estimated accuracy range/

MDRR. It is entered in the format as Y

yyMmmDdd. It is possible to

enter only a year, month and/or day range, such as D5, meaning that

the actual date of collection is estimated to be 5 days plus or minus

from that specified in MDR. Leading zeros need not be entered.

[2015a>]For XML implementations, this element is represented using an

XML duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that

there is a date value range and T indicates that there is a time value range.

Under P, nY is the number of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the

number of days. Under T, nH is the number of hours, nM is the number of

minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the mouth data - ADA reference code

list / MARC. It is mandatory. Any code value in Section 10 of the

ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 may be entered. If only general

information is available, a high level number may be entered, such as

10.3.2.4, which corresponds to Maxillofacial Prosthesis. If more

detailed information is available, a lower level code should be entered,

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such as 10.3.2.4.1.1, which indicates Maxilla (The prosthesis is used

to replace portions of the maxilla). The listing of a code indicates that

the characteristic is present. If only general information is available, a

code with fewer nodes may be entered, such as 10.3.2.2, which

corresponds to Partial Removable Denture. If available information is

more detailed, a code with more nodes should be entered, such as

10.3.2.2.1, which indicates Kennedy Class I – This Descriptor is used

to describe a removable prosthesis replacing teeth on both sides of the

arch where no other teeth exist posterior to the edentulous area.

[2015a>] this is a list of codes. Lists are described in Section 7.7.13.

[<2015a]

• The fourth information item is the mouth data - additional

descriptive text / MADT. It is a Unicode free text information item. It

is used for those codes that require text, such as 10.3.5.1 Prosthetic /

ID Data – used to describe any identifying Serial number on the

appliance. Other reference codes, such as 10.5.1.1.8.1 Cleft lip – used

to indicate the non-union of the soft tissue of the lip, would not have

any information recorded in MADT.

8.12.11 Field 12.012: Dental casts and impressions / DSTI

This field is optional and is used to transmit information about models fabricated

from a dental arch impression or tooth imprints. 

• The first information item is the dental casts and impression – date of

recording / SDR. It is mandatory that it appear in at least one subfield

of this field. See Section 7.7.2.3 for the format. 

• The second information item is optional. However, it shall not appear in a

subfield if [2015e>] SDR [<2015e] is not present in that instance of the

subfield. It is dental casts and impresssions – date of recording estimated

accuracy range/ SDRR. [2015a>] In Traditional format, it is entered in the

format as Y

yyMmmDdd

. It is possible to enter only a year, month and/or day

range, such as D5, meaning that the actual date of collection is estimated to

be 5 days plus or minus from that specified in SDRR. Leading zeros need

not be entered. For XML implementations, this element is represented using

an XML duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates

that there is a date value range and T indicates that there is a time value

range. Under P, nY is the number of years, nM is the numbers of months,

nD is the number of days. Under T nH is the number of hours, nM is the

number of minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

• The third information item is the dental casts and impressions -

reference code / SRC. It is mandatory. If the model data has been

digitally stored, it may be transmitted in a Type-22 record. Values are:

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 1 = Dental Study Model – Maxillary arch model only

 2 = Dental Study Model – Mandibular arch model only

 3 = Dental Study Model - Maxillary and Mandibular arch models

 4 = Tooth Impression(s) 

• The fourth information item is mandatory. It is the dental casts and

impressions - additional descriptive text / SADT. It is a Unicode

free text information item. It may be used to describe the physical

location of the tooth imprint or dental study, if not stored in electronic

format. If the study (or cast model) is available in 3D electronic format

(such as ply or stl), it is transmitted in a Type-22 record. This

information item should also be used to describe any special

characteristics of note concerning the dental study or tooth imprint. In

the case of tooth imprints, the tooth or teeth numbers should be stated,

using the tooth numbering specified in Figure 17: Digital designation

of the teeth and of the oral cavity. 

8.12.12 Field 12.020: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

8.12.13 Field 12.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in

Field 12.004: Source agency identification ID / SRC and Field 12.993: Source

agency name / SAN. SRC and SAN describe the agency that created the record.

Since the record may have been forwarded by another agency to the final

destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI is used to

indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for details about SRC,

SAN, and ORI. For example:

The metadata was recorded at a dentist's office two years ago (such as a record of a

chipped tooth)– and now could be used for possible identification of a body

following a disaster. That Dentist office is entered as the CON. The local police

department would create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 conformant record. Such

an organization’s code would be entered in Field 12.004: Source agency

identification ID / SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in Field 12.993:

Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send

the transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination.

This intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final

transmitting organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency

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identifier / ORI. Its name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN

in Field 1.017: Agency names / ANM.

8.12.14 Fields 12.200 through 12.900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by

the user and be in accordance with the receiving agency.

8.12.15 Field 12.902: Annotation information /ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source

in order to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.12.16 Field 12.990: Type-10 Record cross reference / T10C

This is an optional field. When used, it contains the IDC value(s) of the Type-10

record(s) that contain images of the oral cavity of the subject of this record. Field

10.003: Image type / IMT is normally set to INTRAORAL, EXTRAORAL, LIP

and / or FACE for these photographic images. 

8.12.17 Field 12.991: Type-22 Record cross reference / T22C

This is an optional field. When used, it contains the IDC value(s) of the Type-22

record(s) that contain radiographs or other non-photographic imagery or modeling

data for the subject of this record. 

8.12.18 Field 12.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

This is an optional field. When used, it contains the IDC value of the Type-2

record that contains relevant biographic information and other data concerning the

subject of this instance of the record, who may be different from the subject of the

transaction. See Section 7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.

8.12.19 Field 12.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the

name of the agency referenced in Field 12.004: Source agency identification

ID / SRC.

8.12.20 Field 12.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field shall be present only if HARC has been set to a value of

8.1.3.10. It is used to enter the URL/URI or other unique reference to a storage

location of the dental chart if the data is not contained in Field 12.999: Dental

chart data / DATA. It may be a physical location, as well, such as for analog

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recordings. If this field is used, Field 12.999 shall not be set. A non-URL

reference might be similar to: “Charts placed in File NA3.346 at New Artichoke

Police Headquarters”. It is highly recommended that the user state the format of

the external file in Field 12.020: Comment / COM.

8.12.21 Field 12.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Record(s) Type-21. An example of the

use of this field would be to transmit an image of a jaw containing teeth at the

location where it was discovered, such as near a shallow grave dug up by an

animal. When present, this field is comprised of subfields. There is one

mandatory information item and one optional information item per subfield, as

described in Section 7.3.3.

8.12.22 Field 12.996: Hash / HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 12.999:

Dental chart data / DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See

Section 7.5.2.

8.12.23 Field 12.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the image(s) / sample(s) was

acquired – not where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3. This information applies to

the entire Record Type-12. If different locations are applicable for the images /

samples / data then separate instances of Record Type-12 should be created and

transmitted jointly in the same transaction. 

8.12.24 Field 12.999: Dental chart data / DATA

This field contains the dental chart data if a value for HARC has been set to a

value of 8.1.3.10. This field shall not appear if Field 12.994: External file

reference / EFR is contained in the record. 

[<2013d]

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8.13Record Type-13: Friction-ridge latent image record

The Type-13 record shall contain image data acquired from latent captures of friction

ridge images. These images may be used by agencies that will automatically extract or

provide human intervention and processing to extract the desired feature information

from the images. Information regarding the scanning resolution used, the image size, and

other parameters required to process the image, are recorded as fields within the record.

[2013>a] Friction ridge images from deceased individuals are often submitted as latent

prints for processing, due to the compromised quality of the image in many

circumstances. However, whether all such submissions are handled as Type-13 records

is a decision of the implementation domain [<2013a]

Table 102 Type-13 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

13.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

13.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer 

1 1

13.003 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE M N 1 2

4 < IMP < 7 or 

12 < IMP < 15 or 

IMP= 28 or 29 or

32 < IMP < 39

integer 

see Table 8

1 1

13.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * None 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

13.005 LCD LATENT CAPTURE DATE M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date encoding

specific: see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

13.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

M N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

13.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH M N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

13.008 SLC SCALE UNITS M N 1 1 SLC = 0, 1 or 2 1 1

13.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

M N 1 5 integer 1 1

13.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE

M N 1 5 integer 1 1

13.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

M AN 3 5

CGA = NONE,

JPEGL, JP2L, or

PNG230

1 1

13.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL M N 1 2 8 < BPX < 99231 1 1

13.013

FGP

FRICTION RIDGE 

GENERALIZED POSITION

M 1 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M↑ N 1 2

integers from 

Table 9

Allowed values

are 0 to 10 or 16

to 38 or 60 to

79 or 81 to 86 –

all inclusive of

beginning and

ending values.

1 6

13.014

SPD

SEARCH POSITION 

DESCRIPTORS

D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 9

230 [2013a>] Specific values listed for clarity. [<2013a]

231 [2013a>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 PDF

 probable decimal 

finger position code

M↑ N 1 2

non-negative

integers 

0 < PDF < 10, or

PDF = 16 or 17

from 

Table 9

1 1

 FIC 163

 finger image code M↑ AN 3 3

 EJI, TIP, FV1,

FV2, FV3, FV4,

PRX, DST or

MED 

from Table 10

1 1

13.015

PPC

PRINT POSITION 

COORDINATES

D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 12

 FVC full finger view M↑ AN 2 3

FVC = NA, TIP,

FV1, FV2, FV3 or

FV4

See Table 10

1 1

 LOS location of a segment M↑ A 2 3

LOS = NA, PRX,

DST or MED

See Table 10

1 1

 LHC left horizontal coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < LHC < HLL

 integer 232 1 1

 RHC right horizontal coordinate M↑ N 1 5

LHC < RHC <

HLL

 integer 232

1 1

 TVC top vertical coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < TVC < VLL

integer 232 1 1

 BVC bottom vertical coordinate M↑ N 1 5

TVC < BVC <

VLL

integer 232

1 1

13.016 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE

O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

13.017 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

232 [2015e>] Typographical correction. [<2015e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

13.018 233

RSP

RULER OR SCALE 

PRESENCE

O 0 1

 RSU ruler or scale units D A 2 4

RSU = IN, MM,

or BOTH

0 1

 RSM ruler or scale make D U 1 50 none 0 1

 RSO ruler or scale model D U 1 50 none 0 1

 RSF

 standard fingerprint form 

number

D U 1 99 none 0 1

13.019 233

 REM RESOLUTION METHOD O 0 1

 MDR

 means of determining 

resolution

M↑ AS 1 9

MDR = value

from Table 103

Means of

determining

resolution

1 1

 KSL known scale length D NS 1 6

0.01 < KSL <

999.00

maximum of two

digits to right of

decimal

0 1

 KSU known scale units D A 2 2 KSU = IN or MM 0 1

 SXA

 known scale x coordinate for

point A

D N 1 5 integer 0 1

 SYA

 known scale y coordinate for 

point A

D N 1 5 integer 0 1

 SXB

 known scale x coordinate for 

point B

D N 1 5 integer 0 1

 SYB

 known scale y coordinate for 

point B

D N 1 5 integer 0 1

 COM comment O↑ U 1 99 none 0 1

13.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

13.021-

13.023

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

13.024

LQM

LATENT QUALITY 

METRIC

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑

1 9

233 [2013n>] New field in the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FRMP

 friction ridge metric 

position M↑

N 1 2

integers from 

Table 9

1 1

 QVU quality value M↑N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100

or QVU = 254 or

255 

integer

1 1

 QAV algorithm vendor ID M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification M↑

N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

13.025 – 

13.045

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

13.046 233

SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1 1 SSC = X, A or D 1 1

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1 SBSC = 1 or 2 0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1 SBCC = 1 or 2 0 1

13.047 233

CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

13.048 -

13.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

13.200-

13.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

13.901234

 FCT

FRICTION RIDGE 

CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY

O N 1 2

FCT = 0, 18, 19,

20, 21 or 22 

See section

7.7.4.5

0 1

13.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

234 [2015n>] This is a new field in the 2015 Update. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

 See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

13.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

 = M or P

any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

13.904

MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

13.905-

13.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

13.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

13.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE

D

235

U 1 200 none 1 1

13.995 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

235 [2015n>] Field 13.994 has been added to allow a latent print image to be in a location that can be

remotely accessed. Field 13.999 may still used to transmit the image in the record. These two fields are

mutually exclusive. Only one may appear in the record. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

13.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

13.997

SOR

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP reference segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

13.998

GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

236 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

236 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60

236 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

422.000< ELE

< 8848.000 

real number

236

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6

value from Table

7

0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 237

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

13.999 DATA

LATENT FRICTION 

RIDGE IMAGE

D

238

B 1 * none 1 1

8.13.1 Field 13.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1.

8.13.2 Field 13.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-13 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

237[2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

238 [2015n>] Field 13.994 has been added to allow a latent print image to be in a location that can be

remotely accessed. Field 13.999 may be used to transmit the image in the record. These fields are

mutually exclusive. Only one may appear in the record.[<2015n]

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[2015a>] Fields 13.003 through 13.012 are mandatory. This applies whether Field

13.994: External file reference / EFR (for an externally stored image) or Field

13.999: Latent friction ridge image / DATA (for an image transmitted in this record)

is used. [<2015a]

8.13.3 Field 13.003: Impression type / IMP

This mandatory field shall indicate the manner by which the latent print was obtained. 

See Section 7.7.4.1 for details. Valid values are 4 through 7, 12 through 15, 28 or 29, and

32 through 39.

8.13.4 Field 13.004: Source agency/ SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 13.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.13.5 Field 13.005: Latent capture date / LCD

This mandatory field shall contain the date that the latent biometric data contained in the 

record was captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details.

8.13.6 Field 13.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.13.7 Field 13.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.13.8 Field 13.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

8.13.9 Field 13.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.13.10 Field 13.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.13.11 Field 13.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This is a mandatory field. It shall specify the algorithm used to compress the transmitted

grayscale images. See Table 19 Compression codes for the labels, and Section 7.7.9.1

for a detailed description of this field. 

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8.13.12 Field 13.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

8.13.13 Field 13.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP

This field is mandatory. Each subfield shall contain one possible finger, palm or plantar

position that may match the latent image, up to a maximum of 6 possibilities. 

The code “0” shall be used to reference every finger position from 1 to 10, 16 and 17.

The code “20” for “Unknown palm” shall be used to reference every listed palm print

position. The code “60” for “Unknown sole” shall be used for every listed plantar

position. Code “18” shall be used if it is unknown whether the print is from a hand or

foot. Code “19” shall be used for a latent image that includes substantive portion of the

medial or proximal segments of a finger, or the extreme tip of a fingerprint. If code 19 is

used, fields 13.014 and 13.015 shall be used. See Section 7.7.4.2 and Table 9 for details.

8.13.14 Field 13.014: Search position descriptors / SPD

This field shall be present if and only if the finger position code “19” appears in Field

13.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP. 

• The first information item is the probable decimal finger position code / PDF

taken from Table 9, with integers 0 through 10, 16 or 17 allowed.

• The second information item is finger image code / FIC. Latent images of fulllength fingers use codes FV1 through FV4, as described in Section 7.7.4.3. Other

allowable codes are EJI, TIP, PRX, DST and MED. See Table 10. 

239

8.13.15 Field 13.015: Print position coordinates / PPC

This field may be present if and only if the finger position code “19” appears in Field

13.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP. It is an optional field. Individual full

finger or segment definitions may be entered as separate subfields. See Section 7.7.4.4

for details. For the case of a fingertip, the first information item shall be “TIP” , and the

second information item shall be “NA”. The next four information items are as described

in Section 7.7.4.4.

239

8.13.16 Field 13.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS for

details.

8.13.17 Field 13.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

239 [2013a>] Note that TIP is used in latent print processing (not TPP), even if the impression is not

rolled. This is for historical continuity purposes. [<2013n] 

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This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPSfor 

details.

[2013n>]

8.13.18 Field 13.018: Ruler or scale presence / RSP

 This optional field allows the user to state whether a ruler or other known scale is

present in the image. The field consists of four information items. 

•The first information item, ruler or scale units / RSU, indicates the units of

measurement visible on the ruler or measurement scale:

 IN = inches

 MM = millimeters

 BOTH = both inches and millimeters

•The second information item, ruler or scale make / RSM, lists the maker of the

ruler or scale (if known).

•The third information item, ruler or scale model / RSO, lists the model of the

ruler or scale (if known). 

• The fourth information item, standard fingerprint form number / RSF permits

entry of a standard fingerprint form number such as FD-249, FD-258 or C216C. [2015a>] RSF is present if and only if none of the other three information

items (RSU, RSM, or RSO) are specified. [<2015a]

8.13.19 Field 13.019: Resolution method / REM

This optional field states the method used for determining the pixel density of the

image. The field consists of eight information items. The second through the seventh

information items are mandatory if MDR = RULER and are optional if MDR = FORM.

They shall not be used for other values of MDR. When the known scale coordinates

are used, the resolution can be calculated as the distance in pixels between points A and

B divided by KSL. The pixel counts used in SXA, SYA, SXB, SYB are zero-based.

The top left pixel has coordinates (0,0).

If the transmitted pixel density of an image in Field 13.009: Transmitted horizontal

pixel scale / THPS and Field 13.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS differs

from the scanned (original) pixel density stated in Field 13.016: Scanned horizontal

pixel scale / SHPS and Field 13.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS, then the

values in this field are with respect to the scanned pixel density and shall not be

recalculated to correspond to the transmitted pixel density.

• The first information item, means of determining resolution / MDR,

specifies whether the resolution is calculated (from a ruler or known scale),

estimated (by a human or computer), or is from a known source (such as a

flatbed scanner or standard form). Enter the CODE from Table 103 Means

of determining resolution.

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• The second information item, known scale units / KSL, specifies the length

of the known scale from point A to point B. It may contain a period.

• The third information item, known scale units / KSU indicates whether the

known scales units are in inches or millimeters.

 IN = inches MM = millimeters

• The fourth information item, known scale x coordinate for point A / SXA is

expressed in number of pixels from the left of the image.

• The fifth information item, known scale y coordinate for point A / SYA is

expressed in number of pixels from the top of the image.

• The sixth information item, known scale x coordinate for point B / SXB is

expressed in number of pixels from the left of the image.

• The seventh information item, known scale y coordinate for point B / SYB

is expressed in number of pixels from the top of the image.

• The eighth information item, comment / COM, is a UNICODE text

comment or description provided by the examiner about the resolution

method.

Table 103 Means of determining resolution

Code Definition

FLATBED Resolution is known since the image was acquired from a flatbed

scanner with a fixed resolution

FIXED Resolution is known since the image was acquired from a fixed-resolution

capture device other than a flatbed scanner

RULER Resolution was calculated based upon a ruler present in the image

FORM Resolution was calculated based upon the use of a standard form with a

known scale

EST-HUMAN Resolution was estimated by a human

EST-AUTO Resolution was estimated by an automated process. It is recommended

that the process be described in comment / COM 

[<2013n ]

8.13.20 Field 13.020: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

8.13.21 Field 13.024: Latent quality metric / LQM

This optional field is used to specify one or more different metrics of latent image quality

score data for the image stored in this record. Each subfield is comprised of four

information items. The first information item is the entry in Field 13.013: Friction

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ridge generalized position / FGP, as chosen from Table 9. This information item is

called the friction ridge metric position / FRMP to differentiate it from FGP. See

Section 7.7.7 for a description of the remaining three information items.

[2013n>]

8.13.22 Field 13.046: Image subject condition / SUB

This field is optional. This field is particularly useful if the image is obtained from a

deceased person. However, its use is not limited to such circumstances. Some

implementation domains support the submission of fingerprints taken from deceased

individuals as latent prints, due to the quality of the friction ridges and the resulting

images. In such cases, SSC is specified as D. For latent images taken from a surface,

the value is typically X. 

SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

X = Status of individual unknown

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or 

person unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased)

• The second information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to indicate whether the

information relates to an entire corpse or a separate body part. The numeric

value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code/ SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

8.13.23 Field 13.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

13.004: Source agency/ SRCand Field 13.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. For example:

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• The friction ridge prints are taken from a decedent's body in a morgue. The

coroner's office or medical examiner's office would be CON.

• The local police department that would create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in Field

13.004: Source agency/ SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in Field

13.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke Police)

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final transmitting

organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI. Its

name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN in Field 1.017: Agency

names / ANM. [<2013n]

8.13.24 Fields 13.200 – 13.900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields shall be defined by the user. Their size and content shall be in accordance

with the receiving agency.

8.13.25 Field 13.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT

[2015n>] This is an optional field. It is a two-digit code from signifying the type of

technology that was used to capture the print for transmission. See Section 7.7.4.5 for

more detail and the meanings of the codes. For latent prints conveyed in Type-13

records, the only valid codes are: 0, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22. [<2015n]

8.13.26 Field 13.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1

8.13.27 Field 13.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.13.28 Field 13.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.13.29 Field 13.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 13.004: Source agency/ SRC. 

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[2015n>]

8.13.30 Field 13.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for all digital representations, if the data is not contained in Field 13.999:

Latent friction ridge image / DATA. If this field is used, Field 13.999 shall not be set.

However, one of the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. It is

highly recommended that the user state the format of the external file in Field 13.020:

Comment / COM. [<2015n]

8.13.31 Field 13.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. Record

Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the biometric data in Field

13.999: Latent friction ridge image / DATA but that may be relevant to the collection

of that data, such as general scenes of the area where a latent print was found. See

Section 7.3.3.

8.13.32 Field 13.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 13.999: Latent 

friction ridge image / DATA, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.13.33 Field 13.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN from

which the data in Field 13.999: Latent friction ridge image / DATA was derived. See

Section 7.3.2. 

8.13.34 Field 13.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the latent sample was acquired – not 

where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.13.35 Field 13.999: Latent friction ridge image / DATA

[2015n>] This conditional field, if present, contains the latent image. See Section 7.2

for details. If this field is used, Field 13.994: External file reference / EFR shall not

be set. One of these two fields shall be present in this record. [<2015n]

8.14 Record Type-14: Fingerprint image record 

The Type-14 record shall contain and be used to exchange exemplar fingerprint image data,

such as a rolled tenprint, an identification flat, or a complete friction ridge exemplar. All

fingerprint impressions shall be acquired from a card, a single or multiple-finger flat-capture

device, contactless fingerprint sensor that outputs 2D fingerprint images, or a live-scan

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device. Captured images may be transmitted to agencies that will automatically extract the

desired feature information from the images for matching purposes. Textual information

regarding the scanning resolution, the image size and other parameters or comments

required to process the image are recorded as fields within the record. 

The Type-14 record is also used to exchange identification flats of multiple fingers

(simultaneous plain impressions captured on a platen). Two of the image record codes

contain the left and right simultaneous four fingers (may include extra digits, if applicable),

and a third contains the two thumbs. There are also codes for two and three finger

combinations. Offsets to the locations of image segments containing the individual fingers

are included with the image records for individual flat prints resulting from segmentation of

a multi-finger slap image. 

This standard allows simultaneous capture of fingerprint images from adjacent platens that

share a common plane and a common side if the relative position of the fingers is

maintained and has fidelity to the subject’s finger orientations and relative length.

Simultaneous capture of multiple fingers from non-adjacent platens or platens that do not

share a single plane is also allowed, but the images should be separately transmitted. Field

14.026: Simultaneous capture / SCF was added as an optional field to the 2011 version of

the standard to specifically indicate that the images were simultaneously captured. 

A new field Field 14.027: Stitched image flag / SIF has been added to designate an image

that was artificially created by placing together two or more separate images, either captured

separately or captured simultaneously on non-adjacent platens. It is strongly encouraged not

to stitch together such images. This field shall be used to mark such stitched images that

have already been captured and entered into existing databases, prior to transmission using

this standard.

 Additional fields are defined to contain the NIST Fingerprint Image Quality (NFIQ) metric,

alternate image quality metrics, and metrics for predicting the correctness of the

segmentation.

Table 104 Type-14 record layout

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

14.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

14.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

14.003 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE D N 1 2

0 < IMP < 3 

IMP = 8

20 < IMP < 29

[2015n>] 

40 < IMP < 41

[<2015n]

integer

see Table 8

1 1

14.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

14.005 FCD

FINGERPRINT CAPTURE 

DATE

M

240

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local dateencoding

specific: see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local

dateencoding

specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

14.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

D N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

14.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH D N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

14.008 SLC SCALE UNITS D N 1 1

0 < SLC < 2

integer

0 1

14.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

240 [2013e>] Corrected to M (was listed as D) [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

14.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

14.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

D AN 3 5

value from 

Table 19

Compression

codes

0 1

14.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL D N 1 2 8 < BPX < 99241 0 1

14.013

FGP

FRICTION RIDGE 

GENERALIZED POSITION

M 1 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M N 1 2

0 < FGP < 19 

or FGP = 33 or

FGP = 36 or

40 < FGP < 54

242

integer243

see Table 9

1 1

14.014 PPD PRINT POSITION 

DESCRIPTORS

D 0 1

241 [2013a>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013a]

242 [2013n>] Codes 51 through 54 added for plain multiple fingertip impressions. [<2013n]

243 Codes 33 and 36 are included for the rolled hypothenar (even though they are palm codes), since it is 

considered as part of the extended fingerprint set.

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 DFP

 decimal finger position 

code

M↑ N 1 2

1 < DFP < 10 or

DFP = 16 or 17 

(from Table 9)

1 1

 [2015e>]

FIC [<2015e] finger image code M↑ AN 3 3

EJI, TIP, TPP,

FV1, FV2, FV3,

FV4, PRX, DST

or MED 244from

Table 10

1 1

14.015

PPC

PRINT POSITION 

COORDINATES

D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 12

 FVC full finger view M↑ AN 2 3

FVC = NA,

FV1, FV2, FV3,

FV4 , TIP, or

TPP 244

see Table 10

1 1

 LOS location of a segment M↑ A 2 3

LOS = NA, PRX,

DST or MED

see Table 10

1 1

 LHC 

 left horizontal 

coordinate 

M↑ N 1 5

0 < LHC < HLL

integer 245 1 1

 RHC right horizontal 

coordinate 

M↑ N 1 5

LHC < RHC <

HLL

 integer 245

1 1

244 [2013n>] Plain fingertip images (TPP) added in 2013 Update. [<2013n] 

245 [2013n>] Upper limit changed from < to < for consistency with other record types. [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 TVC top vertical coordinate M↑ N 1 5

0 < TVC < VLL

 integer 245 1 1

 BVC 

 bottom vertical 

coordinate 

M↑ N 1 5

TVC < BVC <

VLL

 integer 245

1 1

14.016 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

14.017 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

14.018

AMP

AMPUTATED OR 

BANDAGED

O

 

0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 5

 FRAP 

 friction ridge amputated 

or bandaged 

position 

M↑ N 1 2

1 < FRAP < 10 or

FRAP = 16 or 17

see Table 9

1 1

 ABC 

 amputated or bandaged 

code

M↑ A 2 2

ABC = XX , UP

[2015n>] or SR

See Table 105

[<2015n]

1 1

14.019

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

14.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

14.021

SEG

 FINGER SEGMENT 

POSITION

D 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 5

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FRSP 

 friction ridge segment 

position

M↑ N 1 2

1 < FRSP < 10 or

FRSP = 16 or 17

246

1 1

 LHC 

 left horizontal coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < LHC < HLL

integer 245 1 1

 RHC 

 right horizontal coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

LHC < RHC <

HLL

 integer 245

1 1

 TVC 

 top vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < TVC < VLL

integer 245 1 1

 BVC 

 bottom vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

 TVC < BVC <

VLL

 integer 245

1 1

14.022

NQM NIST QUALITY METRIC O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 5

 FRNP

 friction ridge NIST 

quality position

M↑ N 1 2

1 < FRNP < 10 or

FRNP = 16 or 17

see Table 9

1 1

 IQS NIST image quality score M↑ N 1 3

1 < IQS < 5 or 

IQS = 254 or 255

integer

1 1

14.023

SQM

SEGMENTATION 

QUALITY METRIC

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 45247

246 [2013a>] Specific values added for clarity.[<2013a]

247 [2015n<] The repeat count is increased to 45 to be consistent with other quality metrics, as explained

in Section 7.7.7 which allow up to 9 quality algorithms. With 5 fingers assumed, 5 * 9 = 45. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FRQP

 friction ridge segment 

quality position

M↑ N 1 2

1 < FRQP < 10 or

FRQP = 16 or 17

see Table 9

1 1

 QVU quality value

M↑

N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or 255

integer

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification

M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

M↑ N 1 5

1 < QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

14.024

FQM

FINGERPRINT QUALITY 

METRIC

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1

45247

 FRMP

 friction ridge metric 

position

M↑

N 1 2

1 < FRMP < 10 or

FRMP = 16 or 17

see Table 9

1 1

 QVU quality value

M↑

N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or 255

integer

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification M↑

H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification M↑

N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

14.025

ASEG

ALTERNATE FINGER 

SEGMENT POSITION(S)

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 5

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FRAS

 friction ridge alternate 

segment position

M↑ N 1 2

1 < FRAS < 10 or

FRAS = 16 or 17

see Table 9

1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path, up to the final point - 

FOR A TOTAL OF NOP PAIRS

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

integer 245 3 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

integer 245 3 NOP

14.026 SCF

SIMULTANEOUS 

CAPTURE

O N 1 3

1 < SCF < 255

positive integer

0 1

14.027 SIF STITCHED IMAGE FLAG D A 1 1 SIF = Y 0 1

14.028-

14.029

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

14.030 DMM

DEVICE MONITORING 

MODE O

A 7 10

value from

Table 6

0 1

14.031248

FAP

SUBJECT ACQUISITION 

PROFILE – FINGERPRINT O

N 2

3

FAP = 10, 20,

30, 40, 45, 50,

60, 145, 150 or

160

integer see

Table 14

0 1

14.032-

14.045

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

14.046 249 SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1

1

160

SSC = X, A or D 1 1

248 [2015n>] New FAP codes added in 2015 Update to allow for 1000 ppi units. [<2015n]

249 [2013n>] New field for the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1 SBSC = 1 or 2 0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1 SBCC = 1,or 2 0 1

14.047 249

CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

14.048-

14.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

14.200 –

14.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS Ouser-defined user-defined user-defined

14.901250

 FCT

FRICTION RIDGE 

CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY

O N 1 2

FCT = 0 through

7 or 9 through

17, inclusive.

“See Table 11

0 1

14.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

250 [2015n>] New field for the 2015 Update. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1

*

none 1 1

14.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

 = M or P

any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

14.904

MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

14.905-

14.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

14.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

14.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE

D

251

U 1 200 none 1 1

14.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

integer

1 1

 ASP associated segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

14.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

14.997 SOR SOURCE REPRESENTATION O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

251 [2015n>] Field 14.994 has been added to allow a print image to be in a location that can be remotely

accessed. Field 14.999 may be used to transmit the image in the record. These two fields are mutually

exclusive. Only one may appear in the record. However, if Field 14.018: Amputated or bandaged /

AMP has a value of “UP” neither field need appear in the record. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 SRN source representation number M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP reference segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

14.998

 GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60 252

0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60 252

0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE <

8848.000 

real number 252

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from Table 7 0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 253

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a single

letter 

0 1

 GCE geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

252 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e] 253 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also show GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other 

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other 

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

14.999 DATA FINGERPRINT IMAGE 251 D B 1 * none 0 1

8.14.1 Field 14.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.14.2 Field 14.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-14 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.14.3 Field 14.003: Impression type / IMP

This [2015a>] dependent [<2015a] field shall indicate the manner by which the

fingerprint was obtained. See Section 7.7.4.1 for details. [2015a>] This field is

mandatory if an image is present inField 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA [2015n>]

or referenced inField 14.994: External file reference / EFR[<2015n] Otherwise it is

absent.” 

8.14.4 Field 14.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details.The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 14.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.14.5 Field 14.005: Fingerprint capture date / FCD

This mandatory field shall contain the local date that the fingerprint data contained in the 

record was captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details.

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8.14.6 Field 14.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.14.7 Field 14.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.14.8 Field 14.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

8.14.9 Field 14.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.14.10 Field 14.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.14.11 Field 14.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. It shall specify the algorithm used to compress the

transmitted grayscale images. See Table 19 Compression codes for the labels, and

Section 7.7.9.1 for a detailed description of this field.

8.14.12 Field 14.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image /

DATA [2015n>] or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

[<2015n] Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

8.14.13 Field 14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.4.2 for details. In the 2007 and 2008 versions

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of the standard, this field had a repeating subfield that could occur up to 6 times. Since

only one image is sent per record, the maximum should have been 1. To maintain

backward compatibility, the subfield structure has been retained, but with a maximum

occurrence of one. 

8.14.14 Field 14.014: Print position descriptors / PPD

This field shall be present if and only if the finger position code “19” appears in Field

14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP. See Section 7.7.4.3 for details. 

8.14.15 Field 14.015: Print position coordinates / PPC

This field may be present if and only if the finger position code “19” appears in Field

14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP. It is an optional field. See Section

7.7.4.4 for details.

8.14.16 Field 14.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This is an [2015n>] dependent field if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint

image / DATA or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

Otherwise it is absent. [<2015n] See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale /

SHPS for details.

8.14.17 Field 14.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This is an [2015n>] dependent field if an image is present in Field 14.999: Fingerprint

image / DATA or referenced in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR.

Otherwise it is absent. [<2015n] See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale /

SVPS for details.

8.14.18 Field 14.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP

This optional field shall specify if one or more fingers are amputated or bandaged. This

field shall consist of one subfield for each amputated or missing finger. Each subfield

shall contain two information items. 

• The first item is the friction ridge amputated or bandaged position / FRAP

between 1 and 10 or 16 or 17 as chosen from Table 9. This information item is

the friction ridge amputation position / FRAP, to differentiate it from FGP.

• The second item is the amputated or bandaged code / ABC, also known as the

AMPCD. Table 105 shows allowable indicators for the AMPCD.

Table 105 Amputation / bandaged fingerprinting codes

Descriptor AMPCD

Partial print due to amputation XX

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[2015n>] 

Scar 

SR

[<2015n]

Unable to print (e.g., bandaged 

[2015e>]or completely 

amputated) [<2015e]

UP

Multiple amputated or unprintable finger positions may each be entered as a separate

repeating subfield. This field is to be used anytime there are fewer than expected

printable fingers in a submission (e.g., less than four in a left or right slap or less than

two in a two-thumb slap). [2015a>]A scarred finger should be printed and the SR code

used. [<2015a] XX shall be used only when a partial print exists due to amputation;

therefore it contains some friction ridge detail. UP shall be used with the complete

block where an image was to be transmitted, but there is no image due to amputation or

total lack of friction ridge detail (such as with a bandage). 

[2015a>]If all fingers for a specific slap are missing, the AMP codes for each missing

finger shall be specified, and the image shall be sent or not in accordance to the

agreement of the interchanging agencies.[<2015a]

An image with a scar should not be marked XX or UP. [2015n>] SR is used to denote a

complete scar when the scarred pattern could have been any of the three general pattern

types (e.g., loop, whorl and arch). [<2015n]

8.14.19 Field 14.020: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

8.14.20 Field 14.021: Finger segment position / SEG

This optional field shall contain offsets to the locations of image segments containing the

individual fingers within the flat images of simultaneous fingers from each hand or the two

simultaneous thumbs. This field shall only be present if FGP = 13, 14, 15 or 40-54254 from

Table 9 as entered in Field 14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP. The

subfield occurs at least once, and may be repeated if more than one algorithm is used to

segment the image. Each subfield contains five information items.

• The first information item is the friction ridge segment position / FRSP

with values of 1 to 10 or 16 or 17 selected from Table 9. This information

item is called the friction ridge segment position / FRSP to differentiate it

from FGP. 

• The second information item is the left horizontal coordinate value / LHC.

It is the horizontal offset in pixels to the left edge of the bounding box

254 [2013n>] Codes 51 through 54 added for plain fingertip impressions taken simultaneously. [<2013n]

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relative to the origin positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The third information item is the right horizontal coordinate value / RHC.

It is the horizontal offset in pixels to the right edge of the bounding box

relative to the origin positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The fourth information item is the top vertical coordinate value / TVC. It

is the vertical offset (pixel counts down) to the top of the bounding box.

• The fifth information item is the bottom vertical coordinate value /

BVC. It is the vertical offset from the upper left corner of the image down

to the bottom of the bounding box. It is counted in pixels.

8.14.21 Field 14.022: NIST quality metric / NQM

This optional field shall contain the NIST Fingerprint Image Quality (NFIQ) scores for

the individual finger(s) derived from the slap impressions or individual rolled

fingerprints. It consists of two information items. 

• The first item is the friction ridge NIST quality position / FRNP between

one and ten or 16 or 17, as chosen from Table 9. This information item is

called the friction ridge NIST quality position / FRNP to differentiate it

from FGP.

• The second item is the NIST image quality score / IQS which is a

quantitative expression of the predicted AFIS matcher accuracy performance

of the fingerprint image. The scores range from “1” for the best quality

image, to “5” for the worst quality image. A “254” indicates that no score

was ever computed while an entry of “255” shall indicate a failed attempt to

calculate the image quality metric.

8.14.22 Field 14.023: Segmentation quality metric / SQM

This optional field provides a measure of estimated correctness regarding the accuracy

of the location of the segmented finger within the right or left four finger image (which

may include extra digits, if applicable) or the two thumb image. A subfield shall exist

for each segmented finger [2015n>] and quality algorithm combination (up to 9

algorithms are allowed for each finger). [<2015n]. Each subfield consists of four

information items. 

The first information item is the friction ridge segment quality position / FRQP between

one and ten or 16 or 17, as chosen from Table 9. This information item is called the

friction ridge segment quality position / FRQP to differentiate it from FGP. See

Section 7.7.7 for the other information items. The FRQP values shall be in the set of

either the FRSP or FRAS values contained in this record.

8.14.23 Field 14.024: Fingerprint quality metric / FQM

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This optional field shall specify one or more different metrics of fingerprint image

quality score data for the image stored in the record. A subfield shall exist for each

segmented finger [2015n>] and quality algorithm combination (up to 9 algorithms are

allowed for each finger). [<2015n]. Each subfield consists of four information items. 

The first information item is the friction ridge metric position / FRMP between one and

ten or 16 or 17, as chosen from Table 9. This information item is called the friction

ridge metric position / FRMP to differentiate it from FGP. For information on the

other three information items, see Section 7.7.7. 

8.14.24 Field 14.025: Alternate finger segment position(s) / ASEG

This optional field is an alternate approach to describing the locations for each of the

image segments of each of the individual fingers within a flat image containing the

capture of four (or more if extra digits exist on the hand) simultaneous fingers or two

simultaneous thumbs. This field uses an n-vertex polygon to encompass each finger

image segment, where “n” is between 3 and 99. A minimum of three points is required to

describe a finger location. The order of the vertices shall be in their consecutive order

around the perimeter of the polygon, either clockwise or counterclockwise. No two

vertices may occupy the same location. The polygon side defined by the last vertex and

the first vertex shall complete the polygon. The polygon shall be a simple, plane figure

with no sides crossing and no interior holes.

This field shall consist of up to five subfields: the segmentation for each finger is

represented in a different subfield. The first information item (friction ridge alternate

segment position / FRAS) is the finger number from Table 9. This information item is

called the friction ridge alternate segment position / FRAS to differentiate it from

FGP. See Section 7.7.12. The number of information items within each subfield depends

on the number of vertices.

8.14.25 Field 14.026: Simultaneous capture / SCF

This optional field allows the user to link together fingerprint images that were captured

simultaneously. Note that this is different from the IDC. This is used, for instance, when

individual flat prints are captured on different platens simultaneously. Such images

should not be stitched together for transmission as a single multiple-finger print image,

but they should be coded with the same SCF value to indicate that they were captured

simultaneously, and that there is little possibility of a mistaken fingerprint code. The SCF

is a 1-based numeric index that is incremented for each simultaneously captured set of

images, and shall be omitted otherwise. See Section 7.3.5.

8.14.26 Field 14.027: Stitched image flag / SIF

This field signifies that images captured separately were stitched together to form a

single image. This field is mandatory if an image has been stitched, and the value shall

be set to 'Y'. Otherwise, this field shall not appear in the record. [2015n>] This field is

not intended to apply to a single rolled image. [<2015n] Examples:

• If the right and left thumb images were captured separately, but combined prior to

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transmission to create a single artificial two-thumb image (using FGP = 15 in Field

14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP) then this field shall appear with

a value of 'Y'. It is recommended that stitching not be done, and that the separately

captured thumb images be transmitted as separate Type-14 records using FGP codes

11 and 12.

• If a two-finger capture device is used to simultaneously capture the index and

middle fingers and separately capture the ring and pinky of the same hand

simultaneously, but the two images were stitched to create an artificial 'four finger

slap image' then this field shall be in the record with a value of 'Y'. It is

recommended that instead of creating an artificial 'four finger slap image' (FGP =

13 or 14 in Field 14.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP) that FGP

codes 43 and 45 (for the left hand) or FGP codes 40 and 42 (for the right hand) be

used to separately transmit the two-finger images without stitching. 

• A device may capture individual finger images from non-adjacent platens

simultaneously. In that case, Field 14.026: Simultaneous capture / SCF shall be

used to designate such a capture. 

It is recommended that the images be transmitted in separate Type-14 records

(having FGP codes 2, 3, 4 and 5 or codes 7, 8, 9 and 10), using the same value for

SCF value. If, however, the images had been stitched together to create a single

artificial 'four finger slap image' (FGP = 13 or 14 in Field 14.013: Friction ridge

generalized position / FGP), then this field shall appear with a value of 'Y'.

8.14.27 Field 14.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.3 for details. 

8.14.28 Field 14.031: Subject acquisition profile – fingerprint / FAP

This optional field lists the FAP levels associated with fingerprint acquisition devices.

See Section7.7.5.2 for details. This field was new for the 2011 version of the standard. 

[2013n>]

8.14.29 Field 14.046: Image subject condition / SUB

This field is optional. There may be different values for SUB in different instances of

Type-14 records. For example, some images may have been acquired antemortem,

while others were accquired post-mortem. 

 This field describes the condition of the subject at the time of imaging. 

SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

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X = Status of individual unknown

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or 

person unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased)

• The second information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to indicate whether the

information relates to an entire corpse or a separate body part. The numeric

value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code/ SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

8.14.30 Field 14.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

14.004: Source agency / SRC and Field 14.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. For example,

• The friction ridge prints are taken from a decedent's body in a morgue. The

coroner's office or medical examiner's office would be CON.

• The local police department that would create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2011 conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in

Field 14.004: Source agency / SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in

Field 14.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke

Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. 

The final transmitting organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI. Its name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN in Field

1.017: Agency names / ANM. [<2013n]

8.14.31 Fields 14.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

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These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user

and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

[2015n>] 

8.14.32 Field 14.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT

This is an optional field. It is a one or two-digit code signifying the type of technology

that was used to capture the print for transmission. See Section 7.7.4.5 for more detail

and the meanings of the codes. For exemplar prints conveyed in Type-14 records, the

only valid codes are 0 through 7, inclusive and 9 through 17 inclusive. [<2015n]

8.14.33 Field 14.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.14.34 Field 14.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.14.35 Field 14.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.14.36 Field 14.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the

agency referenced in Field 14.004: Source agency / SRC. 

[2015n>]

8.14.37 Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field may be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for the image if the data is not contained in Field 14.999: Fingerprint

image / DATA. If this field is used, Field 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA shall not

be used. Only one of the two fields may be present in this record type. It is highly

recommended that the user state the format of the external file in Field 14.020:

Comment / COM when using Field 14.994. Neither Field 14.994 nor Field 14.999 need

be in the record when Field 14.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP has a value of

“UP”. 

Type-14 records generally contain an image in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA,

or an external reference to an image in Field 14.994: External file reference / EFR, but not

both. Fields 14.994 and 14.999 are optional only if Field 14.018 Amputated or bandaged /

AMP has a value of “UP”. Fields 14.003, and 14.006 through 14.012 are

mandatory[<2015n]

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8.14.38 Field 14.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. See

Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the

biometric data in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA but that may be relevant to

the collection of that data. 

8.14.39 Field 14.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 14.999: Fingerprint

image / DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.14.40 Field 14.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN from

which the data in Field 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA was derived. See Section

7.3.2.

8.14.41 Field 14.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the fingerprint sample was acquired – not

where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.14.42 Field 14.999: Fingerprint image / DATA

[2015n>] This conditional field, if present, contains the fingerprint image. If Field

14.994: External file reference / EFR is present in this record, then this field shall not

appear. See Section 7.2 for details. Neither Field 14.999 nor Field 14,994 need be

present in the record when Field 14.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP has a value

of “UP”. [<2015n] Some domains and application profiles may still require an image in

this field (such as the word “Amputated”). Note that in previous versions of the

standard [2015a>] (i.e., prior to 2011) [<2015a] that this field was mandatory in all

circumstances. 

8.15Record Type-15: Palm print image record

The Type-15 record shall contain and be used to exchange palm print image data together

with fixed and user-defined textual information fields pertinent to the digitized image.

Information regarding the scanning resolution used, the image size, and other parameters or

comments required to process the image are recorded as fields within the record. Palm and

wrist print images transmitted to other agencies will be processed by the recipient agencies

to extract the desired feature information required for matching purposes.

The image data shall be acquired directly from a subject using a live-scan device, a palm

print card, or other media that contains the subject’s palm and / or wrist prints. Any method

used to acquire the palm print images shall be capable of capturing a set of images for each

hand. This set may include the writer’s palm as a single scanned image, and the entire area

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of the full palm extending from the wrist bracelet to the tips of the fingers as one or two

scanned images. (See Figure 3). The wrist bracelet is the series of lines/creases below and

parallel to the carpal delta and thenar / hypothenar areas of the palm.

If two images are used to represent the full palm, the lower image shall extend from the

wrist bracelet to the top of the interdigital area (third finger joint) and shall include the

thenar, and hypothenar areas of the palm. The upper image shall extend from the bottom of

the interdigital area to the upper tips of the fingers. This provides an adequate amount of

overlap between the two images. 

The standard also has provision for encoding the interdigital, thenar, and hypothenar areas

separately for each palm. 

As a palm print transaction may be used for different purposes, it may contain one or more

unique image areas recorded from the palm or hand or wrist. 

For some agencies, a complete palm print record set for one individual will normally include

the writer’s palm and the full palm image(s) from each hand. A single Type-15 record will

be required for each writer’s palm and one to three Type-15 records for each full palm.

Four to eight Type-15 records may be required to represent the subject’s palm prints in a

transaction.

Table 106 Type-15 record layout

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

15.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

15.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

15.003 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE D N 2 2

[2015n>] IMP =

10, 11, 24, 25,

28, 29, 41 or 42

[<2015n]

see Table 8

1 1

15.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

15.005 PCD

PALM PRINT CAPTURE 

DATE

M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date encoding

specific: see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

15.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

D N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

integer

0 1

15.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH D N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

integer

0 1

15.008 SLC SCALE UNITS D N 1 1

0 < SLC < 2

integer

0 1

15.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

D N 1 5 integer 0 1

15.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 integer 0 1

15.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

D AN 3 5

value from 

Table 19

Compression

codes

0 1

15.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL D N 1 2 8 < BPX < 99255 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

15.013 FGP

FRICTION RIDGE 

GENERALIZED POSITION 

M N 2 2

20 < FGP < 38

or 81 < FGP <

86 256

see Table 9

1 1

15.014-

15.015

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

15.016 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

15.017 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

15.018

AMP

AMPUTATED OR 

BANDAGED

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 9

 FRAP 

 friction ridge amputated 

or bandaged 

position 

M↑ N 22

21 < FRAP < 38

or 81 < FRAP <

86 256

See Table 9

1 1

 ABC 

 amputated or bandaged 

code

M↑ A 2 2 ABC = XX or UP 1 1

15.019

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

15.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

15.021 257

SEG [2015e>] PALM [<2015e]

SEGMENT POSITION D 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 17

 FRSP friction ridge segment 

position

M↑ N 

2

2 FSRP = 22, 24-36,

81, 82, 85 or 86

integer See

Table 9

1 1

 LHC left horizontal coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < LHC < HLL

integer 258

1 1

255 [2013a>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013a]

256 [2013n>] Valid codes expanded to include 85 and 86 for wrist bracelets. [<2013n] 

257 [2013n>] New field added in the 2013 Update [<2013n]

258 [2013n>] Upper limit changed from < to < for consistency with other record types. [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 RHC 

 right horizontal coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

LHC < RHC <

HLL

 integer 258

1 1

 TVC 

 top vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < TVC < VLL

integer 258 1 1

 BVC 

 bottom vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

 TVC < BVC <

VLL

 integer 258

1 1

15.022-

15.023

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

15.024

PQM PALM QUALITY METRIC O

 

0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 9

 FRMP friction ridge metric 

position 

M↑

N 

2

2

20 < FRMP <

38 or 81 <

FRMP < 86 256

positive integer

See Table 9

1 1

 QVU quality value M↑N 1 3 0 < QVU < 100

or QVU = 254 or

255

integer

1 1

 QAV algorithm vendor 

identification

M↑

H 4 4 0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP algorithm product 

identification

M↑

N 1 5 1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

15.025-

15.029

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

15.030 DMM DEVICE MONITORING 

MODE

O

A 7 10 value from

Table 6

0 1

15.031259

PAP SUBJECT ACQUISITION 

PROFILE _ PALM PRINT

O

N 2 3 PAP = 70, 80, 170

or 180 

See Table 16

0 1

15.032-

15.045

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

259 [2015n>] New field added in Update 2015. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

15.046 260

SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1 1 SSC = X, A or D 1 1

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1 SBSC = 1 or 2 0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1 SBCC = 1 or 2 0 1

15.047 260

CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

15.048-

15.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

15.200 –

15.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS Ouser-defined user-defined user-defined

15.901261

 FCT

FRICTION RIDGE 

CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY

O N 1 2

FCT = 0 through

7 or 9 through

17, inclusive.

“See Table 11” 

0 1

15.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

260 [2013n>] New field for the 2013 Update [<2013n]

261 [2015n>] New field for the 2015 Update. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

15.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

= M or P

any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

15.904

MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

15.905-

15.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

15.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

15.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE

D

262 U 1

200

none 1 1

15.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

15.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

15.997

 SOR

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3 1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

262 [2015n>] Field 15.994 has been added to allow a print image to be in a location that can be remotely

accessed. Field 15.999 may be used to transmit the image in the record. These two fields are mutually

exclusive. Only one may appear in the record. However, neither Field 15.994 nor Field 15.999 need

appear if Field 15.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP has a value of “UP”.[<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 RSP

 reference segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

15.998

GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

263 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60

263 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE 

< 8848.000 

real number

263

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6

value from 

Table 7

0 1

 GCM geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 264

AN 2 3 one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

263 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

264 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

15.999 DATA PALM PRINT IMAGE 262 D B 1 * none 0 1

8.15.1 Field 15.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.15.2 Field 15.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-15 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.15.3 Field 15.003: Impression type / IMP

This [2015a>] dependent [<2015a] field shall indicate the manner by which the palm

print was obtained. See Section 7.7.4.1 for details. [2015a>] This field is mandatory if

an image is present in Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA[2015n>] or referenced

in Field 15.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n] Otherwise it is absent.” 

8.15.4 Field 15.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a dependent field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 15.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.15.5 Field 15.005: Palm print capture date / PCD

This field shall contain the date that the palm biometric data contained in the record was 

captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details.

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[2015a>] Fields 15.006 through 15.012 are mandatory if an image is present. This

applies whether Field 15.994: External file reference / EFR or Field 15.999: Palm

print image / DATA (for an image transmitted in this record) is used. [<2015a]

8.15.6 Field 15.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.15.7 Field 15.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.15.8 Field 15.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

8.15.9 Field 15.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.15.10 Field 15.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.15.11 Field 15.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. It shall specify the algorithm used to compress the

transmitted grayscale images. See Table 19 Compression codes for the labels, and

Section 7.7.9.1.

8.15.12 Field 15.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory if an image is present [2015a>]or referenced in this record

[<2015a]. Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

8.15.13 Field 15.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP

This mandatory field shall contain the palm print position that matches the palm print

image. Valid codes range from 20 to 38, or 81 to [2013n>] 86265 [<2013n]. See Table

9. See Section 7.7.4.2 for details.

265 [2013n>] Codes 85 and 86 added for wrist bracelets. [<2013n] 

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8.15.14 Field 15.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This is an [2015a>] dependent field if an image is present or referenced in this record.

Otherwise it is absent. [<2015a] See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale /

SHPS for details.

8.15.15 Field 15.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This is an [2015a>] dependent field if an image is present or referenced in this record.

Otherwise it is absent. [<2015a]. See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale /

SVPS for details.

8.15.16 Field 15.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP

This optional field shall specify if a hand is amputated or bandaged. Multiple subfields

may be entered and each shall contain two information items. 

•The first item is the friction ridge amputated or bandaged position / FRAP

between 21 and 38 or 81 through [2013n>] 86 265 [<2013n] as chosen from

Table 9. This information item is called the friction ridge amputated or

bandaged position / FRAP to differentiate it from FGP.

• The second item is the amputated or bandaged code / ABC, also known as the

AMPCD. Table 105 shows allowable indicators for the AMPCD.

[2015n>] Code SR in Table 105 is not applicable to palm prints. [<2015n]

If an entire hand is missing, either 83 (right full palm, including writer's palm) or 84 (left

full palm, including writer's palm) shall be entered for FRAP. A partially scarred palm

should be printed. XX shall be used only when a partial print exists due to amputation;

therefore it contains some friction ridge detail. UP shall be used with the complete block

where an image was to be transmitted, but there is no image due to amputation or total

lack of friction ridge detail (such as with a bandage). An image with a scar should not be

marked XX or UP. 

[2015n>] When UP is specified, there may be no Field 15.994: External file

reference / EFR or Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA in the record.

However, some implementation domains require the use of a 'dummy' image to

be conveyed.[<2015n]

8.15.17 Field 15.020: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

[2013n>]

8.15.18 Field 15.021: Palm segment position / SEG

This field shall only be present if FGP = 20, 21, 23, 37, 38, 83 or 84 from Table 9 as

entered in Field 15.013: Friction ridge generalized position / FGP. The subfield occurs

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at least once, and may be repeated if more than one algorithm is used to segment the

image. Each subfield contains five information items.

• The first information item is the friction ridge segment position / FRSP with

values of 22, 24 – 36, 81, 82, 85 or 86 selected from Table 9. This information item

is called the friction ridge segment position / FRSP to differentiate it from FGP.

• The second information item is the left horizontal coordinate value / LHC.

It is the horizontal offset in pixels to the left edge of the bounding box relative to the

origin positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The third information item is the right horizontal coordinate value / RHC.

It is the horizontal offset in pixels to the right edge of the bounding box relative to

the origin positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The fourth information item is the top vertical coordinate value / TVC. It is

the vertical offset (pixel counts down) to the top of the bounding box.

• The fifth information item is the bottom vertical coordinate value / BVC.

It is the vertical offset from the upper left corner of the image down to the bottom of

the bounding box. It is counted in pixels.

[<2013n]

8.15.19 Field 15.024: Palm quality metric / PQM

This optional field is used to specify one or more different metrics of the print image

quality score data for the image stored in this record. Each subfield is comprised of four

information items. The first information item shall be the friction ridge metric

position / FRMP for the image stored in this record. Valid codes range from 20 to 38,

and 81 to [2013n>] 86 256 [<2013n]. See Table 9. See Section 7.7.7 for a description

of the remaining three information items.

8.15.20 Field 15.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.3 for details.

[2015n>]

8.15.21 Field 15.031: Subject acquisition profile – palm print / PAP

This optional field lists the PAP levels associated with palm print acquisition devices.

See Section 7.7.5.4 for details. 

[<2015n]

[2013n>]

8.15.22 Field 15.046: Subject condition / SUB

This field is optional. There may be different values for SUB in different instances of

Type-15 records. For example, some images may have been acquired antemortem,

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while others were accquired post-mortem. This field describes the condition of the

subject at the time of imaging. 

SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

X = Status of individual unknown

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or 

person unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased)

• The second information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to indicate whether the

information relates to an entire corpse or a separate body part. The numeric

value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code/ SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

8.15.23 Field 15.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

15.004: Source agency / SRC and Field 15.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. For example:

• The friction ridge prints are taken from a decedent's body in a morgue. The

coroner's office or medical examiner's office would be CON.

• The local police department that would create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2011 conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in

Field 15.004: Source agency / SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in

Field 15.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke

Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final transmitting

organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI. Its

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name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN in Field 1.017: Agency

names / ANM. [<2013n]

8.15.24 Fields 15.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user 

and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

8.15.25 Field 15.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT

[2015n>] This is an optional field. It is a one or two-digit code signifying the type of

technology that was used to capture the print for transmission. See Section 7.7.4.5 for

more detail and the meanings of the codes. For exemplar prints conveyed in Type-15

records, the only valid codes are 0 through 7, inclusive and 9 through 17 inclusive.

[<2015n]

8.15.26 Field 15.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.15.27 Field 15.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.15.28 Field 15.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details

8.15.29 Field 15.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the

agency referenced in Field 15.004: Source agency / SRC. 

8.15.30 Field 15.994: External file reference / EFR

[2015n>]This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique

reference to a storage location for all digital representations, if the data is not contained in

Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA. If this field is used, Field 15.999: Palm print

 image / DATA shall not be set. However, one of the two fields shall be present in all

instances of this record type. It is highly recommended that the user state the format of the

external file in Field 15.020: Comment / COM. 

Type-15 records generally contain an image in Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA,

or an external reference to an image in Field 15.994: External file reference / EFR, but

not both. Fields 15.994 and 15.999 are optional only if Field 15.018: Amputated or

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bandaged / AMPhas a value of “UP”. Fields 15.003, and 15.006 through 15.012 are

mandatory if either Field 15.994 or 15.999 is used.

 [<2015n]

8.15.31 Field 15.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Record(s) Type-21 with the same ACN. See 

Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the biometric

data in Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA but that may be relevant to the 

collection of that data.

8.15.32 Field 15.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 15.999: Palm print 

image / DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.15.33 Field 15.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN. See 

Section 7.3.2.

8.15.34 Field 15.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the palm sample was acquired – not where

it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.15.35 Field 15.999: Palm print image / DATA

[2015n>] This conditional field, if present, contains the palm print image. If Field

15.994: External file reference / EFR is present in this record, then this field shall not

appear. [<2015n] See Section 7.2 for details. It can contain an image, unless Field

15.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP has a value of “UP”. In the latter case, the

field is optional. Some domains and application profiles may still require an image in

this field (such as the word “Amputated”). Note that in previous versions of the

standard [2015a>] (i.e., prior to 2011) [<2015a] that this field was mandatory in all

circumstances.

8.16 Record Type-16: User-defined testing image record

The Type-16 record shall contain and be used to exchange image data together with

textual information fields pertinent to the digitized image. This record type allows the

exchange of images not addressed by other record types in the standard. [2013n>]

Type-16 records shall not be used for images that can be conveyed using other record

types. [<2013n] It is intended as the user-defined record to be used for developmental

or test purposes. The image data contained in the Type-16 record may be in a

compressed form. With the exception of the fields described below, the format,

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parameters, and types of images to be exchanged are undefined by this standard and

shall be agreed upon between the sender and recipient.

[2013a>] An example of the use of the Type-16 could be to send an image of the ear for

biometric purposes. Note that Type-99 allows 'ear shape' as a biometric code, but in

order to use Type-99 records, there must be a BDB format owner that has specified the

BDB format type. See Field 99.103: BDB format owner / BFO. At the time of the

issuance of this standard, no such formal specification exists. [<2013a]

Table 107 Type-16 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

16.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

16.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

16.003 UDI

USER-DEFINED IMAGE 

TYPE

M U 1 35 user-defined 1 1

16.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

16.005 UTD

USER-DEFINED TESTING 

DATE

M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date encoding

specific: see Annex

B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

16.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

M N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

16.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH M N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

1 1

16.008 SLC SCALE UNITS M N 1 1

0 < SLC < 2

integer

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

16.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

M N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

16.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE

M N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

16.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

M AN 3

*

266

value from 

Table 19

Compression

codes for friction

ridge data or valid

file suffix for other

data

1 1

16.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL M N 1 2 1 < BPX < 99267 1 1

16.013 CSP COLOR SPACE O A 3 4

values from 

Table 28

0 1

16.014-

16.015

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.016 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE

O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

16.017 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

16.018-

16.019

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

16.021-

16.023

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.024

UQS

USER-DEFINED TESTING 

IMAGE QUALITY SCORES

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 QVU quality value M↑N 1 3 0 < QVU < 100

or QVU = 254 or

255 

integer

1 1

266 [2015n>] Since any compression algorithm may be used in a Type-16 record, there is no restriction

on the upper limit of characters. [<2015n]

267 [2013a>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification M↑

H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification M↑

N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

16.025-

16.029

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.030 DMM

DEVICE MONITORING 

MODE

O A 7 10

value from

Table 6

0 1

16.031-

16.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.200 –

16.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS Ouser-defined user-defined user-defined

16.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

16.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

= M or P

any character

with type A, N or

S in Table 128

Character

encoding set

values

0 1

16.904

MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

16.905-

16.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

16.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

16.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE

D

268

B 1 * none 1 1

16.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

16.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

16.997

 SOR

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP

 reference segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

16.998 GEO GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

268 [2015n>] Field 16.994 has been added to allow a user-defined test image to be in a location that can be

remotely accessed. Field 16.999 may be used to transmit the image in the record, if desired. These two

fields are mutually exclusive. Only one may appear in the record. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

269 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60 269

0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE <

8848.000 

real number 269

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from Table 7 0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 270

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

269 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

270 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

16.999 DATA TEST DATA D

268

B 1 * none 1 1

8.16.1 Field 16.001: Record header

The field is mandatory. It is dependent upon the encoding used. See Section 7.1. 

8.16.2 Field 16.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-2 record as listed in the

information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT. See

Section 7.3.1.

8.16.3 Field 16.003: User-defined image type / UDI

This mandatory field shall contain the type of user-defined image contained in this 

record. Its content shall be defined by the user and be in accordance with the receiving 

agency.

8.16.4 Field 16.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 16.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.16.5 Field 16.005: User-defined image test capture date / UTD

This mandatory field shall contain the date that the test image contained in the record was

captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details.

8.16.6 Field 16.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.16.7 Field 16.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.16.8 Field 16.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

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8.16.9 Field 16.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.16.10 Field 16.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.16.11 Field 16.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This is a mandatory field. It shall specify the algorithm used to compress the transmitted

images. See Table 19 Compression codes for the labels and Section 7.7.9.1 for a

detailed description of this field. For other data, see Section 7.7.9.5. 

8.16.12 Field 16.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

8.16.13 Field 16.013: Color space / CSP

This optional field shall be completed in accordance with Section 7.7.10.3 if entered.

8.16.14 Field 16.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS for

details.

8.16.15 Field 16.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS for 

details.

8.16.16 Field 16.020: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

8.16.17 Field 16.024: User-defined image quality metric / UQS

This optional field is used to specify one or more different metrics of the image quality

score data for the image stored in this record. Each subfield is comprised of three

information items. See Section 7.7.7 for a description of the three information items.

8.16.18 Field 16.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.3 for details.

8.16.19 Fields 16.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

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These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user 

and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

8.16.20 Field 16.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1

8.16.21 Field 16.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.16.22 Field 16.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.16.23 Field 16.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 16.004: Source agency / SRC .

8.16.24 Field 16.994: External file reference / EFR

[2015n>]This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique

reference to a storage location for all digital representations, if the data is not contained in

Field 16.999: Test data / DATA. If this field is used, Field 16.999 shall not be set.

However, one of the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. 

It is highly recommended that the user state the format of the external file in Field 16.020:

Comment / COM. [<2015n]

8.16.25 Field 16.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Record(s) Type-21 with the same ACN. Record 

Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the biometric data in Field 16.999: 

Test data / DATA but that may be relevant to the collection of that data, such as general 

scenes of the area where the body of the subject was found.

8.16.26 Field 16.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 16.999: Test data / 

DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.16.27 Field 16.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN from

which the data in Field 16.999: Test data / DATA was derived. See Section 7.3.2.

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8.16.28 Field 16.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the sample was acquired – not where it is 

stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.16.29 Field 16.999: Test data / DATA

[2015n>] This field may contain the user-defined test image. If this field is used, then

Field 16.994: External file reference / EFR shall not be in the record. One of the two

fields shall appear in the record. See Section 7.2 for details.[<2015n]

8.17 Record Type-17: Iris image record

The Type-17 record shall contain and be used to exchange generic iris image data using

mandatory fields of this record type. Optional fields may be used to exchange additional

information available in the INCITS 379-2004 – Iris Image Interchange Format standard

and the ISO/IEC 19794-6 iris image data interchange format standard. Images may be

monochrome or color with 256 or more intensity levels (gray or per-color component), and

vary in size depending on field of view and compression. This record type specifies

interchange formats for biometric authentication systems that utilize iris recognition. 

The formats all store sampled pixel data from rectilinear images. The data shall be encoded

as a raw array of intensity values, a raw array of red green blue color values, or as losslessly

compressed or lossy-compressed versions thereof. Two of the formats are specialized for

small record sizes; these are achieved by cropping and masking the images to support

efficient compression (see Field 17.032: Iris storage format / ISF). 

Table 108 Type-17 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

17.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

17.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

17.003 ELR EYE LABEL M N 1 1 ELR = 0, 1 or 2 1 1

17.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * None 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

17.005 ICD IRIS CAPTURE DATE M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

 see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

17.006 HLL HORIZONTAL LINE LENGTH D N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

17.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH D N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

17.008 SLC SCALE UNITS D N 1 1

0 < SLC < 2

integer

0 1

17.009 THPS TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL SCALE D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

17.010 TVPS TRANSMITTED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

17.011 CGA COMPRESSION ALGORITHM D AN 3 4

CGA = 

NONE, PNG, JP2 or

JP2L

0 1

17.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL D N 1 2 8 < BPX < 99271 0 1

17.013 CSP COLOR SPACE D A 3 4

values from

Table 28 0 1

17.014 RAE ROTATION ANGLE OF EYE O H 1 4 0000 < RAE < FFFF 0 1

17.015 RAU ROTATION UNCERTAINTY D H 1 4 0000 < RAU < FFFF 0 1

17.016

 IPC IMAGE PROPERTY CODE O 0 1

 IHO horizontal orientation code M↑ N 1 1

0 < IHO < 2

integer 1 1

 IVO vertical orientation code M↑ N 1 1

0 < IVO < 2

integer 1 1

 IST specific scan type M↑ N 1 1 IST = 0 or 1 1 1

17.017 DUI DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER O ANS 13 16

first character 

= M or P 0 1

17.018

Deprecated; See ANSI/NISTITL 1-2007 or ANSI/NIST-ITL 

2-2008 for a description of this 

field

 Not to be used for any new transactions claiming conformance to this version of

the standard. 

17.019 MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

271 [2013>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

17.020 ECL EYE COLOR O A 3 3

value from 

Table 29 0 1

17.021 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

17.022 SHPS SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

17.023 SVPS SCANNED VERTICAL PIXEL 

SCALE O N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

17.024

 IQS IMAGE QUALITY SCORE O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 9

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or 255 

integer

1 1

 QAV algorithm vendor 

identification M↑ H 4 4 0000 < QAV < FFFF 1 1

 QAP algorithm product 

identification M↑ N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

17.025 EAS EFFECTIVE ACQUISITION 

SPECTRUM O A 3 9

value from

Table 109 0 1

17.026 IRD IRIS DIAMETER O N 2 4

10 < IRD < 9999

positive integer 272 0 1

17.027

 SSV SPECIFIED SPECTRUM 

VALUES D 0 1

 LOW spectrum lower bound M↑ N 3 4

500 < LOW 

positive integer

evenly divisible by 10

1

1

 HIG spectrum upper bound M↑ N 3 4

510 < HIG

positive integer

evenly divisible by 10

1

1

17.028 DME DAMAGED OR MISSING EYE O A 2 2 DME = MA or UC 0 1

17.029 RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

17.030 DMM DEVICE MONITORING 

MODE O A 7 10 value from

Table 6

0 1

17.031 IAP SUBJECT ACQUISITION 

PROFILE - IRIS O N 2 2 IAP = 20, 30 or 40 0 1

17.032 ISF IRIS STORAGE FORMAT O N 1 1 ISF = 1, 2, 3 or 7 0 1

17.033 IPB IRIS PUPIL BOUNDARY O 0 1

 BYC boundary code M↑ A 1 1

BYC = C, E or P

see Table 31 1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 22 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

272 [2013e>] 2011 version did had a typographical error: < should have been <. [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path – for a total of NOP pairs

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

integer 273 2 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

integer 273 2 NOP

17.034

 ISB IRIS SCLERA BOUNDARY O 0 1

 BYC boundary code M↑ A 1 1

BYC = C, E or P

See Table 31 1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

2 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path – for a total of NOP pairs

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

 integer 273 2 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

integer 273 2 NOP

17.035

 UEB UPPER EYELID BOUNDARY O 0 1

 BYC boundary code M↑ A 1 1

BYC = P

see Table 31 1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2 3 < NOP < 99 1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path – for a total of NOP pairs

 

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

integer 273 3 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

 integer 273 3 NOP

17.036 LEB LOWER EYELID BOUNDARY O 0 1

 BYC boundary code M↑ A 1 1

BYC = P

see Table 31 1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2 3 < NOP < 99 1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path – for a total of NOP pairs

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

integer 273

3 NOP

273 [2013n>] Upper limit changed from < to < for consistency with other record types. [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

 integer 273 3 NOP

17.037

 NEO NON-EYELID OCCLUSIONS O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

 OCY occlusion opacity M↑ A 1 1

OCY = 

T, I, L or S

see Table 32

1 1

 OCT occlusion type M↑ A 1 1

OCT = 

L, S, C, R or O

see Table 33

1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

274

3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path – for a total of NOP pairs

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

 integer 273 3 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

integer 273 3 NOP

17.038-17.039 RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

17.040 RAN RANGE O N 1 7 positive integer 0 1

17.041 GAZ FRONTAL GAZE O N 1 2

0 < GAZ < 90

integer

0 1

17.042-17.199 RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

17.200-17.900 UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

17.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

17.902

 ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

274 [2013e>] Max characters changed to 2 to correspond to the upper limit of 99 [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm name /

version

M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

17.903-17.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

17.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

17.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE

D

275

U 1 200 none 1 1

17.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP associated segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

17.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

17.997

 SOR SOURCE REPRESENTATION O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP reference segment position O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

275[2015n>] Field 17.994 has been added to allow an iris image to be in a location that can be remotely

accessed. Field 17.999 may still used to transmit the image in the record. These two fields are mutually

exclusive. Only one may appear in the record. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

17.998

 GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60 276

0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60 276

0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE <

8848.000 

real number 276

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from Table 7 0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 277

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a single

letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI geographic coordinate other 

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

276 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

277 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content Description Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other 

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

17.999 DATA IRIS IMAGE DATA D B 1 * none 0

278 1

8.17.1 Field 17.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.17.2 Field 17.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-17 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.17.3 Field 17.003: Eye Label / ELR

This mandatory field279 shall contain an identifier for the eye represented by the image in

the record. An entry of “0” in this field indicates that it is undefined which eye is present

in this record. An entry of “1” in this field indicates that the image in this record is the

subject’s right eye. An entry of “2” in this field indicates that the image in this record is

the subject’s left eye.

8.17.4 Field 17.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 17.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.17.5 Field 17.005: Iris capture date / ICD

This mandatory field shall contain the date that the iris biometric data contained in the 

record was captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details.

8.17.6 Field 17.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. 

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.17.7 Field 17.007: Vertical line length / VLL

278 [2013e>] Minimum occurrence changed to 0, in accordance with the dependency conditions [<2013e]

279 In prior versions of this standard, this field was named Feature identifier / FID.

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This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. 

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.17.8 Field 17.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. 

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

8.17.9 Field 17.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. 

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.17.10 Field 17.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. 

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.17.11 Field 17.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA.

Otherwise it is absent. It shall specify the algorithm used to compress the transmitted

color or grayscale images. See Section 7.7.9.3 for a detailed description of this field. The

baseline JPEG algorithm (ISO/IEC 10918) shall not be used for Type-17 iris images. It

has been shown that both false non-match and false match rates increase due to the

presence of tiling artifacts introduced by JPEG's discrete cosine transform. While JPEG

was allowed in prior versions of this standard, it shall not be allowed for new images.

Implementers may want to support JPEG decoding for handling legacy images. If legacy

images were stored in JPEG, they should be converted to PNG prior to transmission, with

this transformation noted in Field 17.902: Annotation information / ANN.

8.17.12 Field 17.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA.

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

8.17.13 Field 17.013: Color space / CSP

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. 

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.10 for details. If Field 17.025: Effective 

acquisition spectrum / EAS is set to “NIR” this field shall be set to “GRAY”.

8.17.14 Field 17.014: Rotation angle of eye / RAE

This optional field shall indicate the in-plane rotation angle of the iris. Such rotation can

be caused by head tilt, camera tilt, and also by the common natural rotation of the eye

itself. The rotation angle of the eye encoded in this field is defined here in terms of roll of

the subject's head. The angle is defined, and measured in degrees, as the angle between a

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line joining the pupil or iris centers of the left and right eyes, and the horizontal axis of

the imaging system. As shown in Figure 19, an angle is positive for counter-clockwise

rotation, as seen from the camera, of this line relative to the camera’s horizontal axis.

The in-plane eye rotation angle shall be recorded as angle = round (65535 * angle / 360)

modulo 65535280. The value “FFFF” indicates that rotation angle of eye is undefined. This

is encoded as a hexadecimal value. As an (unrealistic) example of a 90 degree value:

 round (65535 * 90 / 360) modulo 65535 equals 16384.

 This is 4000 when converted to hexadecimal.

For encoding angular orientation of an eye not directed toward the camera, see Field

17.041: Frontal gaze / GAZ. It may be difficult to estimate rotation using a monocular

camera. In such cases, the rotation uncertainty encoded in Field 17.015: Rotation

uncertainty / RAU will be appropriately larger.

Figure 19: Coordinate system for eye rotation angle

 Right eye Left eye

8.17.15 Field 17.015: Rotation uncertainty / RAU

This optional field shall indicate the uncertainty in the in-plane eye rotation given in Field

17.014: Rotation angle of eye / RAE. This field is mandatory if Field 17.014: Rotation

angle of eye / RAE is present. The rotation uncertainty is non-negative and equal to

[round (65535 * uncertainty / 180)]280. The uncertainty is measured in degrees and is the

absolute value of maximum error. The value “FFFF” indicates that uncertainty is

undefined. Note that this is encoded as a hexadecimal value.

8.17.16 Field 17.016: Image property code / IPC

This optional field shall contain three information items: 

• The first information item is the horizontal orientation code / IHO. Values for

Horizontal Orientation shall be one of: “0” for Undefined, “1” for Base, or “2” for

Flipped. “Base” orientation refers to images corresponding to the view facing the

subject, where the nasal side of subject’s left eye or outer edge of the subject’s

right eye is on the left side of the image. “Flipped” orientation refers to images

where the orientation is opposite from that described for “Base”.

280 In the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard, there was a typographical error of 65536.

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• The second information item is the vertical orientation code / IVO. Values for

Vertical Orientation shall be one of: “0” for Undefined, “1” for Base, or “2” for

Flipped. “Base” orientation refers to images where the superior (top) edge of the

eye is at the top of the image. “Flipped” orientation refers to images where the

orientation is opposite from that described for “Base”.

• The third information item is the specific scan type / IST. Values for Scan Type

shall be one of: “0” for Undefined and “1” for Progressive. “Progressive”

indicates that the image was captured using progressive scanning, in which case

all image lines are generated sequentially. 

Prior versions of the standard allowed IST “2” for Interlace Frame, or “3” for Interlace

Field. These values shall not be used in records claiming conformance to this version of

the standard. Implementers may want to support interlaced imagery for handling legacy

images. The deprecated values were defined as follows:

• “Interlace Frame” indicates that the image was captured using interlaced

scanning, in which two fields are generated in sequence, the first composed of

odd-numbered lines and the second of even-numbered lines.

• “Interlace Field” indicates that the image was captured using interlaced scanning,

in which only one field is generated, and then each line is duplicated to produce a

full size image.

8.17.17 Field 17.017: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.17.18 Field 17.019: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.17.19 Field 17.020: Eye color / ECL

This is an optional field that shall specify the subject's eye color, or 'XXX' if it is

unknown from the image (as is the case with infra-red images). See Section 7.7.11 and

Table 29 for details on entering values to this field. Estimating eye color labeling is

extremely subjective, and of very limited reliability despite its intuitive use in a policing

context, for example. Eye color is determined by the amount of melanin pigmentation,

and by the spectrum of the incident light and other factors. Eye color has not historically

been available to or used by recognition algorithms.

8.17.20 Field 17.021: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

8.17.21 Field 17.022: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

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This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS for

details.

8.17.22 Field 17.023: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS for 

details.

8.17.23 Field 17.024: Image quality score / IQS

This optional field shall be used to specify one or more different metrics of image quality 

score data for the image stored in this record. Each set of three information items shall be

contained in a separate subfield. See Section 7.7.7 for details on the information items.

8.17.24 Field 17.025: Effective acquisition spectrum / EAS

This optional field indicates the acquisition spectrum used in capturing the iris image.

The acquisition spectrum is the effective acquisition spectrum, which is limited by both

the lighting spectrum and the spectrum limitations of the acquisition device: it is defined

by the overlap of the two spectra. This field contains an alphabetic entry selected from

the column “Value” in Table 109.

8.17.25 Field 17.026: Iris diameter / IRD

This optional field shall specify the expected iris diameter in pixels. [2013a>] This

value may assist the processing algorithm(s) in the automated examination of the

image. IRD need not be the measured value of the diameter. It may range in value from

10 to 9999, inclusive.281 [<2013a]

8.17.26 Field 17.027: Specified spectrum values / SSV

This field shall only be present if Field 17.025: Effective acquisition spectrum / EAS

has a value of 'DEFINED'. It is comprised of two information items:

• The first information item is spectrum lower bound / LOW. It is a three or four

digit entry indicating the lower frequency bound in nm (rounded to the nearest 10

nm).

• The second information item is spectrum upper bound / HIG. It is a three or

four digit entry indicating the upper frequency bound in nm (rounded to the

nearest 10 nm.). 

Table 109 Effective acquisition spectrum codes

281 [2013a>] The 2011 text said: “The diameter of the iris should not be less than 140 pixels.” That was

only intended as a guideline, but was interpreted by many as as strict limit, which was not its intent. The

purpose of this field is to assist the algorithm in looking for the approximage size of the iris when

examining the image. [<2013a] 

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Value Description Spectrum

NIR Near-infrared acquisition Approx. 700–900282 nm

DEFINED Defined acquisition spectrum, in range of nanometers rounded to the

nearest 10 nm, e.g., 828 to 830. This option provides the means to

specify the acquisition spectrum when known with precision. When

this value is used, Field 17.027: Specified spectrum values / SSV

shall accompany it. The format of the two information items in that

field shall be a 3 or 4-digit integer specifying the minimum of the

spectrum range in nanometers, followed by a 3 or 4-digit integer

specifying the maximum of the spectrum range in nanometers. The

minimum value shall be less than or equal to the maximum value.

VIS Visible full-spectrum acquisition 

NOTE: Visible images cannot usually be matched against nearinfrared images because either no detail, or different detail, of the iris

texture is present in a visible light image. Interoperability between

VIS and NIR images remains a research issue. VIS images are

supported by this standard for supplemental, forensic, and research

purposes only. Such use cases may extend to the periocular region.

Approx. 380–750 nm

RED Red portion of visible full-spectrum illumination

NOTE: Red light visible images cannot usually be matched against

near-infrared images because no detail, noisy detail, or different

detail, of the iris texture is present in a red light image.

Interoperability between VIS and RED images remains a research

issue. RED images are supported by this standard for supplemental,

forensic, and research purposes only. Such use cases may extend to

the periocular region.

Approx. 620–750 nm

UNDEFINED This value shall be used when the effective spectrum is unknown or

unavailable, and is not better described by one of the other values.

8.17.27 Field 17.028: Damaged or missing eye / DME

This optional field shall specify if one or both eyes are unable to provide usable iris

images. The eye position is specified in Field 17.003: Eye Label / ELR. This field shall

contain a code from Table 110. “UC” should be entered if the eye is physically present,

but a usable iris image cannot be captured. An example is when the eye is swollen shut

due to injury.

Table 110 Missing and damaged eye codes

Descriptor Code

Missing or artificial eye MA

282 The 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard had a range of 700-850 for NIR; 380 to 740 for VIS. RED 

was not specified in earlier versions of the standard.

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Unable to capture image UC

8.17.28 Field 17.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.3 for details. 

8.17.29 Field 17.031: Subject acquisition profile – iris / IAP

This optional field lists the IAP level associated with the iris acquisition device. See 

Section 7.7.5.3 for details. 

8.17.30 Field 17.032: Iris storage format / ISF

This optional field, when used, shall indicate the storage format of the iris image283. 

Figure 20: Examples of ISF image formats

The codes are shown in Figure 20 and Table 111. The value shall be a single digit

corresponding to the column “ISF code”. Image storage formats 1 and 2 might be the

283 This is a new field with the 2011 of the standard. All new applications should use this field.

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ISF = 1 ISF = 2

ISF = 3 ISF = 7

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native output of an iris camera. ISF format code 1 is designated for high resolution

outputs. ISF level 2 is the format output in most commercial iris acquisition systems and

corresponds to the dimensions of the Video Graphics Array (VGA). Image storage

formats 3 and 7 are typically prepared by client software: ISF 3 images are cropped; and

ISF 7 images are both cropped and masked. These operations, used in conjunction with

the standardized compression schemes, afford reduced record sizes. All of the formats

establish geometric specifications. For ISF = 1 and 2, there are minimum margin

requirements specified in terms of the estimated iris radius, R (see Table 111). For ISF =

3 and 7, there are exact margin requirements. These requirements support accurate

localization of the iris boundaries.

[2015a>] In order to be considered acceptable as non-intrusive and to avoid excessive

geometric distortion, the minimum distance between the iris capture device’s lens and the

subject’s eye must be at least 100 millimeters.

In order to provide an acceptable level of usability and ease of alignment, the camera must

allow for some variability in the position of the iris center relative to the camera. This is

consistent with ISO/IEC 19794-6 and ISO/IEC 29794-6 specification concerning image

margin requirements. The vertical margin shall be > 0.2 times the radius of the iris. The

horizontal margin shall be > 0.6 times the radius. See Figure 21.

Figure 21: Image Margin Requirements

[<2015a]

Table 111 Iris storage formats

ISF code Description Iris Iris Margin

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Centering 

Requirement

(R is radius of the iris)

Horizontal Vertical

1 Unconstrained image size Recommended ≥ 0.6R ≥ 0.2R

2 Raw: 640x480 Recommended ≥ 0.6R ≥ 0.2R

3 Cropped Required = 0.6R = 0.2R

7 Cropped and Masked Required = 0.6R = 0.2R

8.17.31 Field 17.033: Iris pupil boundary / IPB

This optional field defines the pupillary boundary, between the iris and pupil. See 

Section 7.7.12 for a description of encoding paths.

8.17.32 Field 17.034: Iris sclera boundary / ISB

This optional field defines the limbic boundary, between the iris and sclera. See Section

7.7.12 for a description of encoding paths.

8.17.33 Field 17.035: Upper eyelid boundary / UEB

This optional field defines the boundary between the upper eyelid and the eye. See 

Section 7.7.12 for a description of encoding paths. This is an open path. 

8.17.34 Field 17.036: Lower eyelid boundary / LEB

This optional field defines the boundary between the lower eyelid and the eye. See 

Section 7.7.12 for a description of encoding paths. This is an open path. 

8.17.35 Field 17.037: Non-eyelid occlusions / NEO

This optional field defines the outline and contents of any non-eyelid occlusions that

partially or totally blocks the image of the iris. It is a polygon. (See Section 7.7.12 for a

description of a polygon). For details on entering data for this Field, see Section

7.7.12.2 . Each point on the polygon is represented by a pair of information items. In

addition to the information items for the points on the polygon: 

• The first information item contains the alphabetic code from Table 32: Occlusion

opacity

• The second information item contains the alphabetic code from Table 33:

Occlusion type

8.17.36 Field 17.040: Range / RAN

This optional field contains the estimated distance from the lens of the camera to the iris.

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It shall be measured in centimeters.

8.17.37 Field 17.041: Frontal gaze / GAZ

This optional field describes the metric that estimates the degree of eye(s) sight-angle

relative to the camera. The angle shall be reported in degrees and defined as between: 

• The optical axis of the eye, and

• A line connecting the optical center of the eye and the optical center of the

camera.

This measure is inclusive of both head angular orientation and eye-gaze angle relative to

the head. The inclusive approach for gaze direction is not intended to be representative

of the possible difficulty with iris segmentation due to non-frontal head orientation.

Hence, two images with the same frontal gaze, but significantly different frontal head

orientation may perform differently with different segmentation and matching algorithms.

Note that iris image recognition systems typically rely upon having a small gaze angle in

the image. While not prohibited in this standard, it is strongly discouraged that gaze

angles greater than 15 degrees be used for enrollment or matching. 

8.17.38 Fields 17.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user

and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

8.17.39 Field 17.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.17.40 Field 17.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 17.004: Source agency / SRC. 

8.17.41 Field 17.994: External file reference / EFR

[2015n>] This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique

reference to a storage location for all digital representations, if the data is not contained in

Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA. If this field is used, Field 17.999 shall not be set.

However, one of the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. It is

highly recommended that the user state the format of the external file in Field 17.021:

Comment / COM. [<2015n]

8.17.42 Field 17.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. See

Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the

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biometric data in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA but that may be relevant to the

collection of that data, such as general scenes of the area where the subject was found.

8.17.43 Field 17.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 17.999: Iris image

data / DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.17.44 Field 17.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN from

which the data in Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA was derived. See Section 7.3.2.

8.17.45 Field 17.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the iris sample was acquired – not where it

is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.17.46 Field 17.999: Iris image data / DATA

This field contains the iris image. See Section 7.2 for details. [2015a>]If Field 17.994:

External file reference / EFR is present in this record, then this field shall not appear.

Neither this field or Field 17.994: External file reference / EFR shall be present in this

record when Field 17.028: Damaged or missing eye / DME is in this record

(indicating an eye is missing or is unable to provide a usable iris image).[<2015a] Some

domains and application profiles may require a field with a 'substitute image' such as the

words 'Missing Eye'. 

8.18 Record Type-18: DNA record

The Type-18 record shall contain and be used to exchange DNA data. This shall be used

to exchange Autosomal Short Tandem Repeat (STR), X-Short Tandem Repeat (X-STR)

Y-Short Tandem Repeat (Y-STR), Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Pedigree, and

electropherogram images of DNA data. This record type is based upon standardized and

commonly used DNA analysis and data reporting conventions. 

With full consideration to privacy, this standard only uses the non-coding regions of

DNA. The regions of the DNA that contain information on a subject’s genetic

characteristics or traits are deliberately avoided.

Table 112 Type-18 record layout

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

18.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

18.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

18.003

DLS

DNA LABORATORY 

SETTING

M 1 1

 UTY unit type M N 1 1

1 < UTY < 4

integer

1 1

 LTY lab type D A 1 1

LTY = G, I, O or

U

0 1

 ACC 

 accreditation

information 

D ANS 1 35

numeric

(0,1,2,3,4,5,6 or

255). It may be

followed by an

alpha string (N, M,

D and/or O). That

may be followed

by up to 5 more

such strings, each

separated by a

comma. The

entire string is

treated as a single

information item.

0 1

 NOO

 name of the 

organization

O U 1 * none 0 1

 POC point of contact O U 1 200 none 0 1

 CSC code of sending 

country 

O AN 2

3 If Field 1.018:

Geographic

name set / GNS

is present, then

value is from the

alternate GENC

set specified in

that field.

Otherwise, the

value is from

ISO-3166-1.

284

0 1

284 [2013n>] This allows the GENC county codes supported by the US Government to be used [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 ION

 international 

organization name

O U 1 100 none 0 1

18.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

18.005 NAL NUMBER OF ANALYSES

FLAG M N 1 1 NAL = 0 or 1 1 1

18.006

SDI SAMPLE DONOR 

INFORMATION M 1 1

 DSD DNA sample donor M N 1 1 DSD = 0, 1 or 2 1 1

 GID gender ID O A 1 1 GID = M, F, or U 0 1

 DLC date of last contact O

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

 see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific:

 see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding

or Annex C:

NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 DOB date of birth O

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

 see Annex B:

Traditional encoding

or Annex C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific:

 see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding

or Annex C:

NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 EGP ethnic group O U 1 50 none 0 1

 DRA dental records available D N 1 1

DRA = 0, 1 or 2

non-negative

integer

0 1

 LLC sample collection 

location description

O U 1 4000 none 0 1

 SDS sample donor status O N 1 1

SDS = 0, 1 or 2

non-negative

integer

0 1

18.007 COPR

CLAIMED OR 

PURPORTED 

RELATIONSHIP

D N 1 1

1 < COPR < 7

positive integer 0 1

18.008 VRS VALIDATED 

RELATIONSHIP D N 1 1

1 < VRS < 7

positive integer 0 1

18.009 PED PEDIGREE 

INFORMATION O 0 1

 PID pedigree ID M↑ U 1 24 none 1 1

 PMI pedigree member ID M↑ U 1 6 none 1 1

 PMS pedigree member status M↑ A 1 1 PMS = K or U 1 1

 SID sample identifier M↑ U 1 24 none 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FID father identifier O↑ N 1 3 none 0 1

 MID mother identifier O↑ N 1 3 none 0 1

 PCM pedigree comment O↑ U 1 2000 none 0 1

18.010

STY SAMPLE TYPE M 1 1

 SCT sample cellular type M N 1 2

0 < SCT < 11

non-negative

integer

1 1

 SMO sample origin O A 2 2

SMO = 

NS, WB or BP 0 1

18.011

STI SAMPLE TYPING 

INFORMATION M 1 1

 Subfields: Repeating values M N 1 1

0 < value < 4

non-negative

integer

1 5

18.012 SCM SAMPLE COLLECTION 

METHOD O U 1 255 none 0 1

18.013 SCD SAMPLE COLLECTION 

DATE M encoding specific encoding specific 1 1

18.014 PSD PROFILE STORAGE DATE M encoding specific encoding specific 1 1

18.015

DPD DNA PROFILE DATA M 1 1

 PTP profile type M N 1 1

PTP = 0 or 1

non-negative

integer

1 1

 RES result O N 1 2

0 < RES < 10

non-negative

integer

0 1

 PRF profile ID M U 1 64 none 1 1

 SUP supplemental message O U 1 100 none 0 1

 DPC DNA profile comment O U 1 100 none 0 1

18.016 STR AUTOSOMAL STR, X-STR 

and Y-STR D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

 DST DNA STR type M↑ N 1 1

DST = 0, 1 or 2

non-negative

integer

1 1

 DLR DNA locus reference M↑ N 1 3

1 < DLR < 200

positive integer 1 1

 ALL

 allele indicator M↑ N 1 1

ALL = 0 or 1

non-negative

integer

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 LAI locus analysis indicator M↑ N 1 1

LAI = 0 or 1

non-negative

integer

1 1

 PCDT precise call 

determination

M↑ N 1 1

PCDT = 0 or 1

non-negative

integer

1 1

 AL1 allele call 1 D NS 1 4

integer > 0; or real

number with one

digit to right of

decimal

0 1

 AL2 allele call 2 D NS 1 4

integer > 0; or real

number with one

digit to right of

decimal

0 1

 AL3 allele call 3 D NS 1 4

integer > 0; or real

number with one

digit to right of

decimal

0 1

 BID batch ID O↑ U 1 32 none 0 1

 ECR electropherogram cross

reference

O↑ U 1 8 none 0 1

 LCR ladder cross reference O↑ U 1 8 none 0 1

 KID kit ID M↑ N 1 3

0 < KID < 999

non-negative

integer

1 1

 KNM kit name D U 1 32 none 0 1

 KMF manufacturer D U 1 32 none 0 1

 KDS

 description of the kit 

(with part or catalog 

number)

D U 1 128 none 0 1

18.017 DMD MITOCHONDRIAL DNA 

DATA D 0 1

 MT1 mito control region 1 M↑ AS 1

946

285

character string

where each value

is from Table 117

or a sequence

value: A, G, C or T

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 MT2 mito control region 2 M↑ AS 1

977

285

character string

where each value

is from Table 117

or a sequence

value: A, G, C or T

1 1

 BSP base composition 

starting point

M↑ N 1 5 positive integer 1 1

 BEP base composition 

ending point

M↑ N 1 5

positive integer

BEP > BSP 1 1

 BCA base composition A 

length

M↑ N 1 2 positive integer 1 1

 BCG base composition G 

length

M↑ N 1 2 positive integer 1 1

 BCC base composition C 

length

M↑ N 1 2 positive integer 1 1

 BCT base composition T 

length

M↑ N 1 2 positive integer 1 1

18.018

UDP DNA USER-DEFINED 

PROFILE DATA D 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

USER-DEFINED

 user-defined 

information items 

(there may be 

multiple items)

M↑ user-defined user-defined 1 1

18.019 EPD ELECTROPHEROGRAM 

DESCRIPTION D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

 EIR electropherogram 

image reference 

M↑ U 1 8 none 1 1

 EST electropherogram 

storage type

M↑ U 1 4 none 1 1

 IDD image data descriptor M↑ U 1 200 none 1 1

 ELPD electropherogram data M↑ Base64 2 *

none 1 1

285 [2013n>] Maximum character count extended to allow for up to 400 insertions [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 EPS electropherogram 

screenshot

O↑

Base64 2 * none 0 1

18.020 DGD DNA GENOTYPE 

DISTRIBUTION O N 1 1

DGD = 0 or 1

integer 0 1

18.021

GAP DNA GENOTYPE ALLELE 

PAIR D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

 GLR genotype locus 

reference

M↑ N 1 3

1< GLR < 200

positive integer 1 1

 ALP allele pair M↑ NS 3 9

digits, one comma 

and up to 2 periods

allowed

1 1

 GNW genotype numerical 

weight

M↑ NS 1 5

0 < GNW < 1 

non-negative real 

number up to 5 

characters, which 

may have a period

1 1

18.022 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

18.023

EPL ELECTROPHEROGRAM 

LADDER D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

 LIR ladder image reference M↑ U 1 8 none 1 1

 LST ladder storage type M↑ U 1 4 none 1 1

 LDD ladder image data 

descriptor

M↑ U 1 200 none 1 1

 LEPD

 ladder 

electropherogram 

data

M↑

Base64 2 * none 1 1

 LES

 ladder 

electropherogram 

screenshot

O↑

Base64 2 * none 0 1

18.024-

18.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

18.200-

18.900

UDF USER-DEFINED O user-defined user-defined user-defined 

18.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

18.902 ANN ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

18.903-

18.991

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

18.992 286

 T2C

 TYPE-2 RECORD CROSS 

REFERENCE

O N 1 2

0 < T2C < 99

integer

0

1

18.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

18.994

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

18.995 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context number M↑ N 1 3 1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

286 [2013n>] New Field [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

18.996 –

18.997

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

18.998

GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

287 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60

287 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE

< 8848.000 

real number

287

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from

Table 7

0 1

287 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 288

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

18.999

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

8.18.1 Field 18.001: Record Header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.18.2 Field 18.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-18 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.18.3 Field 18.003: DNA laboratory setting / DLS

This field is mandatory. The first information item is mandatory. 

• The first information item unit type / UTY is mandatory and contains a numeric

value selected from the following table:

288 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Table 113 DNA laboratory setting (DLS)

Value Description

1 Laboratory DNA processing unit

2 Rapid DNA / mobile processing unit

3 Other

4 Unknown

• The second information item is the lab type / LTY. It is mandatory if the value

for UTY is 1 or 2. It is not entered otherwise. When present, this information

item contains a single character describing the laboratory that processed the DNA:

G = Government

I = Industry

O = Other laboratory

U = Unknown 

• The third information item is the accreditation information / ACC. It is

mandatory if the value for UTY is 1 or 2. It shall not be entered otherwise. When

present, this information item shall contain a minimum of one numeric character

if the value is 0 or a minimum of two characters (one numeric followed

immediately by one alpha character if the lab is accredited). If the laboratory has

an unknown accreditation status, three numeric characters '255' are entered. The

values in this information item shall be separated individually by commas

between accreditation and scope pairings. More than one accreditation and scope

of accreditation is permitted.

•

 Allowable numeric values are: 

 0 = No Accreditation 

 1 = ISO Accreditation 

 2 = GLP Accreditation 

 3 = AABB Accreditation 

 4 = ISO/ILAC Guide 19 Accreditation 

 5 = ASCLD Lab Accreditation 

 6 = Other 

255 = Unknown 

The scope of accreditation is incorporated as an alphabetic code immediately

following the accreditation body / source numeric value. The scope of

accreditation is for what type of DNA technology that the laboratory is accredited.

These are:

N = Nuclear 

M = Mitochondrial 

D = Database 

O = Other

The following is an example of a string for this information item: 

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1NM,2N,3NM,5O

This example demonstrates that the laboratory is accredited by ISO (indicated by

the number 1) to process Nuclear DNA (indicated by the letter N). This lab is also

accredited by ISO as a Mitochondrial DNA lab (indicated by the letter M). The

next occurrence of a numeric indicates the next accreditation type (or the use of a

comma separated variable), which in this example is a GLP accreditation with a

scope of accreditation for Nuclear DNA only (indicated by the number 2 followed

by the letter N). This laboratory is also accredited by AABB for Nuclear and

Mitochondrial DNA (indicated by the 3 and the letters N and M respectively).

Finally, this example shows that the laboratory is accredited by ASCLD

laboratory in an 'Other' scope (indicated by the number 5 followed by the letter

O). Specific ordering of the alpha character is not required.

• The fourth information item is the name of the organization / NOO that

originally processed the DNA data. This may be different from the entry in Field

18.004: Source agency / SRC. This is an optional information item. It is entered

in Unicode characters and is unlimited in length. 

• The fifth information item is the point of contact / POC who composed the DNA

record metadata. This is an optional information item that could include the

name, telephone number and e-mail address of the person responsible for this

record submission. This information item may be up to 200 Unicode characters. 

•The sixth information item is optional. It is the ISO-3166-1 code of the sending

country / CSC. This is the code of where the DNA was processed -- not

necessarily the nation of the agency entered in Field 18.004: Source agency /

SRC. All three formats specified in ISO-3166-1 are allowed (Alpha2, Alpha3

and Numeric). A country code is either 2 or 3 characters long. CSC defaults to

ISO-3166-1 coding. [2013n>] If GENC used, then the version of that alternate

code is entered in Field 1.018: Geographic name set / GNS, which applies to

ALL country codes in all records within the transaction. [<2013n]

• The seventh information item is optional. It is the international organization

name / ION of the submitting organization. This is completed if the DNA was

processed by an organization that is not affiliated with a country (such as a multinational organization). This optional information item is the name/acronym of an

organization, and may be up to 100 Unicode characters.

8.18.4 Field 18.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be

entered in Field 18.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.18.5 Field 18.005: Number of analyses flag / NAL

This mandatory field indicates whether the DNA record contains multiple data analyses

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or a single data analysis. Possible entries are:

0 = “Multiple” or

1 = “Single”

8.18.6 Field 18.006: Sample donor information / SDI

This field is mandatory. [2013a>] It indicates if the DNA information contained

in the record is from the subject of the transaction or from another person (the

subject of the record), that is being sent to assist in establishing or verifying the

identity of the subject of the transaction. Each subject of a record may have a

distinct Type-2 record contained in the transaction. If that is the case, it is

highly recommended that Field 18.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

be used to link the Type-18 record to the appropriate Type-2 record.[<2013a] 289

Note that multiple Type-18 records may be included in a single transaction; only one

record may have a value of 0 for the first information item.

•The allowed numeric values for the first mandatory information item DNA sample

donor / DSD are: [2013a>] 

0 = Subject of the record is also the subject of the transaction

1 = Claimed, purported or validated relative (subject of the record is known to be a different 

 person than the subject of the transaction)

2 = Unknown source (subject of the record may be different but need not be 

 different than the subject of the transaction – such as when a 

dismembered body part's DNA is to be compared against the DNA of the body part

already established to be associated with subject of the transaction) [<2013a] 289

• The second information item is the gender ID / GID. This is an optional single

character identifier of "M" or "F" or "U". "U" indicates unknown. GID may be

set based on self-assignment by the specimen donor. The GID may not match the

results from the Amelogenin or for other valid cases. 

• The third information item, date of last contact / DLC is an optional date field.

See Section 7.7.2.3 for the format. For example, in a missing persons case, it is

the date that the person was last seen. 

• The fourth information item, date of birth / DOB, is an optional date field.

Section 7.7.2.3 for the format.

• The fifth information item is the ethnic group / EGP. It is an optional string of

50 Unicode characters used to describe the ethnic group to which the subject

belongs.

• The sixth information item is optional and indicates if dental records are available

for the subject (dental records available / DRA). This information item shall be

289 [2013a>] Added more detailed explanations concerning subjects of the transaction and subject of the

record [<2013a] 

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entered only if DSD = 0. Allowed numeric values are: 

0 = No

1 = Yes

2 = Unknown

• The optional seventh information item is the sample collection location

description / LLC. It is an optional string of up to 4000 Unicode characters. An

example is “2 centimeter x 2 centimeter x 3 centimeter deep sample cut from

tissue of leg of the unidentified body”. Another example is “Grid 3 Sector 2

Disaster site 32”.

• The eighth optional information item is the sample donor status / SDS. This

information item will include whether or not the sample donor is deceased,

missing or unknown. Allowed numeric values are: 

0 = Deceased

1 = Missing Person

2 = Unknown

Normally, this item would only be used for the sample associated with the subject

of the transaction (SDI = 0), but it could be possible to use it in other cases, such

as a hair sample from a deceased relative. It could also be 'unknown' for the

purported relative’s status, but DNA samples were available for that individual

(such as blood sample previously collected). 

8.18.7 Field 18.007: Claimed or purported relationship / COPR

This field is mandatory if the value for DSD is equal to 1. It is selected from Table 114.

It is a numeric value selected from the “Relationship code” column. 

Table 114 Relationship table

Relationship

code

Relationship

description

1 Biological child

2 Biological father

3 Biological mother

4 Biological sibling

5 Maternal relative

6 Paternal relative

7 Other / unknown

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8.18.8 Field 18.008: Validated relationship / VRS

This field is optional and is a numeric value selected from the “Relationship Code”

column of Table 114. This information item is completed based upon a comparison of

the subject’s DNA with the DNA of the person with whom the relationship is claimed or

purported. It is only filled in if DSD = 1.

8.18.9 Field 18.009: Pedigree information / PED

This optional field contains information and structure associated with the pedigree. 

• The first information item is the pedigree ID / PID. It is a character string of up

to 24 Unicode characters. It is mandatory if this field is used and it indicates the

identity of the pedigree determined and held at the laboratory that originates the

pedigree.

• The second information item is the pedigree member ID / PMI. It is a unique

reference within the pedigree. It is mandatory if this field is used. This

information item refers to the subject of the transaction. It is a character string of

up to 6 Unicode characters. This information item shall also provide the ability to

link pedigree information. 

• The third information item is the pedigree member status / PMS. It is mandatory

if this field is used. It is a single-character containing one of the following values:

[This information item refers to DNA associated with this record] : 

K = Known 

U = Unknown

• The fourth information item is the DNA sample identifier / SID for the

transaction. It is not an identifier within the pedigree chain, unlike the following

two identifiers or the PID. It is a character string of 24 Unicode characters or less.

This information item relates the sample in this record to the pedigree. 

• The fifth information item is the father identifier / FID. It is optional and is a

numeric value of 3 digits or less that is unique within the pedigree. This

information item is the father identified as related to the sample indicated in the

PMI item.

• The sixth information item is the mother identifier / MID. It is optional and is a

numeric value of 3 digits or less that is unique within the pedigree. This

information item is the mother identified as related to the sample indicated in the

PMI item.

• The seventh optional information item is the pedigree comment / PCM. It is up

to 2000 Unicode characters.

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8.18.10 Field 18.010: Sample type / STY

This mandatory field contains two information items.

• The first represents the origination cell type from where the sample was collected

(sample cellular type / SCT). It is mandatory and shall contain a numeric value

selected from the 'Cellular code' column of Table 115.

Table 115 DNA sample cellular types

Cellular code Cellular type

0 Blood

1 Bone

2 Co-mingled Biological Material

3 Hair

4 Saliva

5 Semen

6 Skin

7 Sweat or Fingerprint

8 Tissue

9 Tooth

10 Other

11 Unknown

• The second information item is the sample origin / SMO. It is an optional item of

a string of 2 alphabetic characters describing where the sample was obtained. It

contains one of the following values:

NS = Not Specified 

 WB = Whole Body

 BP = Body Part

8.18.11 Field 18.011: Sample typing information / STI

This mandatory field represents the technology utilized to type the DNA sample. A

repeating subfield shall comprise this field. Each subfield shall contain a number from the

following list:

0 = Nuclear 

(indicates presence of Field 18.016: Autosomal STR, X-STR and Y-STR / STR)

1 = mtDNA 

(indicates presence of Field 18.017: Mitochondrial DNA data / DMD)

2 = electropherogram data

(indicates presence of Field 18.019: Electropherogram description / EPD)

3 = electropherogram ladder

(indicates presence of Field 18.023: Electropherogram ladder / EPL) 

4 = user-defined profile data 

(indicates the presence of Field 18.018: DNA user-defined profile data / UDP)

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8.18.12 Field 18.012: Sample collection method / SCM

This optional field contains a description of the method used to collect the DNA sample. 

It is a character string of up to 255 Unicode characters.

8.18.13 Field 18.013: Sample collection date / SCD

This mandatory field contains the date and time that the sample was collected. See

Section 7.7.2.2 Coordinated universal time for details.

8.18.14 Field 18.014: Profile storage date / PSD

This mandatory field contains date and time the sample was stored. See Section 7.7.2.2.

8.18.15 Field 18.015: DNA profile data / DPD

This is a mandatory field. It contains information and structure associated with the DNA

profile data. It is comprised of the following information items:

• The first information item is mandatory. It is the profile type / PTP. It is a

numerical value. Allowable values are:

0 = Person (DNA sample collected from an identified or referenced individual) or

1 = Stain (DNA sample collected from an unknown human remain or piece of evidence)

• The second information item is optional and is the result / RES. It is entered with

a numeric value selected from Table 116.

Table 116 DNA result codes

Code Description

0 Unable to process

1 No hit

2 Hit

3 Hit, high/exact

4 Hit, moderate

5 Hit, low

6 Additional results / details

7 user-defined 2

8 user-defined 3

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Code Description

9 user-defined 4

10 user-defined 5

• The third information item is mandatory and is the profile ID / PRF. It is a

character string with a unique party identification. This information item is used

to uniquely identify the profile or sample for which the transaction is based. It is a

maximum of 64 Unicode characters.

• The optional fourth information item is a supplemental message / SUP. This

information item states if this transaction is a supplemental message to a previous

transmission. It is up to 100 Unicode characters.

• The optional fifth information item is a DNA profile comment / DPC. It is up to

100 Unicode characters.

8.18.16 Field 18.016: Autosomal STR, X-STR and Y-STR / STR

This optional field may be comprised of as many subfields as there are combinations of

data type and locus type reported. This field is only present if Field 18.011: Sample

typing information / STI has a subfield with the value 0.

• The first information item is mandatory. It is the DNA STR type / DST. It has

one of the following numeric values:

0 = Autosomal STR Profile

1 = X-STR Profile

2 = Y-STR Profile

• The second information item is mandatory. It is the DNA locus reference / DLR.

The current valid loci for Autosomal, Y and X-STRs are maintained by NIST and

are available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm. This

information item is an integer entry with up to 3 characters per locus.

• The third information item, allele indicator / ALL, is mandatory. It is a numeric

entry containing a zero if no allele is found. Otherwise it is filled with a 1. 

• The fourth information item is mandatory. It is the locus analysis indicator /

LAI. It is a numeric entry, containing a zero if not analyzed. Otherwise it

contains a 1.

• The fifth information item is mandatory. It is the precise call determination /

PCDT. It is a numeric entry containing a zero if the precise call cannot be

determined, due to an uncertainty in the call. Otherwise it contains a 1.

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• The sixth information item shall have a value if ALL is 1. It shall be empty if

ALL is 0. It is the allele call 1 / AL1. This is the allele call for the locus reference

as indicated by the value of DLR. It contains up to 4 characters, such as “11” or

“23.3”.

• The seventh information item is conditional upon the value of ALL being 1. It is

the allele call 2 / AL2. This is the allele call for the locus reference as indicated

by the value of DLR. It contains up to 4 characters, such as “11” or “23.3”. It may

appear only if AL1 is used; since there are cases with only one allele in a call, it is

possible that AL1 will have a value in this field and AL2 will not have a value. It

shall be empty if AL1 is empty.

• The eighth information item is optional but shall not appear unless ALL = 1. It is

the allele call 3 / AL3. This is the allele call for the locus reference DLR. It

contains up to 4 characters, such as “11” or “23.3”. This is not used for mixtures,

but is for the rare case of a tri-allele. The information item allele call 3 / AL3

shall only appear if information items AL1 and AL2 are present. 

• The ninth information item is the batch ID / BID. This optional information item

shall contain an identifier for the batch to which a locus belongs. This may be

referred to as the gel or plate identifier. A specimen may have loci from multiple

batches. The BID shall be up to 32 Unicode characters.

• The tenth information item is optional. It is called the electropherogram cross

reference / ECR and has the same value as the electropherogram image

reference / EIR from the appropriate subfield of Field 18.019:

Electropherogram description / EPD that is associated with the information in

this field and particular subfield instance (if there is such an electropherogram

present in this instance of the record). 

• The eleventh information item is optional. It is called the ladder cross reference /

LCR and has the same value as the ladder image reference / LIR from the

appropriate subfield of Field 18.023: Electropherogram ladder / EPL that is

associated with the information in this field and particular subfield instance (if

there is such a ladder present in this instance of the record).

• The twelfth information item is the kit ID / KID. This mandatory information

item contains a number that references the kit used to process the DNA described

in this record. The numeric values for specific kits are contained in the table of

kits maintained by NIST at: http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm. The

values to be entered are those in the “Reference Number” column. The KID value

shall be represented as 0 for a non-listed kit. If a non-listed kit is used (KID = 0),

then the following three290 information items are mandatory. 

• The thirteenth information item is the kit name / KNM. This is an alphanumeric

290 [2013a>] Changed wording for clarity [<2013a]

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value of up to 32 Unicode characters. KNM shall be entered if KID = 0.

• The fourteenth information item is the manufacturer / KMF. It is an

alphanumeric value of up to 32 Unicode characters. KMF shall be entered if

KID = 0.

• The fifteenth information item is the description of the kit (with part or catalog

number) / KDS. This is up to 128 Unicode characters. KDS shall be entered if

KID = 0.

8.18.17 Field 18.017: Mitochondrial DNA data / DMD

To accommodate the differences in how mtDNA types are derived (differences from

reference), the interpretation issue is avoided in this standard by dividing the control

region into 2 regions (even though HV3 exists) to ensure any insertions / deletions/ Cstretches are included.291 This method enables any receiver of the data to use it in a way

to which they are accustomed (either using the full sequence or interpreting the full

sequence according to their own methodology). The resultant data use would then be

fully consistent with the receiver’s database and enable processing. This is an optional

field, but if it is entered, all information items are mandatory. This field is only present if

Field 18.011: Sample typing information / STI has a subfield with the value 1.

• The first information item is the mito control region 1 / MT1. It is defined as

inclusive of HV1, starting at 16024 and ending at 16569. [2013n>] The string

may have up to 400 insertions [<2013n]. This string length allows for insertions

in HV1. Each character is an IUPAC value from Table 117 or a sequence

value: A, G, C or T.

• The second information item is the mito control region 2 / MT2 is defined as

inclusive of HV2 and HV3, starting at 1 and ending at 576. [2013n>] Up to 400

insertions may be specified[<2013n] . Each character is an IUPAC value from

Table 117 [2013a>] or a sequence value: A, G, C or T. [<2013a]292

• The third information item is the base composition starting point / BSP. This

entry is numeric, up to 5 digits. Starting point is the base position (rCRS) where

the primer pair starts interrogating the mitochondrial DNA.

• The fourth information item is the base composition ending point / BEP. This

entry is numeric, up to 5 digits. Ending point is the base position (rCRS) where

the primer pair stops interrogating the mitochondrial DNA.

• The fifth information item is the base composition A length / BCA. It is a

291 [2013a>] Mitochondrial DNA is a continuous circle with 16569 bases – each having a unique marker

location. These locations are numbered from 00001 to 16569. The area from 16024 through 00576 is the

most useful for analysis. Studies are often conducted using three subregions of this range: HV1 (defined

as 16024 to 16365), HV2 (defined as 00073 to 00349) and HV3 (defined as 00438 to 00574) [<2013a]

292 [2013a>] The sequence values were correctly specified in Table 112 Type-18 record layout but were

not mentioned in the text of the 2011 version [<2013a]

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numerical value of up to two digits. A represents the number of adenines in the

region being amplified.

• The sixth information item is the base composition G length / BCG. It is a

numerical value of up to two digits. G represents the number of guanines in the

region being amplified.

• The seventh information item is the base composition C length / BCC. It is a

numerical value of up to two digits. C represents the number of cytosines in the

region being amplified.

• The eighth information item is the base composition T length / BCT. It is a

numerical value of up to two digits. T represents the number of thymines in the

region being amplified.

When interrogating mtDNA, depending on primers and sequencing, the ordering of

content is impacted. 

Table 117 IUPAC DNA codes

IUPAC Code Definition

R G, A

Y T, C

M A, C

K G, T

S G, C

W A, T

H A, C, T

B G, T, C

V G, A, C

D G, A, T

N G, A, T, C

- Deletion / Gap 293

8.18.18 Field 18.018: DNA user-defined profile data / UDP

293 [2013a>] The IUPAC code is a hyphen (dash) to designate a deletion. See

www.bioinformatics.org/sms2/iupac.html Although IUPAC also allows a period to be used,

for purposes of this standard, only the hyphen (dash) is used. [<2013a]

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This optional field is user-defined, when data other than Autosomal STR, X-STR, YSTR, mtDNA or an electropherogram is included as part of the transaction. The sender

shall provide the receiver with a description of the field contents. This field is only

present if Field 18.011: Sample typing information / STI has a subfield with the value

4.

8.18.19 Field 18.019: Electropherogram description / EPD

This optional field contains a subfield for each electropherogram. This field is only

present if Field 18.011: Sample typing information / STI has a subfield with value 2.

Each subfield is comprised of the following information items, the first four of which are

mandatory if this field is used: 

• The first information item is the electropherogram image reference / EIR. It

shall contain an alphanumeric reference up to 8 characters, which is unique for

each image. If none has been assigned, enter 999. This is a unique identifier. 

• The second information item is the electropherogram storage type / EST. This

is a string of up to 4 characters, representing the file type suffix for the

electropherogram. The data is stored in “fsa”, “hid” or “----” The dashes may be

substituted with character strings for other format types as they become available.

• The third information item is the image data descriptor / IDD of the

electropherogram contained in this subfield. If the data is stored externally, enter

the filename. This is a Unicode string of up to 200 characters. An example is

“NIST Run 5 Well A06 12 Jan 11”

• The fourth information item is the electropherogram data/ ELPD. This shall be

stored in base-64 format. 

• The fifth information item is optional. It is the electropherogram screenshot /

EPS. This may be an image captured during the analysis. This shall be stored in

base-64 format. 

8.18.20 Field 18.020: DNA genotype distribution / DGD

This field contains informative genotype representation type of DNA information. It is

an optional field. The entry is numeric:

0 = Likelihood

1 = Probability

8.18.21 Field 18.021: DNA genotype allele pair / GAP

This field is only present if Field 18.020: DNA genotype distribution / DGD has a

value. It is used for low-template, mixture or stain scenarios only. It is comprised of a

repeating subfield that occurs once for each allele pair. Allele calls are captured in Field

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18.016: Autosomal STR, X-STR and Y-STR / STR. Each subfield contains the

following information items.

• The first information item is the genotype locus reference / GLR. The current

valid loci for Autosomal, Y and X-STRs are maintained by NIST and are

available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm . The GLR is a

numeric entry with up to 3 characters per locus. The maximum value of 200

listed in Table 112 is to allow for potential additions to the loci reference table. 

• The second information item is the allele pair / ALP. This is a numeric

information item containing the allele pair data of up to 9 numeric characters

separated by a comma between values. An example is “14,23.3” or “22.1,23.3”.

• The third information item is the genotype numerical weight / GNW. It is a

non-negative real number up to 5 characters (including a period) ranging from 0

to 1. An example is “0.114”.

8.18.22 Field 18.022: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

8.18.23 Field 18.023: Electropherogram ladder / EPL

This optional field contains a repeating subfield for a ladder / control sample. This field is

only present if Field 18.011: Sample typing information / STI has a subfield with the

value 3. Each subfield is comprised of the following information items, the first four of

which are mandatory if this field is used: 

• The first information item is the ladder image reference / LIR. It shall contain

an alphanumeric reference up to 8 characters, which is unique for each image. If

none has been assigned, enter 999. This is a unique identifier. 

• The second information item is the ladder storage type / LST. This is a string of

up to 4 characters, representing the file type suffix for the electropherogram. The

data is stored in “fsa”, “hid” or “----“ The dashes may be substituted with

character strings for other format types as they become available. 

• The third information item is the ladder image data descriptor / LDD of the

electropherogram contained in this subfield. If the data is stored externally, enter

the filename. This is an alphanumeric string with special characters allowed. An

example is “NIST Run 5 Well A07 12 Jan 11”

• The fourth information item is the ladder electropherogram data/ LEPD. This

shall be stored in base-64 format. 

• The fifth information item is optional. It is the ladder electropherogram

screenshot / LES. This may be an image captured during the analysis. This shall

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be stored in base-64 format. 

8.18.24 Fields 18.200-18.900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user

and be in accordance with the receiving agency.

8.18.25 Field 18.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

[2013n>]

8.18.26 Field 18.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

This is an optional field. When used, it contains the IDC value of the Type-2 record that

contains relevant biographic information and other data concerning the subject of this

instance of the record, who may be different from the subject of the transaction. See

Section 7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C. [<2013n]

8.18.27 Field 18.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 18.004: Source agency / SRC.

8.18.28 Field 18.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Record(s) Type-21. See Section 7.3.3.

8.18.29 Field 18.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

 This optional field contains the location where the DNA was acquired – not where it is 

stored. See Section 7.7.3.

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8.19 Record Type-19: Plantar image record

The Type-19 record shall contain and be used to exchange plantar print image data

together with fixed and user-defined textual information fields pertinent to the digitized

image. Information regarding the scanning resolution used, the image size, and other

parameters or comments required to process the image are recorded as fields within the

record. Plantar print images transmitted to other agencies will be processed by the recipient

agencies to extract the desired feature information required for matching purposes. Plantars

are defined in this standard to be friction ridge prints from the foot. The areas are the

individual toes, ball/inter-digital area, arch, and heel for each foot. It is recommended to

capture foot friction ridge data at 1000 ppi.

Table 118 Type-19 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

19.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

19.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

19.003 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE D N 2 2

28 < IMP < 31

[2015n>] IMP =

24, 25, 40 or 41

[<2015n]

see Table 8

1 1

19.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

19.005 PCD

PLANTAR CAPTURE 

DATE

M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.3 Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

19.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

D N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

19.007 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH D N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

19.008 SLC SCALE UNITS D N 1 1

0 < SLC < 2

integer

0 1

19.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

19.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

19.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

D AN 3 5

value from 

Table 19

Compression

codes

0 1

19.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL D N 1 2 8 < BPX < 99294 0 1

19.013 FGP

FRICTION RIDGE 

(PLANTAR) 

GENERALIZED POSITION

M N 2 2 60 < FGP < 79 1 1

19.014-

19.015

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

19.016 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

19.017 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

19.018

AMP

AMPUTATED OR 

BANDAGED

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 8

 FRAP 

 friction ridge amputated 

or bandaged 

position 

M↑ N 22

 FRAP = 61 or 62

or

64 < FRAP < 79

See Table 9

1 1

 ABC 

 amputated or bandaged 

code

M↑ A 2 2 ABC = XX or UP 1 1

294 [2013a>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

19.019

FSP 

FRICTION RIDGE – 

PLANTAR SEGMENT 

POSITION

O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 5

 FRSP

 friction ridge segment 

position

M↑ N 22

64 < FRSP < 73 

positive integer

1 1

 NOP number of points M↑ N 1 2

 3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

1 1

Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path, up to the final point - 

FOR A TOTAL OF NOP PAIRS

 HPO horizontal point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

non-negative

integer 295

3 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset M↑ N 1 5

0 < VPO < VLL

non-negative

integer 295

3 NOP

19.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

19.021 296

SEG

 PLANTAR SEGMENT

POSITION D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 17

 FRSP 

 friction ridge segment 

position

M↑ N 22

63 < FSRP < 79

integer

1 1

 LHC 

 left horizontal coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < LHC < HLL

integer 273 1 1

 RHC 

 right horizontal coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

LHC < RHC <

HLL

 integer 273

1 1

 TVC 

 top vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

0 < TVC < VLL

integer 273 1 1

 BVC 

 bottom vertical coordinate 

value

M↑ N 1 5

 TVC < BVC <

VLL

 integer 273

1 1

295 [2013n>] Upper limit changed from < to < for consistency with other record types. [<2013n]

296 [2013n>] New field added in the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

19.022-

19.023

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

19.024

FQM

FRICTION RIDGE - 

PLANTAR PRINT 

QUALITY METRIC

O 0 1

 

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 FRMP

 friction ridge metric 

position 

M↑ N 2 2

60 < FRMP < 79

positive integer

1 1

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or 255

integer

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification

M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

M↑ N 1 5

1< QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

19.025-

19.029

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

19.030 DMM

DEVICE MONITORING 

MODE

O A 7 10

values from

Table 6

0 1

19.031297

TAP

SUBJECT ACQUISITION 

PROFILE _ TOE and 

PLANTAR

O N 2 3

TAP = 70, 80, 170

or 180

0 1

19.032-

19.045

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

19.046 298

SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1 1 SSC = X, A or D 1 1

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1 SBSC = 1 or 2 0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1 SBCC = 1 or 2 0 1

19.047 298

CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

297 [2015n>] New field added in Update 2015. [<2015n]

298 [2013n>] New field for the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

19.048-

19.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITL

Not to be used

19.200 –

19.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

19.901299

 FCT

FRICTION RIDGE 

CAPTURE TECHNOLOGY

O N 1 2

FCT = 0 through

7 or 9 through

17, inclusive.

“See Table 11” 

0 1

19.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

19.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character =

M or P

any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

19.904 MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

299 [2015n>] New field for the 2015 Update. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

19.905-

19.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITL

Not to be used

19.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

19.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE300

REFERENCE

D U 1 200 none 1 1

19.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN

 associated context 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

19.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

19.997

 SOR

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP

 reference segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

19.998 GEO GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

300 [2015n>] Field 19.994 has been added to allow a print image to be in a location that can be remotely 

accessed. Field 19.999 may be used to transmit the image in the record. These two fields are mutually 

exclusive. Only one may appear in the record. However, if Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP

has a value of “UP” neither field need appear in the record. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant encoding

rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

301 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60

301 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE 

< 8848.000 

real number 301

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6

value from

Table 7

0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 302

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

301 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

302 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

19.999 DATA

PLANTAR IMAGE DATA

300 D B 1 * none 0 1

8.19.1 Field 19.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1. 

8.19.2 Field 19.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-19 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.19.3 Field 19.003: Impression type / IMP

This [2015a>] dependent [<2015a] field shall indicate the manner by which the plantar

print was obtained. See Section 7.7.4.1 for details. [2015a>] This field is mandatory if

an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA [2015n>] or referenced in

Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR [<2015n] Otherwise it is absent.” 

8.19.4 Field 19.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 19.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.19.5 Field 19.005: Plantar capture date / PCD

This mandatory field shall contain the date that the plantar biometric data contained in the

record was captured. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details.

[2015a>] Fields 19.006 through 19.012 are mandatory if an image is present. This

applies whether Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR or Field 19.999: Plantar

image / DATA (for an image transmitted in this record) is used. [<2015a]

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8.19.6 Field 19.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.19.7 Field 19.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details. Otherwise it is absent. See

Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.19.8 Field 19.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details. Otherwise it is absent. See

Section 7.7.8.3 for details. 

8.19.9 Field 19.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.Otherwise it is absent. See

Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.19.10 Field 19.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details. Otherwise it is absent. See

Section 7.7.8.5 for details.

8.19.11 Field 19.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details. It shall specify the algorithm used

to compress the transmitted grayscale images. See Table 19 Compression codes for

the labels, and Section 7.7.9.1 for a detailed description of this field.

8.19.12 Field 19.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>] or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR. [<2015n]

Otherwise it is absent. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.Otherwise it is absent. See

Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

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8.19.13 Field 19.013: Friction ridge (plantar) generalized position / FGP

This mandatory field shall contain the plantar print position that matches the plantar print 

image. Valid codes range from 60 to 79. See Table 9. See Section 7.7.4.2 for details.

8.19.14 Field 19.016: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This is an [2015n>] dependent field if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar

image / DATA or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR.

Otherwise it is absent[<2015n]. See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale /

SHPS for details.

8.19.15 Field 19.017: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This is an [2015n>] dependent field if an image is present in Field 19.999: Plantar

image / DATA or referenced in Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR.

Otherwise it is absent[<2015n]. See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale /

SVPSfor details.

8.19.16 Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP

This optional field shall specify if a foot is amputated or bandaged. Multiple subfields

may be entered and each shall contain two information items. 

• The first item is the friction ridge amputated or bandaged position / FRAP. It

shall have a value of 61 or 62 or between 64 and 79 as chosen from Table 9. This

information item is called the friction ridge amputated or bandaged position /

FRAP to differentiate it from FGP.

• The second item is the amputated or bandaged code / ABC, also known as the

AMPCD. Table 105 shows allowable indicators for the AMPCD.

[2015n>] Code SR in Table 105 is not applicable to plantar prints. [<2015n]

If an entire foot is missing, either 61 (sole and toes – right foot) or 62 (sole and toes – left

foot) shall be entered for FRAP. A partially scarred foot should be printed. XX shall be

used only when a partial print exists due to amputation; therefore it contains some friction

ridge detail. UP shall be used with the complete block where an image was to be

transmitted, but there is no image due to amputation or total lack of friction ridge detail

(such as with a bandage). An image with a scar should not be marked XX or UP. 

8.19.17 Field 19.019: Friction ridge - toe segment position(s) / FSP

This is an optional field. It describes the locations for each of the image segments of up

to five individual toes within a flat image. This field shall consist of up to five repeating

subfields, one for each segment. There need not be more than one subfield present.

Additional toes (beyond five per foot) shall be grouped together with either the big toe or

the little toe, depending upon the side of the foot upon which they appear.

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[2013a>] This field uses an n-vertex polygon to encompass each toe image segment,

where “n” is between 3 and 99. A minimum of three points is required to describe a toe

location. The order of the vertices shall be in their consecutive order around the

perimeter of the polygon, either clockwise or counterclockwise. No two vertices may

occupy the same location. The polygon side defined by the last vertex and the first

vertex shall complete the polygon. The polygon shall be a simple, plane figure with no

sides crossing and no interior holes.

This field shall consist of up to five subfields: the segmentation for each toe is

represented in a different subfield. The number of information items within each

subfield depends on the number of vertices (points).

•The first information item is called the friction ridge segment position / FRSP to

differentiate it from FGP. Valid values are from 64 to 73, inclusive. See Table

9 Friction ridge position code & recommended image dimensionsfor a

description of the codes. See Section 7.7.12.

•The second information item is the number of points / NOP. There shall be at

least 3 points (vertices) but no more than 99.

•The following two information items are repeated as pairs, with NOP pairs present

in the subfield.

• The first information item of each pair is the horizontal point offset / HPO.

It is an integer greater than or equal to zero but less than or equal to the

horizontal line length (HLL).

• The second information item of each pair is the vertical point offset / VPO.

It is an integer greater than or equal to zero but less than or equal to the

vertical line length (VLL). [<2013a] 

8.19.18 Field 19.020: Comment / COM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.4.4 for details.

[2013n>]

8.19.19 Field 19.021: Plantar segment position / SEG

This field shall only be present if FGP = 60, 61 or 62 from Table 9 as entered in Field

19.013: Friction ridge (plantar) generalized position / FGP. The subfield occurs at

least once, and may be repeated if more than one algorithm is used to segment the image.

Each subfield contains five information items. Note that this field does not restrict

segementation to toes, as does Field 19.019: Friction ridge - toe segment position(s) /

FSP.

• The first information item is the friction ridge segment position / FRSP with

values of 63 - 79, selected from Table 9. This information item is called the friction

ridge segment position / FRSP to differentiate it from FGP.

• The second information item is the left horizontal coordinate value / LHC.

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It is the horizontal offset in pixels to the left edge of the bounding box relative to the

origin positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The third information item is the right horizontal coordinate value / RHC.

It is the horizontal offset in pixels to the right edge of the bounding box relative to

the origin positioned in the upper left corner of the image.

• The fourth information item is the top vertical coordinate value / TVC. It is

the vertical offset (pixel counts down) to the top of the bounding box.

• The fifth information item is the bottom vertical coordinate value / BVC.

It is the vertical offset from the upper left corner of the image down to the bottom of

the bounding box. It is counted in pixels.

[<2013n]

8.19.20 Field 19.024: Friction ridge - plantar print quality metric / FQM

This optional field is used to specify one or more different metrics of plantar print image

quality score data for the image stored in this record. Each subfield is comprised of four

information items. 

• The first information item shall be the friction ridge metric position / FRMP for

the image stored in this record. Valid codes range from 60 to 79. See Table 9. 

• See Section 7.7.7 for a description of the remaining three information items.

8.19.21 Field 19.030: Device monitoring mode / DMM

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.3 for details.

[2015n>]

8.19.22 Field 19.031: Subject acquisition profile – toe and plantar print / 

TAP

This optional field lists the TAP levels associated with plantar print acquisition

devices. See Section 7.7.5.5 for details. 

[<2015n]

[2013n>]

8.19.23 Field 19.046: Image subject condition / SUB

This field is optional. There may be different values for SUB in different instances of

Type-19 records. For example, some images may have been acquired antemortem,

while others were accquired post-mortem. This field describes the condition of the

subject at the time of imaging. 

SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

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• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

X = Status of individual unknown

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or 

person unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased)

• The second information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to indicate whether the

information relates to an entire corpse or a separate body part. The numeric

value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code/ SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

8.19.24 Field 19.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

19.004: Source agency / SRC and Field 19.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. For example:

• The friction ridge prints are taken from a decedent's body in a morgue. The

coroner's office or medical examiner's office would be CON.

• The local police department that could create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2011 conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in

Field 19.004: Source agency / SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in

Field 19.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke

Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final transmitting

organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI. Its

name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN in Field 1.017: Agency

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names / ANM.

 [<2013n]

8.19.25 Fields 19.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-defined fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user 

and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

8.19.26 Field 19.901: Friction ridge capture technology / FCT

[2015n>] This is an optional field. It is a one or two-digit code signifying the type of

technology that was used to capture the print for transmission. See Section 7.7.4.5 for

more detail and the meanings of the codes. For plantar prints conveyed in Type-19

records, the only valid codes are: 0 through 7, inclusive or 9 through 17, inclusive.

[<2015n]

8.19.27 Field 19.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.19.28 Field 19.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.19.29 Field 19.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.19.30 Field 19.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 19.004: Source agency / SRC. 

[2015n>]

8.19.31 Field 19.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field may be used to enter the URL/URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for an image, if the data is not contained in Field 19.999: Plantar image /

DATA. If this field is used, Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA shall not be used in

the record. It is highly recommended that the user state the format of the external file in

Field 19.020: Comment / COM. Neither Field 19.994 nor Field 19.999 need appear

when Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP has a value of “UP”. 

[<2015n]

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8.19.32 Field 19.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. See

Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the

biometric data in Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA but that may be relevant to the

collection of that data, such as general scenes of the area where the body of the subject

was found.

8.19.33 Field 19.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 19.999: Plantar 

image / DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.19.34 Field 19.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN. 

8.19.35 Field 19.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the plantar sample was acquired – not 

where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.19.36 Field 19.999: Plantar image / DATA

[2015n>]This conditional field, if present, contains the plantar print image. If Field

19.994: External file reference / EFR is present in this record, then this field shall not

appear. See Section 7.2 for details. Neither Field 19.994 nor Field 19.999 need appear

when Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP has a value of “UP”. [<2015n]

Some domains and application profiles may still require an image in this field (such as

the word “Amputated”). [<2015n]

8.20 Record Type-20: Source Representation record

New to the 2011 version of the standard, the Type-20 record contains the source

representation(s) from which other Record Types were derived. Examples are an image of

multiple latent prints, of which one or more is of interest. Those would be segmented and

prepared for sending in a Type-13 record. An audio/visual record may provide both facial

images for Type-10 record. They are many more occasions when it might be

appropriate to use a Type-20 record. 

Table 119 Type-20 record layout

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

20.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

20.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

integer

1 1

 20.003 CAR SRN CARDINALITY M A 1 1 CAR = S, D, or M 1 1

20.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * None 1 1

20.005 SRD

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION

DATE

O

 See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

 See Section

7.7.2.4 Local date

& time

encoding

specific: see

Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

20.006 HLL

HORIZONTAL LINE 

LENGTH

D N 2 5

10 < HLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

20.007 VLL

VERTICAL LINE 

LENGTH

D N 2 5

10 < VLL < 99999

positive integer

0 1

20.008 SLC SCALE UNITS D N 1 1

SLC = 0, 1 or 2

integer

0 1

20.009 THPS

TRANSMITTED 

HORIZONTAL PIXEL 

SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

20.010 TVPS

TRANSMITTED 

VERTICAL PIXEL 

SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

20.011 CGA

COMPRESSION 

ALGORITHM

D AN 3 5

value from 

Table 19

Compression

codes

0 1

20.012 BPX BITS PER PIXEL D N 1 2 8 < BPX < 99303 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

20.013 CSP COLOR SPACE D A 3 4

value from 

Table 28

0 1

20.014

AQS ACQUISITION SOURCE M 1 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M 1 9

 AQT

 acquisition source 

type

M N 1 2

value from 

Table 121

1 1

 A2D

 analog to digital 

conversion

D U 1 200 none 0 1

 FDN

 radio transmission

format description

D U 1 200 none 0 1

 AQSC

 acquisition special 

characteristics

O U 1 200 none 0 1

20.015

SFT

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

FORMAT

M 1 1

 FTY file type M U 3 6 none 1 1

 DEI decoding instructions O U 1 1000 none 0 1

20.016 SEG SEGMENTS O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 99

 RSP

 reference segment 

position M↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

1 1

 IPT

 internal file reference 

pointer M↑ ANS 1 15 none 1 1

 NOP number of points O↑ N 1 2

3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

0 1

 Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path, up to the final point – 

for a total of NOP pairs 

 HPO horizontal point offsetD

N

1 5

0 < HPO < HLL

non-negative

integer 304

0 NOP

 VPO vertical point offsetD

N 1 50 < VPO < VLL

non-negative

integer 304

0 NOP

303 [2013a>] Specific bounds added for clarity [<2013a]

304 [2013n>] Upper limit changed from < to < for consistency with other record types. [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

20.017 SHPS

SCANNED HORIZONTAL

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

20.018 SVPS

SCANNED VERTICAL 

PIXEL SCALE

D N 1 5 positive integer 0 1

20.019 TIX TIME INDEX D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 99

 TIS time index start M↑ NS 12 12

TIS > zero time

index

(00:00:00.000)

305

1 1

 TIE time index end M↑ NS 12 12 TIE > TIS 1 1

20.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

20.021 SRN

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

NUMBER

M N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

20.022 ICDR

IMAGE CAPTURE DATE 

RANGE ESTIMATE

D AN 29

time measure

indicator followed

by 1 or 2 digits.

May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y

year, M month, D

day 

0 1

20.023 –

20.099

RESERVED FOR

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

20.100-

20.900 UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

20.901

RESERVED FOR

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

20.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

305 [2013a>] Changed from TIS > 0 for clarity. [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

20.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character

 = M or P

any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

20.904 MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

20.905 -

20.992 RESERVED FOR

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

20.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

20.994

EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE D U 1 200 none 0 1

20.995

ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 255

 ACN associated context 

number

M↑ N 1 3 1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

20.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

20.997

RESERVED FOR

FUTURE USE ONLY BY

ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used

20.998

GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION 

LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal

time – UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

306 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1

8

163 0 < LGS < 60

306 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000<

ELE <

8848.000 

real number

306

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from 

Table 7

0 1

306 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 307

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate 

other system 

identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate 

other system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

20.999 DATA

SOURCE REPRESENTATION DATA

D B 1 * none 0 1

8.20.1 Field 20.001: Record Header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1.

8.20.2 Field 20.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-20 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.20.3 Field 20.003: SRN cardinality / CAR

This mandatory field indicates how this record is being used, with a value from Table

120 CAR values. It describes the cardinality: one to one (S), one to many (D), or manyto-one (M) of how the source representation record relates to other record(s) within the

transaction. 

Table 120 CAR values

307 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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Value Description

S The representation in this Type-20 record is the source of another Type-20 record

D The representation in this Type-20 record is the source of one or more biometric type 

records, excluding Type-4 and Type-9, which have been derived from it

M A single biometric type record, excluding Type-4 and Type-9, has been prepared 

from multiple Type-20 records

8.20.4 Field 20.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be

entered in Field 20.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.20.5 Field 20.005: Source representation date / SRD

This optional field shall contain the date and time that the source representation contained

in the record was captured. See Section 7.7.2.4 Local date and time for details.

[2013n>] It may not be possible to know the exact date of imagery capture. [2015e>]In

such a case, specify the date to the level known. For traditional encoding, fill the

unknown portions of the date with zeros. For XML, use a date element with the correct

level of precision.308 [<2015e] Field 20.022: Imagery capture date range estimate/

ICDR should be used in conjunction with this field. [<2013n]

8.20.6 Field 20.006: Horizontal line length / HLL

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record.

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.1 for details.

8.20.7 Field 20.007: Vertical line length / VLL

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.2 for details.

8.20.8 Field 20.008: Scale units / SLC

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.3 for details.

8.20.9 Field 20.009: Transmitted horizontal pixel scale / THPS

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

308 [2015e>] Fixed and harmonized encoding guidance in accordance with section 7.7.2.3. [<2015e]

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Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.4 for details.

8.20.10 Field 20.010: Transmitted vertical pixel scale / TVPS

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.5 for details. 

8.20.11 Field 20.011: Compression algorithm / CGA

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.9 for details.

8.20.12 Field 20.012: Bits per pixel / BPX

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.6 for details.

8.20.13 Field 20.013: Color space / CSP

This field is mandatory if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record. 

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.10.3 for details.

8.20.14 Field 20.014: Acquisition source / AQS

This mandatory field shall specify and describe the acquisition source. The following 

information items may be repeated for up to 9 sources. 

• The first information item, Acquisition source type / AQT, is mandatory and it

shall be a numeric entry selected from the “attribute code’ column of Table 121.

Table 121 Acquisition source

Acquisition source type Attribute

code

Type 309

Unspecified or unknown 0 ?

Static digital image from an unknown source 1 2D Image

Static digital image from a digital still-image camera 2 2D Image

Static digital image from a scanner 3 2D Image

Single video frame from an unknown source 4 2D Image

Single video frame from an analog video camera 5 2D Image

309 [2013a>] Column added for clarity, particularly in determining whether to use Fields 20.006 through

20.013. Note that “?” indicates that the code in and of itself does not indicate the data type. The user

should have more detailed knowledge of the data format to properly categorize it. [<2013a]

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Acquisition source type Attribute

code

Type 

Single video frame from a digital video camera 6 2D Image

Video sequence from an unknown source 7 Video

Video sequence from an analog video camera, stored in analog format 8 Video

Video sequence from an analog video camera, stored in digital format 9 Video

Video sequence from a digital video camera 10 Video

Computer screen image capture 11 2D Image

Analog audio recording device; stored in analog form (such as a 

phonograph record)

12 Audio

Analog audio recording device; converted to digital 13 Audio

Digital audio recording device 14 Audio

Landline telephone – both sender and receiver 15 Audio

Mobile telephone – both sender and receiver 16 Audio

Satellite telephone – both sender and receiver 17 Audio

Telephone – unknown or mixed sources 18 Audio

Television – NSTC 19 Video

Television – PAL 20 Video

Television - Other 21 Video

Voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) 22 Audio

Radio transmission: short-wave (specify single side band or 

continuous wave in FDN)

23 Audio

Radio transmission: amateur radio (specify lower side band or 

continuous wave in FDN)

24 Audio

Radio transmission: FM (87.5 MHz to 108 MHz) 25 Audio

Radio transmission: long-wave (150 kHz to 519 kHz) 26 Audio

Radio transmission: AM (570 kHz to 1720 kHz) 27 Audio

Radio transmission: Aircraft frequencies 28 Audio

Radio transmission: Ship and coastal station frequencies 29 Audio

Vendor specific capture format 30 ?

Other 31 ?

• The second information item is mandatory if the acquisition source is analog, and

the data is stored in digital format. It is a text field, analog to digital

conversion / A2D, that describes the analog to digital equipment used to

transform the source. This field should address parameters used, such as sample

rate, if known. 

• The third information item is mandatory if the AQT is 23 or 24. It is a text field,

radio transmission format description / FDN. It is optional for other radio

transmission codes.

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• The fourth information item is optional. It is a free text field, acquisition special

characteristics / AQSC that is used to describe any specific conditions not

mentioned in the table. An example would be a near-infrared camera outputting

images in visible wavelengths.

8.20.15 Field 20.015: Source representation format / SFT

This is a mandatory field comprised of two information items. 

• The first information item is mandatory. It is file type / FTY. If the source

representation is a digital file, this shall contain the suffix indicating the file type

(such as JPG). If it is an analog file, enter ‘ANALOG’. For digital data stored in

other formats (such as digital tape), enter ‘OTHER’. 

• The second information item is decoding instructions / DEI. It is optional and

contains free text up to 1000 characters.

8.20.16 Field 20.016: Segments / SEG

This optional field shall consist of a subfield for each segment of a 2D image to be

defined. Each subfield consists of a series of information items. See Section 7.7.12.2.

8.20.17 Field 20.017: Scanned horizontal pixel scale / SHPS

This field is optional if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record.

Otherwise it shall be omitted. See Section 7.7.8.7 Scanned horizontal pixel scale /

SHPS for details. 

8.20.18 Field 20.018: Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

This field is optional if a 2D still image is contained in this instance of the record.

Otherwise it shall be omitted . See Section 7.7.8.8 Scanned vertical pixel scale / SVPS

for details. 

8.20.19 Field 20.019: Time index / TIX

This is a conditional field. If the record contains video or audio, it shall contain the start

and end times of segments within the file. For instance, if AQT has a value between 1

and 7 or equal to 11, this field would not be used. See Section 7.7.2.5 for details

8.20.20 Field 20.020: Comment / COM

This optional field may be used to insert comments or other text information with the

representation data. See Section 7.4.4.

8.20.21 Field 20.021: Source representation number / SRN

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This mandatory field contains a reference number for the source representation stored in

this record. Note that the segment references are contained in Field 20.016: Segments /

SEG if they exist. The value for SRN in Field 20.021 corresponds to the SRN that may

be referenced as the first information item in the SOR field of other Record Types. See

Section 7.3.2. The SRN is a positive integer that uniquely refers to a particular instance

of Record Type-20. It is an integer, numbered sequentially beginning at one and

incremented for each instance of Record Type-20.

[2013n>] 

8.20.22 Field 20.022: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR

This is the amount of time (plus and minus) of which SRD is the center point during

which the image data could have been originally collected. In Traditional format,it is

entered in the format as Y

yyMmmDdd

. It is possible to enter only a year, month and/or

day range, such as D5, meaning that the actual date of collection is estimated to be 5

days plus or minus from that specified in SRD. Leading zeros need not be entered.

[<2013n]

[2015a>]For XML implementations, this element is represented using an XML duration

type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that there is a date value range

and T indicates that there is a time value range. Under P, nY is the number of years,

nM is the numbers of months, nD is the number of days. Under T, nH is the number of

hours, nM is the number of minutes, and nS is the number of seconds. [<2015a]

8.20.23 Field 20.100-900: User-defined fields / UDF

The size and content shall be defined by the user and be in accordance with the receiving 

agency.

8.20.24 Field 20.902: Annotation information / ANN

This optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order to

prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.20.25 Field 20.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.20.26 Field 20.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.20.27 Field 20.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the

agency referenced in Field 20.004: Source agency / SRC.

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8.20.28 Field 20.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL / URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for all source representations, if the data is not contained in Field 20.999.

If this field is used, Field 20.999 shall not be set. However, one of the two fields shall be

present in all instances of this record type. A non-URL reference might be similar to:

“Case 2009:1468 AV Tape 5”. It is highly recommended that the user state the format of

the external file in Field 20.020: Comment / COM.

8.20.29 Field 20.995: Associated context / ASC

This is an optional field. See Section 7.3.3 for details.

8.20.30 Field 20.996: Hash/ HAS

This is an optional field. It shall contain the hash value of the source representation in the

external file reference in Field 20.994: External file reference / EFR or the 2D still

image or other biometric data in Field 20.999: Source representation data / DATA of

this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.20.31 Field 20.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the original source was acquired – not 

where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.20.32 Field 20.999: Source representation data / DATA

If this field is used, Field 20.994: External file reference / EFR shall not be set.

However, one of the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. See

Section 7.2 for details concerning this field entry. In Traditional format, this field shall be

the last field in the record layout. 

8.21 Record Type-21: Associated context record

The Type-21 record contains an associated context record. This information does NOT

contain information used to derive biometric information contained in other records.

Record Type-20 serves that function. Record Type-21 may be used to convey contextual

information, such as an image of the area where latent fingerprints were captured.

Table 122 Type-21 record layout

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

21.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

21.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

 integer

1 1

 21.003

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITL

Not to be used

21.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

21.005 ACD

ASSOCIATED CONTEXT

DATE

O

 See Section 7.7.2.4

Local date & time

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

 See Section

7.7.2.4 Local date

& time

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

21.006 310

 MDI

MEDICAL DEVICE 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 *

 TYP type of device O↑ U 1 500 none 0 1

 MFG device manufacturer O↑ U 1 500 none 0 1

 MAK device make O↑ U 1 500 none 0 1

 MOD device model O↑ U 1 500 none 0 1

 SER device serial number O↑ U 1 500 none 0 1

 COM comments O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

21.007 –

21.014

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.015 AFT ASSOCIATED CONTEXT 

FORMAT

M 1 1

310 [2013n>] New field added in the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 FTY file type M U 3 6 none 1 1

 DEI decoding instructions O U 1 1000 none 0 1

21.016

SEG SEGMENTS O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 99

 ASP

 associated segment 

position M↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

1 1

 IPT

 internal file reference 

pointer M↑ ANS 1 15 none 1 1

 NOP number of points O↑ N 1 2

3 < NOP < 99

positive integer

0 1

 

 Note: The following two information items are repeated as pairs, in order by point following the path, up to the final point – 

 for a total of NOP pairs 

 HPO horizontal point offset D N 1 5

non-negative

integer 0 NOP

 VPO vertical point offset D N 1 5

non-negative

integer 0 NOP

21.017-

21.018

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.019

TIX TIME INDEX D 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 99

 TIS time index start M↑ NS 12 12

TIS > zero time

index

(00:00:00.000)

311

1 1

 TIE time index end M↑ NS 12 12 TIE > TIS 1 1

21.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 126 none 0 1

21.021 ACN

ASSOCIATED CONTEXT 

NUMBER M N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

21.022 312

 ICDR

IMAGE CAPTURE DATE 

RANGE ESTIMATE

D AN 29

time measure

indicator followed

by 1 or 2 digits.

May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y

year, M month, D

day 

0 1

311 [2013a>] Changed from TIS > 0 for clarity [<2013a]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

21.023-

21.045

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.046 312

SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1 1 SSC = X, A or D 1 1

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1 SBSC = 1 or 2 0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1 SBCC = 1, 2, or 3 0 1

21.047 312

CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

21.048

-21.099

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.100-

21.900 UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined 

21.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 Unlimited

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑ See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1

*

none 1 1

312 [2013n>] New field for the 2013 Update [<2013n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

21.903 –

21.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

21.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE D U 1 200 none 0 1

21.995

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

21.997

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

21.998 GEO GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑ See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section

7.7.2.2 Greenwich

Mean Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

313 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1

8

163

0 < LGS < 60

164 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE 

< 8848.000 

real number 313

0 1

313 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6

value from

Table 7

0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 314

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

21.999 DATA

ASSOCIATED CONTEXT

DATA 

D B 1 * none 0 1

8.21.1 Field 21.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding. See Section 7.1.

8.21.2 Field 21.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-21 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.21.3 Field 21.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be

entered in Field 21.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.21.4 Field 21.005: Associated context date / ACD

314 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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This optional field shall contain the date and time that the context representation

contained in the record was captured. See Section 7.7.2.4 local date and time for details.

[2013n>] It may not be possible to know the exact date of imagery capture. [2015e>]In

such a case, specify the date to the level known. For traditional encoding, fill the

unknown portions of the date with zeros. For XML, use a date element with the correct

level of precision.315[<2015e] Field 21.022: Imagery capture date range estimate/

ICDR should be used in conjunction with this field. [<2013n]

[2013n>]

8.21.5 Field 21.006: Medical device information / MDI

This field is designed to allow the transmission of information concerning medically

implanted devices or devices used by an individual externally that may be discovered in

or on unknown deceased and may assist in the person's identification. Each subfield is

comprised of six information items, any combination of which may be entered. Each

subfield describes a single device (such as a pacemaker or an artificial knee). See

Section 7.7.1.4

• The first information item is the type of device / TYP. It is optional. A

typical entry may be 'metal plate in right arm' or 'external leg brace for left

leg'.

• The second information item is the device manufacturer / MFG. It is

optional.

• The third information item is the device make / MAK. It is optional.

• The fourth information item is the device model / MOD. It is optional.

• The fifth information item is the device serial number / SER. It is optional.

• The sixth information item is optional. It is any comment / COM

concerning the device. [<2013n]

8.21.6 Field 21.015: Associated context format / AFT

This is a mandatory field comprised of two information items. 

•The first information item is mandatory. It is file type / FTY. If the associated

context file is a digital file, this shall contain the suffix indicating the file type.

If it is an analog file, enter ‘ANALOG’. [2013a> For digital data stored in

formats (such as digital tape) that do not have computer file names and suffixes,

enter ‘OTHER’. Examples of suffixes indicating file types are: WAV and TXT.

There are many file extensions in common use, depending upon the type of data.

[<2013a]

• The second information item is decoding instructions / DEI. It is optional and

contains free text up to 1000 characters.

315 [2015e>] Fixed and harmonized encoding guidance in accordance with section 7.7.2.3. [<2015e]

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8.21.7 Field 21.016: Segments / SEG

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.12.2 for details.

8.21.8 Field 21.019: Time index / TIX

This field is mandatory for records containing video or audio, but not 2D still images.

See Section 7.7.2.5 for details.

8.21.9 Field 21.020: Comment / COM

This optional field may be used to insert comments or other text information with the

representation data. See Section 7.4.4.

8.21.10 Field 21.021: Associated context number / ACN

This mandatory field contains a reference number for the context representation stored in

this record. Note that the segment references are contained in Field 21.016: Segments /

SEG, if they exist. This number corresponds to the ACN that may be referenced as the

first information item in the ASC field of other Record Types. See Section 7.3.3.

The ACN is a positive integer that uniquely refers to a particular instance of Record

Type-21. It is a positive integer, numbered sequentially beginning at one and

incremented for each instance of Record Type-21.

[2013n>]

8.21.11 Field 21.022: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR

This is the amount of time (plus and minus) of which ACD is the center point during

which the image data could have been originally collected. In Traditional format, it is

entered in the format as Y

yyMmmDdd

. It is possible to enter only a year, month and/or

day range, such as D5, meaning that the actual date of collection is estimated to be 5

days plus or minus from that specified in ACD. Leading zeros need not be entered. 

[2015a>] For XML implementations, this element is represented using an XML

duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that there is a date

value range and T indicates that there is a time value range. Under P, nY is the number

of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the number of days. Under T, nH is the

number of hours, nM is the number of minutes, and nS is the number of seconds.

[<2015a]

8.21.12 Field 21.046: Image subject condition / SUB

This field is optional. TThere may be different values for SUB in different instances of

Type-14 records. For example, some images may have been acquired antemortem,

while others were accquired post-mortem. This field describes the condition of the

subject at the time of imaging. 

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SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

X = Status of individual unknown

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or 

person unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person

• The second information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to indicate whether the

information relates to an entire corpse or a separate body part. The numeric

value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code/ SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

3 = Skeletal

8.21.13 Field 21.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

21.004: Source agency / SRC and Field 21.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. For example,

• The organization that traced the information about an implanted medical

device for Field 21.006: Medical device information / MDI would be

CON.

• The local police department could create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in Field

21.004: Source agency / SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in Field

21.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final transmitting

organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI. Its

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name may be entered in Originating agency name /OAN in Field 1.017: Agency

names / ANM.

 [<2013n]

8.21.14 Fields 21.100 through 21.900: User-defined fields

Individual fields shall conform to the specifications set forth by the agency to which the

transmission is being sent, to the domain listed in Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM,

the application profiles listed in Field 1.016: Application profile specifications / APS

and to the requirements specified in Section 5.1.

8.21.15 Field 21.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, describing the operations performed on the data contained in this

record. See Section 7.4.1. 

8.21.16 Field 21.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the

agency referenced in Field 21.004: Source agency / SRC. 

8.21.17 Field 21.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL / URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for all associated context files EXCEPT 2D still images. If this field is

used, Field 21.999: Associated context data / DATA shall not be set. However, one of

the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. It is an alphanumeric

entry, with special characters allowed. A non-URL reference might be similar to: “Case

2009:1468 AV Tape 5”. It is highly recommended that the user state the format of the

external file in Field 21.020: Comment / COM.

8.21.18 Field 21.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the context representation in the

external file reference in Field 21.994: External file reference / EFR or the 2D still

image or other data stored in Field 21.999: Associated context data / DATA of this

record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.21.19 Field 21.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the context information was acquired –

not where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

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8.21.20 Field 21.999: Associated context data / DATA

If this field is used, Field 21.994: External file reference / EFR shall not be set.

However, one of the two fields shall be present in all instances of this record type. See

Section 7.2 for details on this field entry. It is mandatory for a 2D still image.

[2013d>]

8.22 Record Type-22: Non-photographic imagery data record

The Type-22 record shall contain and be used to exchange imagery that is not standard

2D photography captured with a camera using visible light. Those types of images are

placed in a Type-10 record. Note that 2D iris images are handled in Type-17 records

and 2D friction ridge images in Type-4, Type-13, Type-14, Type-15 and Type-19

records; they should not be included in a Type-22 record. Original Source images are

handled in Type-20 records and Associated context images in Type-21, regardless of

the format.

The Type-22 record type may be used in conjunction with the Type-12 record for

transmission of imagery stored using DICOM316. Specialized medical imagery used for

3D printing of cast models is another example of data that may be transmitted using this

record type317. It can also transmit scanned radiographs, as commonly used in dentistry.

Table 123 Type-22 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

22.001 RECORD HEADER M

Encoding specific; See

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

Encoding specific;

See Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

22.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

non-negative

integer

1 1

316 DICOM stands for “Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine” and is a standard used in

medical imagery. It is issued by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). 

317 The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) states : “Digital model files must be one of three 

universal file formats: PLY, STL, or OBJ.” in The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) Digital Model

Requirements. It is available at https://www.americanboardortho.com/media/1157/abo-digital-modelrequirements.pdf

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

22.003 ICD IMAGE CAPTURE DATE O

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

0 1

22.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

22.005 ICDR

IMAGE CAPTURE DATE 

RANGE ESTIMATE

D AN 2 9

time measure

indicator followed

by 1 or 2 digits.

May be

concatenated, with

larger time units

first. Units: Y year,

M month, D day 

0 1

22.006 BIC BODY IMAGE CODE O AS 4 11

value from

Table 71 Type-10

image types

1 1

22.007-

22.019

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

22.020 COM COMMENT O U 1 * none 0 1

22.021-

22.045

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

22.046

SUB 

IMAGE SUBJECT 

CONDITION

O 0 1

 SSC subject status code M↑ A 1 1 SSC = X, A or D 1 1

 SBSC subject body status code D N 1 1 SBSC = 1 or 2 0 1

 SBCC subject body class code D N 1 1 SBCC = 1, 2, or 3 0 1

22.047 CON

CAPTURE 

ORGANIZATION NAME

O U 1 1000 none 0 1

22.048-

22.100

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

22.101 ITYP

NON-PHOTOGRAPHIC 

IMAGERY TYPE CODE

M U 1 *

Code values from

Table 124

1 1

22.102 IFMT

NON-PHOTOGRAPHIC 

IMAGERY DATA 

FORMAT CODE

M U 1 * none 1 1

22.103 DRID

DENTAL RADIOGRAPH 

IMAGE DATA

D 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 RGS radiograph size M↑ NS 3 30

Valid code from

ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1058,

Section 12.5

(integers and

periods are in the

codes) 

1 1

 RIS radiograph image series M↑ NS 3 30

Valid code from

ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1058,

Section 12.6

(integers and

periods are in the

codes) 

1 1

RIIS

 radiograph image in series 

text

O↑ U 1 50 none 0 1

RIIT

radiograph image information 

text

O↑ U 1 * none 0 1

22.104-

22.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

22.200-

22.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

22.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

22.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1 * none 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

22.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

 = M or P

any character with

type A, N or S in

Table 128

Character

encoding set values

0 1

22.904

MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

22.905-

22.991

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

22.992 T2C

 TYPE-2 RECORD CROSS 

REFERENCE

O N 1 2

0 < T2C < 99

non-negative

integer

0

1

22.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

22.994 EFR

EXTERNAL FILE 

REFERENCE D U 1 200 none 0 1

22.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of

information items

M↑ 1 255

 ACN

 associated context 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

22.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

22.997

 SOR

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP

 reference segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

22.998 GEO GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION 

LOCATION

O 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints 

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8 0 < LTS < 60 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8 0 < LGS < 60 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000 < ELE <

8848.000

real number

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6 value from Table 7 0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a single

letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate 

other system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate 

other system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

22.999 DATA

MEDICAL IMAGE DATA 

BLOCK

D Base64 1 * none 0 1

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8.22.1 Field 22.001: Record header

This field is mandatory. See Section 7.1 Record header.

8.22.2 Field 22.002: Information Designation Character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-22 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.22.3 Field 22.003: Imagery capture date / ICD

This is [2015e>] an optional [<2015e] field. See Section 7.7.2.3 for details. It may not

be possible to know the exact date of imagery capture. [2015e>]In such a case, specify

the date to the level known. For traditional encoding, fill the unknown portions of the

date with zeros. For XML, use a date element with the correct level of precision.318

[<2015e] Field 22.005: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR should be used

in conjunction with this field. 

8.22.4 Field 22.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be

entered in Field 22.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.22.5 Field 22.005: Imagery capture date range estimate/ ICDR

This is the amount of time (plus and minus) of which ICD is the center point during

which the image data could have been originally collected. In Traditional format, it is

entered in the format as Y

yyMmmDdd

. It is possible to enter only a year, month and/or

day range, such as D5, meaning that the actual date of collection is estimated to be 5

days plus or minus from that specified in ICD. Leading zeros need not be entered. 

[2015a>] For XML implementations, this element is represented using an XML

duration type with the format PnYnMnDTnHnMnS, P indicates that there is a date

value range and T indicates that there is a time value range. Under P, nY is the number

of years, nM is the numbers of months, nD is the number of days. Under T, nH is the

number of hours, nM is the number of minutes, and nS is the number of seconds.

[<2015a]

8.22.6 Field 22.006: Body image code / BIC

This optional field may be used to indicate the type of image contained in this record, if

this record contains an image of a human body. It shall contain a character string from

the “Image Code” column of Table 71 Type-10 image types to indicate the appropriate

image type. 

318 [2015e>] Fixed and harmonized encoding guidance in accordance with section 7.7.2.3. [<2015e]

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For instance, if an X-Ray image of a chest is to be transmitted, BIC = CHEST. For

dental radiographs, BIC = INTRAORAL and Field 22.103: Dental radiograph image

data / DRID shall be contained in the record.

8.22.7 Field 22.020: Comment / COM

This optional field may be used to insert comments or other text information with the

representation data. See Section 7.4.4.

8.22.8 Field 22.046: Image subject condition / SUB

This field is optional. There may be different values for SUB in different instances of

Type-14 records. For example, some images may have been acquired antemortem,

while others were accquired post-mortem. This field describes the condition of the

subject at the time of imaging. 

SUB is comprised of the following information items: 

• The first information item is mandatory if this field is present. It is subject

status code / SSC. Possible entries are:

X = Status of individual unknown

A = Data obtained from a living person – such as a victim or 

person unable to identify themselves

D = Data obtained from a non-living person (deceased) 

• The second information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body status code / SBSC. Its purpose is to indicate whether the

information relates to an entire corpse or a separate body part. The numeric

value is selected from the descriptors below:

1 = Whole

2 = Fragment

• The third information item shall be entered if and only if SSC is D. It is

subject body class code/ SBCC. The numeric value is selected from the

descriptors below:

1 = Natural Tissue

2 = Decomposed

3 = Skeletal

8.22.9 Field 22.047: Capture organization name / CON

This field is optional. Note that this can be different from the agency entered in Field

22.004: Source agency / SRC and Field 22.993: Source agency name / SAN. SRC

and SAN describe the agency that created the record. Since the record may have been

forwarded by another agency to the final destination, Field 1.008: Originating agency

identifier / ORI is used to indicate the transmitting organization. See Section 7.6 for

details about SRC, SAN, and ORI. This field is not needed if the transmitted

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information (for instance in DICOM) contains the capture organization information. 

• The x-ray of the subject's spine (showing scoliosis) was taken at a medical

office two years ago – and now could be used for possible identification of a

body following a disaster. That office is entered as the CON.

• The local police department that would create the actual ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2011 conformant record. Such an organization’s code would be entered in

Field 22.004: Source agency / SRC (for example NA54-X) and its name in

Field 22.993: Source agency name / SAN (for example New Artichoke

Police).

In many implementation domains, there are a limited number of transmission

organizations that can send data. Therefore, the agency listed in SRC may send the

transaction to another location that has access rights to the final destination. This

intermediary may add information to the transaction, as well. The final transmitting

organization code is listed in Field 1.008: Originating agency identifier / ORI. Its

name may be entered in Originating agency name / OAN in Field 1.017: Agency

names / ANM.

8.22.10 Field 22.101: Non-photographic imagery type code / ITYP

This is a mandatory field. If the code for the particular image type is listed in the

following table, enter that code. If it is not listed, enter a description of the image type.

Table 124 Type-22 image types

Description Code

Radiographs (X-rays) XRAY

Sonogram Sonogram

CT Scan CT

Cone Beam CONE

Magnetic Resonance Image MRI

3D Cast Model 3DCM

Infrared IR

Ultraviolet UV

Multiple (such as is possible in a DICOM record) Multiple

Other Enter description

8.22.11 Field 22.102: Non-photographic imagery data format code / 

IFMT

This is a mandatory field. It describes the format of the data contained in Field 22.999:

Imagery data block / DATA or Field 22.994: External file reference / EFR. DICOM

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is a commonly used medical imaging data format. Cast data (such as used for 3D

printing of models of a patient's dentition by othodontists) are often in PLY or STL

format. If specific parameters were chosen to store / save the data that could affect the

use or interpretation of the data, they should be stated. It is recommended that the

system / algorithm / and version that generated the data be listed, if known. 

8.22.12 Field 22.103: Dental radiograph image data / DRID

This field contains information specific to dental radiographic imagery. It shall appear

if and only if BIC = INTRAORAL and ITYP = XRAY.

• The first information item is the radiograph size / RGS. It is mandatory.

Any code value in Section 12.5 of the ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1058 may be

entered. Note that only one value may be entered. Each image requires a

separate record within the transaction.

• The second information item is mandatory. It is the radiograph image series

/ RIS. It is mandatory and any code value in Section 12.6 of the ANSI/ADA

Standard No. 1058 may be entered.

• The third information item is optional. It is the radiograph image in series

text / RIIS. This is used to specify which individual image in a particular

series. This is a text field of up to 50 characters.

• The fourth information item is optional. It is the radiograph image

information text/ RIIT. This is a Unicode free text information item. It

should contain the practitioner’s name, address and telephone or other

contact information. This corresponds to code 12.6.13 of the ANSI/ADA

Standard 1058, but also allows additional explanatory text, such as any

unique features associated with the radiograph.

8.22.13 Fields 22.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-definable fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the

user and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

8.22.14 Field 22.902: Annotation information /ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.22.15 Field 22.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field describing the device used to capture the image. See Section

7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N” or “S” in Table 128 Character

encoding set values are allowed.

8.22.16 Field 22.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field to describe the device used to capture the image. See Section

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7.7.1.2 for details.

8.22.17 Field 22.992: Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C

This is an optional field. When used, it contains the IDC value of the Type-2 record that

contains relevant biographic information and other data concerning the subject of this

instance of the record, who may be different from the subject of the transaction. See

Section 7.3.1.1 Type-2 Record cross reference / T2C.

8.22.18 Field 22.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of

the agency referenced in Field 22.004: Source agency / SRC. 

8.22.19 Field 22.994: External file reference / EFR

This conditional field shall be used to enter the URL / URI or other unique reference to a

storage location for all medical image files. If this field is used, Field 22.999: Imagery

data block / DATA shall not be set. However, one of the two fields shall be present in all

instances of this record type. It is an alphanumeric entry, with special characters allowed.

A non-URL reference might be similar to: “Case 2014:1468 Orthodontic Cast”. 

8.22.20 Field 22.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. See

Section 7.3.3. Record Type-21 contains images that are NOT used to derive the biometric

data in Field 22.999: Imagery data block / DATA but that may be relevant to the

collection of that data, such as general scenes of the area where the body of the subject was

found.

8.22.21 Field 22.996: Hash / HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the digital data in Field 22.994:

External file reference / EFR or Field 22.999: Imagery data block / DATA of this

record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.22.22 Field 22.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN. 

8.22.23 Field 22.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the biometric sample was acquired – not

where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

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8.22.24 Field 22.999: Imagery data block / DATA

This field shall contain the imagery data if conveyed in the transaction. If the data is

stored externally, Field 22.994: External file reference / EFR is used. Only one of

these two fields may be present in a single record. See Section 7.2 for details on the

Data field entry. [<2013d]

[2015a>] Either DATA or EFR fields shall be present in all instances of this record

type. [<2015a]

8.23 Record Type-98: Information assurance record

The Type-98 record shall contain security information that assures the authenticity and/or

integrity of the transaction, possibly utilizing such techniques as binary data hashes,

and/or digital signatures. Two mandatory fields in the Information Assurance (IA)

Header are Field 98.003: IA data format owner / DFO and Field 98.005: IA data

format type / DFT. The IA data format owner field denotes the vendor, standards

body, working group, or industry consortium that has defined the format of the IA data.

The values in the IA data format type field are assigned by the format owner and

represent a specific IA Data format as specified by the format owner. This may be a nonstandard, unpublished data format or a data format that has been standardized by an

industry group, consortium, or standards body. It is the combined IA Data Format

Owner / IA Data Format Type value that uniquely identifies the IA Data format. There

may be many instances of this Record Type per transaction. The records that are

protected by a Type-98 are all records other than the Type-98 itself.

Table 125 Type-98 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

98.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

98.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

 integer

1 1

98.003 DFO

IA DATA FORMAT 

OWNER

M H 4 4 none 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

98.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

98.005 DFT IA DATA FORMAT TYPE M U 1 20 none 1 1

98.006 DCD IA DATA CREATION 

DATE M

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or Annex

C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

98.007-

98.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

98.200-

98.899

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined 

98.900

ALF AUDIT LOG O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items M↑ 1 Unlimited

 EVT event M↑ A 5 9

EVT = 

Added, Modified,

Deleted or

Corrupted

1 1

 EVR event reason O↑ U 1 200 none 0 1

 IID information identifier M↑ ANS

12

319 *

[2015a>]

commaseparated

values [<2015a]

1 1

 AGT agent M↑ U 1 200 none 1 1

 OLD old reference O↑

dependent upon the

format of the location

referenced by IID

 value of datum

prior to the EVT

in the location

referenced by IID

0 1

98.901 ARN AUDIT REVISION 

NUMBER D N 1 3

 1 < ARN < 999

positive integer

0 1

98.902-992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

98.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

319 [2015n>] Minimum value lowered to 12 from 15 and maximum made unlimited. [<2015n]

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

98.994-999

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

8.23.1 Field 98.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding used. See the 

relevant annex of this standard for details. See Section 7.1.

8.23.2 Field 98.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-98 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.23.3 Field 98.003: IA data format owner / DFO

This mandatory field shall contain a four-digit hex value which denotes the vendor,

standards body, working group, or industry consortium that has defined the format of the

information assurance data. NIST maintains a voluntary table of format owners and the

four-digit hex values that they have chosen. This list is available at

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm. 

The IA data format owner and Field 98.005: IA data format type / DFT, when used

in combination with one another uniquely identify the specific format of the IA content.

This IA data format definition may be published (public) or unpublished (non-public). 

8.23.4 Field 98.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 98.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.23.5 Field 98.005: IA data format type / DFT

This mandatory field shall be used to identify the value assigned by the format owner

(DFO) to represent the specific IA data format as specified by the format owner. This

may be a nonstandard, unpublished data format or a data format that has been

standardized by an industry group, consortium, or standards body.

8.23.6 Field 98.006: IA data creation date / DCD

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This mandatory field shall contain the date and time that IA data was created. The date

and time shall appear as GMT format. See Section 7.7.2.2 for details.

8.23.7 Field 98.200-899: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-definable fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the

user in Field 98.005: IA data format type / DFT [2013a>] and be in accordance

with the receiving agency. [<2013a]

8.23.8 Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF

This optional field contains a series of repeating subfields. One complete audit statement

(subfield of ALF) shall be completed for each modified datum. If this field appears,

then Field 98.901: Audit revision number / ARN shall also be in the record. Each

repeating subfield shall be composed of the following information items:

• event / EVT is the first information item. It is mandatory and shall contain textual

information describing the event that occurred to the ANSI/NIST-ITL record/field,

and shall be chosen from the following controlled vocabulary:

Added

Modified

Deleted

Corrupted

• event reason / EVR is the second information item. It states the rationale behind

the Event that occurred. This information item is optional and should be

populated [2015a>] with up to 200 Unicode characters [<2015a] .

• information identifier / IID is the third information item. It is mandatory and

identifies the field/subfield/information item that has been affected by the Event. It is

defined as the concatenation of the IDC, a comma, the Field Number in the

standard, a comma, the repeat count of the subfield (default = NA), a comma, and

the information item mnemonic (if it exists). 

If a repeating subfield or information item does not exist, enter a “NA”. Examples:

17,10.014,NA,BBC

3,9.373,4,NA

8,10.024,2,QVU

[2015n>] For repeating pairs of information items, the repeat count of the

information item may follow the mnemonic. This value is also used to specify

an item in a list. This position need not be filled with NA if it is not relevant.

Third repeating pair example for the first element of the pair (HPO):

 5,10.033,1,HPO,3

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Example for the fifteenth item in the list (MARC)

 29,12.011,1,MARC,15

Note that for Record Type-1 the IDC value is NA. [<2015n]

For the case when a repeated subfield is removed, the entry for the repeat

field number is the original repeat set count, preceded by a negative; the

information item mnemonic is entered as “NA”. When an information item

is removed, the mnemonic is preceded by a negative. When an optional field

is removed, the field number is preceded by a minus. Even though subfields

and information items may have been in the field, the field number is

followed by “NA,NA” so that the subfields and information items do not

have to be individually listed.

o 12,10.024,-2,NA 

o 6,18.016,NA,-AL3

o 5,-14.024,NA,NA

[2015n>] If two records of the same type have the same IDC, then the IDC value

can be suffixed by an indicator of the sequence of the affected record with the

transaction. For example, if there were two Type-14 records with the same IDC

(indicating that it is the same image – for instance one RAW and the other losslessly

compressed as explained in Section 7.3.1 Information designation character /

IDC), the second one within the transaction sequentially would be referenced as 7-2

for the IDC. A reference of 7 is equivalent to 7-1. [<2015n]

• agent / AGT is the fourth information item. It is mandatory and shall contain

information describing the entity (Agent) responsible for the EVT that affected

the object identified by the IID. [2015a>] Up to 200 Unicode characters are

allowed[<2015a].

• old value / OLD is the fifth information item. It is optional. When used, it shall

contain the original value of the location in the transaction referenced in IID

before it was affected by the event (EVT). 

8.23.9 Field 98.901: Audit revision number / ARN

This field is mandatory if Field 98.900: Audit log / ALF appears in the record. It

contains a unique reference to the revision within the revision history. It is numeric,

with up to 3 digits. For example, Revision 1 shall be encoded as 1; Revision 88 as

88. Revision “x” may contain multiple events, each of which is recorded as a

discrete modification (requiring a separate subfield in ARN). Thus, a different

revision, with its corresponding log of modifications (recorded in ARN) requires a

separate instance of Record Type-98. 

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8.23.10 Field 98.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 98.004: Source agency / SRC. 

8.24 Record Type-99: CBEFF biometric data record

The Type-99 record shall contain and be used to exchange biometric data that is not

supported by other ANSI/NIST-ITL records. This data is exchanged in a format that

conforms to INCITS 398-2005, the Common Biometric Exchange Formats Framework.

The CBEFF conformant Biometric Information Record (BIR) used by the Type-99 record

includes a common Header and a Biometric Data Block (BDB). Two mandatory fields in

the CBEFF Header are Format Owner and Format Type. The Format Owner field denotes

the vendor, standards body, working group, or industry consortium that has defined the

format of the biometric data (the data contained in the BDB). A CBEFF requirement is that

format owners register with the IBIA for an assigned identifier of the format owner. 

The BDB format is specified by the format owner. This may be a non-standard, unpublished

data format or a data format that has been standardized by an industry group, consortium, or

standards body. It is the combined CBEFF Format Owner/Format Type value that uniquely

identifies the BDB format. The Type-99 record provides the CBEFF fields necessary for

users to send, receive, and interpret biometric data in any registered BDB format (with the

exception of biometric data which is exchanged using the other records in this standard).

The data carried in Field 99.999: Biometric data block / DATA is the BDB. The field’s

BDB Format Owner identifies the format of that data and BDB Format Type as described

by the CBEFF standard.

Table 126 Type-99 record layout

Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

99.001 RECORD HEADER M

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

99.002 IDC

INFORMATION 

DESIGNATION 

CHARACTER

M N 1 2

0 < IDC < 99

 integer

1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

99.003

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

99.004 SRC SOURCE AGENCY M U 1 * none 1 1

99.005 BCD

BIOMETRIC CAPTURE 

DATE

M

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.3

Local date

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

99.006-

99.099

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used

99.100 HDV CBEFF HEADER VERSION M N 

T=4

X=3

320

4 HDV = 0101 1 1

99.101 BTY BIOMETRIC TYPE M

H

321

T=8

X=1

320

8

value

From Table 127

1 1

99.102

BDQ

BIOMETRIC DATA 

QUALITY

O 0 1

 

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 9

 QVU quality value M↑ N 1 3

0 < QVU < 100 or

QVU = 254 or 255

 integer

1 1

 QAV

 algorithm vendor 

identification

M↑ H 4 4

0000 < QAV <

FFFF

1 1

 QAP

 algorithm product 

identification

M↑ N 1 5

1 < QAP < 65535

positive integer

1 1

99.103 BFO BDB FORMAT OWNER M H 4 4 none 1 1

99.104 BFT BDB FORMAT TYPE M H 4 4 none 1 1

320 Traditional encoding (T) requires a leading zero. XML encoding (X) does not. See Section 8.

321 [2013e>] This had been listed as numeric; but it is hex per 

http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistir/NISTIR6529A.pdf [<2013e] 

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

99.105-

99.199

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

99.200-

99.900

UDF USER-DEFINED FIELDS O user-defined user-defined user-defined

99.901

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

99.902

ANN

ANNOTATION 

INFORMATION

O 0 1

Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 *

 GMT Greenwich Mean Time M↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

1 1

 NAV

 processing algorithm 

name / version

M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

 OWN algorithm owner M↑ U 1 64 none 1 1

 PRO process description M↑ U 1

* none 1 1

99.903 DUI

DEVICE UNIQUE 

IDENTIFIER

O ANS 13 16

first character 

 = M or P

any character

with type A, N

or S in Table

128 Character

encoding set

values

0 1

99.904

MMS MAKE/MODEL/SERIAL 

NUMBER O 0 1

 MAK make M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 MOD model M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

 SER serial number M↑ U 1 50 none 1 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

99.905-

99.992

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE ONLY BY ANSI/NISTITLNot to be used 

99.993 SAN SOURCE AGENCY NAME O U 1 125 none 0 1

99.994

RESERVED FOR FUTURE

USE only by ANSI/NIST-ITL

Not to be used 

99.995

 ASC ASSOCIATED CONTEXT O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

 M↑ 1 255

 ACN

 associated context 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < ACN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 ASP

 associated segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < ASP < 99

positive integer

0 1

99.996 HAS HASH O H 64 64 none 0 1

99.997

SOR

SOURCE 

REPRESENTATION 

O 0 1

 Subfields: Repeating sets of 

information items

M↑ 1 255

 SRN

 source representation 

number

M↑ N 1 3

1 < SRN < 255

positive integer

1 1

 RSP

 reference segment 

position

O↑ N 1 2

1 < RSP < 99

positive integer

0 1

99.998

GEO 

GEOGRAPHIC SAMPLE 

ACQUISITION LOCATION

O 0 1

 UTE universal time entry O↑

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time (coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific: see

Annex B: Traditional

encoding or Annex C:

NIEM-conformant

encoding rules

See Section 7.7.2.2

Greenwich Mean

Time

(coordinated

universal time –

UTC) / GMT

encoding specific:

see Annex B:

Traditional

encoding or

Annex C: NIEMconformant

encoding rules

0 1

 LTD latitude degree value D NS 1 9 -90 < LTD < 90 0 1

 LTM latitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LTM < 60 0 1

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Field

Number Mnemonic Content

Description

Cond

Code

Character

Value

Constraints

Occurrence 

T

y

p

e

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

M

i

n

#

M

a

x

#

 LTS latitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LTS < 60

322 0 1

 LGD longitude degree value D NS 1 10 -180 < LGD < 180 0 1

 LGM longitude minute value D NS 1 8 0 < LGM < 60 0 1

 LGS longitude second value D NS 1 8

0 < LGS < 60

322 0 1

 ELE elevation O NS 1 8

-422.000< ELE

< 8848.000 

real number 322

0 1

 GDC geodetic datum code O AN 3 6

value from Table

7

0 1

 GCM

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator zone

D 323

AN 2 3

one or two digits

followed by a

single letter 

0 1

 GCE

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator easting

D N 1 6 integer 0 1

 GCN

 geographic coordinate 

universal transverse 

Mercator northing

D N 1 8 integer 0 1

 GRT geographic reference text O U 1 150 none 0 1

 OSI

 geographic coordinate other

system identifier

O U 1 10 none 0 1

 OCV

 geographic coordinate other

system value

D U 1 126 none 0 1

99.999 DATA BIOMETRIC DATA BLOCK M B 1 * none 1 1

8.24.1 Field 99.001: Record header

The content of this mandatory field is dependent upon the encoding used. See the 

relevant annex of this standard for details. See Section 7.1.

322 [2013e>] corrected typographical error: < → < [<2013e]

323 [2013a>] GCM, GCE and GCN are treated as a group, but the group itself is optional. In 2011, this

concept was presented with listing GCM as O, and GCE and GCN as D. Some users felt, however, that it

was clearer to also list GCM as D. [<2013a] 

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8.24.2 Field 99.002: Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory field shall contain the IDC assigned to this Type-99 record as listed in

the information item IDC for this record in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

See Section 7.3.1.

8.24.3 Field 99.004: Source agency / SRC

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.6 for details. The source agency name may be 

entered in Field 99.993: Source agency name / SAN.

8.24.4 Field 99.005: Biometric capture date / BCD

This is a mandatory field. See Section 7.7.2.2 for details. 

8.24.5 Field 99.100: CBEFF header version / HDV

This mandatory ASCII field shall be used to identify the version of CBEFF specification

to which this record conforms (See Section 3 Normative references). The format is two

characters for major version number followed by two characters for minor version. The

version of CBEFF in INCITS 398-2005 (See Section 3 Normative references) is

represented by the string ‘0101’ (major version ‘01’ and minor version ‘01’). See Section

8 for information concerning leading zeros.

8.24.6 Field 99.101: Biometric type / BTY

This mandatory field adopts the values presented in CBEFF with the addition of two

leading zeros for future expansion. Table 127 lists the current biometric type codes for

modalities not covered in this standard with specific Record Types assigned to them.324

See Section 8 for information concerning leading zeros.

Table 127 CBEFF biometric type

Biometric Type Name Biometric TypeCode

No Information Given ‘00000000’

Multiple Biometrics Used ‘00000001’

Voice 324 ‘00000004’

Retina ‘00000020’

Hand Geometry ‘00000040’

Signature Dynamics ‘00000080’

Keystroke Dynamics ‘00000100’

Lip Movement ‘00000200’

324 Previous versions of the standard included biometric types with record types now included in the 

standard. For those Biometric Type Codes, see ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007, Table 39. 

 [2013v>] Voice was included in the 2011 version but with the addition of a Type-11 record for voice in

the 2013 update, this value should not be used. [<2013v]

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Biometric Type Name Biometric TypeCode

Thermal Face Image ‘00000400’

Thermal Hand Image ‘00000800’

Gait ‘00001000’

Body Odor ‘00002000’

Ear Shape ‘00008000’

Finger Geometry ‘00010000’

Vein Pattern ‘00040000’

[2013a>] 'ISO/IEC JTC1/SC37-Biometrics' publishes biometric standards that may be considered for use 

in the Type-99 record. See: 

https://standards.incits.org/apps/group_public/download.php/24525/Adopted_international_standards_as_

of_09_08_2010.pdf

Hand Geometry: ISO/IEC 19794-10:2007, Biometric data interchange formats – Part 10: Hand

silhouette data

Signature: ISO/IEC 19794-7:2007/Cor. 1:2009, Biometric data interchange formats – Part 7:

Signature / sign time series data/ Cor. 1

Vein Pattern: ISO/IEC 19794-9:2007, Biometric data interchange formats – Part 9: Vascular

image data [<2013a]

8.24.7 Field 99.102: Biometric data quality / BDQ

This optional field is used to specify a quality score for the biometric data stored in the 

BDB in this record. This field is comprised of three information items. See Section 7.7.7.

8.24.8 Field 99.103: BDB format owner / BFO

This mandatory field shall be used to denote the vendor, standards body, working group,

or industry consortium that has defined the format of the biometric data (in the BDB). In

a CBEFF structure the BDB Format Owner and Format Type, when used in combination,

uniquely identify the specific format of the BDB content. The format and content of the

BDB is “owned” by the CBEFF Client (see Section 6.1 of the CBEFF standard). This

BDB format definition may be published (public) or unpublished (non-public).

A CBEFF requirement is that format owners register with IBIA for an assigned identifier

of the format owner. The number is guaranteed to be unique. Refer to the CBEFF

standard (See Section 3 Normative references), Section 6, “CBEFF Patrons and

Clients,” for registration information. 

The four hex digits assigned by IBIA shall be represented by a string of four characters, 

available at http://www.ibia.org/cbeff

8.24.9 Field 99.104: BDB format type / BFT

This mandatory field shall be used to identify the value assigned by the format owner to

represent the specific BDB Format as specified by the format owner. This may be a nonstandard, unpublished data format or a data format that has been standardized by an

industry group, consortium, or standards body. The registration of the Format Type value

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is recommended but not required. Refer to the CBEFF standard (See Section 3

Normative references), Section 6, “CBEFF Patrons and Clients,” for registration

information. The four hex digits assigned by the format owner shall be represented by a

string of four characters, available at http://www.ibia.org/cbeff

8.24.10 Fields 99.200-900: User-defined fields / UDF

These fields are user-definable fields. Their size and content shall be defined by the user 

and be in accordance with the receiving agency. 

8.24.11 Field 99.902: Annotation information / ANN

This is an optional field, listing the operations performed on the original source in order 

to prepare it for inclusion in a biometric record type. See Section 7.4.1.

8.24.12 Field 99.903: Device unique identifier / DUI

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.1 for details. All characters marked “A”, “N”

or “S” in Table 128 Character encoding set values are allowed.

8.24.13 Field 99.904: Make/model/serial number / MMS

This is an optional field. See Section 7.7.1.2 for details.

8.24.14 Field 99.993: Source agency name / SAN

This is an optional field. It may contain up to 125 Unicode characters. It is the name of the 

agency referenced in Field 99.004: Source agency / SRC. 

8.24.15 Field 99.995: Associated context / ASC

This optional field refers to one or more Records Type-21 with the same ACN. See 

Section 7.3.3.

8.24.16 Field 99.996: Hash/ HAS

This optional field shall contain the hash value of the data in Field 99.999: Biometric 

data block / DATA of this record, calculated using SHA-256. See Section 7.5.2.

8.24.17 Field 99.997: Source representation / SOR

This optional field refers to a representation in Record Type-20 with the same SRN. See 

Section 7.3.2.

8.24.18 Field 99.998: Geographic sample acquisition location / GEO

This optional field contains the location where the biometric sample was acquired – not 

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where it is stored. See Section 7.7.3.

8.24.19 Field 99.999: Biometric data block / DATA

This mandatory field shall contain the CBEFF Biometric Data Block (BDB). See Section

7.2 for details on the Data field entry. 

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Annex A: Character encoding information

Normative

Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS allows the user to specify the character set for

certain fields and record types, as described in Section 5.5. This Annex lists the codes

for the different characters commonly used. 

Several fields in the standard require Hexadecimal or Base-64 representations, which are

also described in this annex.

A.1: 7-bit ASCII

7-bit ASCII is required for all fields in Record Type-1: Transaction information

record. If Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS is not included in the transaction, the

default character set encoding is 7-bit ASCII with the leftmost (eighth) bit padded with zero.

ASCII is defined in ANSI X3.4-1986 (R1992) (See Section 3 Normative references). See

Table 128 for the allowed values. 

A.2: Unicode and UTF encoding

Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS allows the user to select an alternate character

encoding listed in Table 4 Character encoding. UTF-8 and UTF-16 allow for the

special national characters such as ü, é. ß and ñ. They also allow for certain other

character sets, such as Cyrillic and Arabic. 

Table 128 does not list all of these characters, only including a few examples. In Table

128, the character ç is in only the 8-bit Latin set, unlike the English language characters,

which are in both the 7-bit (default) character encoding set and the 8-bit set. The Chinese

character 白 is not in the 8-bit Latin character set, but it is in UTF-8. When using these

extended character sets, they shall only appear where the record layout tables specify 'U'

or 'user-defined' for the character type.

UTF-8 encoding is variable width. The first 128 characters use one byte and are

equivalent to US-ASCII. The next 1,920 characters require two bytes to encode.

Three and four bytes are also possible for certain, more rare characters. Note that

the UTF-8 and UTF-16 encodings are substantially different. Note: Table 128

shows UTF-16BE (Big Endian) values. It is recommended that UTF-8 be used in

preference to UTF-16 or UTF-32. 

[2013a>] The code for the space was listed as being alphabetic in 2011. It is

changed to be a special character in this update, to bring the standard into

alignment with standard programming terminology. [<2013a]

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Table 128 Character encoding set values

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Character

Name

Type

(A, N,

S, U)

ASCII

Code

point

Hex

ASCII

Left 0 +

7-bit

Binary

Unicode

Code

point

Hex

UTF-8

Byte

encoding

Hex

UTF-16BE

Byte

encoding

Hex

Start-of-text “STX” Reserved 0x02 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 U+0002 02 00 02

End-of-text “ETX” Reserved 0x03 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 U+0003 03 00 03

F

S Reserved 0x1C 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 U+001C 1C 00 1C

G

S Reserved 0x1D 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 U+001D 1D 00 1D

R

S Reserved 0x1E 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 U+001E 1E 00 1E

U

S Reserved 0x1F 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 U+001F 1F 00 1F

Space S 0x20 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 U+0020 20 00 20

! S 0x21 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 U+0021 21 00 21

“ S 0x22 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 U+0022 22 00 22

# S 0x23 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 U+0023 23 00 23

$ S 0x24 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 U+0024 24 00 24

% S 0x25 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 U+0025 25 00 25

& S 0x26 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 U+0026 26 00 26

‘ S 0x27 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 U+0027 27 00 27

( S 0x28 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 U+0028 28 00 28

) S 0x29 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 U+0029 29 00 29

* S 0x2A 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 U+002A 2A 00 2A

+ S 0x2B 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 U+002B 2B 00 2B

, S 0x2C 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 U+002C 2C 00 2C

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Character

Name

Type

(A, N,

S, U)

ASCII

Code

point

Hex

ASCII

Left 0 +

7-bit

Binary

Unicode

Code

point

Hex

UTF-8

Byte

encoding

Hex

UTF-16BE

Byte

encoding

Hex

- S 0x2D 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 U+002D 2D 00 2D

. S 0x2E 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 U+002E 2E 00 2E

/ S 0x2F 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 U+002F 2F 00 2F

0 N 0x30 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 U+0030 30 00 30

1 N 0x31 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 U+0031 31 00 31

2 N 0x32 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 U+0032 32 00 32

3 N 0x33 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 U+0033 33 00 33

4 N 0x34 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 U+0034 34 00 34

5 N 0x35 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 U+0035 35 00 35

6 N 0x36 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 U+0036 36 00 36

7 N 0x37 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 U+0037 37 00 37

8 N 0x38 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 U+0038 38 00 38

9 N 0x39 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 U+0039 39 00 39

: S 0x3A 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 U+003A 3A 00 3A

; S 0x3B 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 U+003B 3B 00 3B

< S 0x3C 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 U+003C 3C 00 3C

= S 0x3D 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 U+003D 3D 00 3D

> S 0x3E 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 U+003E 3E 00 3E

? S 0x3F 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 U+003F 3F 00 3f

@ S 0x40 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 U+0040 40 00 40

A A 0x41 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 U+0041 41 00 41

B A 0x42 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 U+0042 42 00 42

C A 0x43 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 U+0043 43 00 43

D A 0x44 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 U+0044 44 00 44

E A 0x45 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 U+0045 45 00 45

F A 0x46 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 U+0046 46 00 46

G A 0x47 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 U+0047 47 00 47

H A 0x48 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 U+0048 48 00 48

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Character

Name

Type

(A, N,

S, U)

ASCII

Code

point

Hex

ASCII

Left 0 +

7-bit

Binary

Unicode

Code

point

Hex

UTF-8

Byte

encoding

Hex

UTF-16BE

Byte

encoding

Hex

I A 0x49 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 U+0049 49 00 49

J A 0x4A 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 U+004A 4A 00 4A

K A 0x4B 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 U+004B 4B 00 4B

L A 0x4C 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 U+004C 4C 00 4C

M A 0X4D 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 U+004D 4D 00 4D

N A 0x4E 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 U+004E 4E 00 4E

O A 0x4F 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 U+004F 4F 00 4F

P A 0x50 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 U+0050 50 00 50

Q A 0x51 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 U+0051 51 00 51

R A 0x52 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 U+0052 52 00 52

S A 0x53 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 U+0053 53 00 53

T A 0x54 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 U+0054 54 00 54

U A 0x55 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 U+0055 55 00 57

W A 0x57 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 U+0057 57 00 57

X A 0x58 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 U+0058 58 00 58

Y A 0x59 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 U+0059 59 00 59

Z A 0x5A 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 U+005A 5A 00 5A

[ S 0x5B 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 U+005B 5B 00 5B

\ S 0x5C 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 U+005C 5C 00 5C

] S 0x5D 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 U+005D 5D 00 5D

^ S 0x5E 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 U+005E 5E 00 5E

_ S 0x5F 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 U+005F 5F 00 5F

` S 0x60 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 U+0060 60 00 60

a A 0x61 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 U+0061 61 00 61

b A 0x62 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 U+0062 62 00 62

c A 0x63 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 U+0063 63 00 63

d A 0x64 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 U+0064 64 00 64

e A 0x65 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 U+0065 65 00 65

f A 0x66 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 U+0066 66 00 66

g A 0x67 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 U+0067 67 00 67

h A 0x68 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 U+0068 68 00 68

i A 0x69 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 U+0069 69 00 69

j A 0x6A 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 U+006A 6A 00 6A

k A 0x6B 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 U+006B 6B 00 6B

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being translated to Base-64 shall be converted to CRLF sequences prior to Base-64

encoding. An example of Base-64 encoding is shown below.

Table 129: Base-64 conversion example

Description Values

Text M A ß

Binary encoding of 

input (8-bits)

0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 

6-bit binary 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1

Base-64 code 19 20 7 31

Base-64 value T U H f

Table 130: Base-64 alphabet

Code Value Code Value Code Value Code Value

0 A 18 S 35 j 52 0

1 B 19 T 36 k 53 1

2 C 20 U 37 l 54 2

3 D 21 V 38 m 55 3

4 E 22 W 39 n 56 4

5 F 23 X 40 o 57 5

6 G 24 Y 41 p 58 6

7 H 25 Z 42 q 59 7

8 I 26 a 43 r 60 8

9 J 27 b 44 s 61 9

10 K 28 c 45 t 62 +

11 L 29 d 46 u 63 /

12 M 30 e 47 v (pad) =

13 N 31 f 48 w

14 O 32 g 49 x

15 P 33 h 50 y

16 Q 34 I 51 z

17 R

Special processing is performed if fewer than 24 bits are available at the end of the data

being encoded. A full encoding quantum is always completed at the end of a body. Since

all base-64 input is an integral number of octets, only the following cases can arise: 

(1) the final quantum of encoding input is an integral multiple of 24 bits; here,

the final unit of encoded output will be an integral multiple of four

characters with no “=” padding,

(2) the final quantum of encoding input is exactly 8 bits; here, the final unit of

encoded output will be two characters followed by two “=” padding

characters, or 

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(3) the final quantum of encoding input is exactly 16 bits; here, the final unit

of encoded output will be three characters followed by one “=” padding

character.

A.4: Hexadecimal encoding

Hexadecimal refers to a base-16 representation of numbers. It is represented by the digits

0 through 9 and the letters A, B, C, D, E and F. See Table 128 for a translation of

Unicode code points to hexadecimal values used in UTF-8. 

When the record layout tables at the beginning of each Section describing a Record Type

indicate H in the character type column, then hexadecimal representation shall be used.

This is the case, for instance, with Fields xx.996 (See Section 7.5.2 Data hash / HAS).

See Table 131 for conversion of numeric values to hexadecimal representation.

Table 131: Base 10 to hexadecimal conversion

Base10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Et cetera

Base16 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11 12 13

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Annex B: Traditional encoding

Normative

The format and rules for this encoding of the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 version are

consistent with ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007. The types of logical records together with the

identifier and type of data for each record type are listed in Table 132.

Table 132 Logical record types

Record

Identifier Logical Record Contents Type of Data

1 Transaction information ASCII

2 User-defined descriptive text ASCII

3 Low-resolution grayscale fingerprint image Deprecated

4 High-resolution grayscale fingerprint image Binary

5 Low-resolution binary fingerprint image Deprecated

6 High-resolution binary fingerprint image Deprecated

7 User-defined image Binary

8 Signature image Binary

9 Minutiae data ASCII

10 Photographic body part imagery (including

face and SMT)325

ASCII/Binary

11 Voice record326 ASCII/Binary

12 Dental record327 ASCII/Binary

13 Variable-resolution latent friction ridge image ASCII/Binary

14 Variable-resolution fingerprint image ASCII/Binary

15 Variable-resolution palm print image ASCII/Binary

16 User-defined variable-resolution testing image ASCII/Binary

17 Iris image ASCII/Binary

18 DNA data ASCII/Binary

19 Variable-resolution plantar image ASCII/Binary

20 Source representation ASCII/Binary

21 Associated context data ASCII/Binary

325 [2013a>] The name of the record is changed from “facial, other body part and SMT image record” to

clarify the distinction between Type-10 records and Type-22 records, which are added in the 2013

Update [<2013a]

326 [2013v>] New record type [<2013v]

327 [2013d>] New record type [<2013d]

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Record

Identifier Logical Record Contents Type of Data

22 Non-photographic imagery data327 ASCII/Binary

23-97 Reserved for future use ASCII/Binary

98 Information assurance ASCII/Binary

99 CBEFF biometric data record ASCII/Binary

The first field in all records shall contain the length in bytes of the record. For all ASCII

or ASCII/Binary records the first field shall also be labelled as field “1:”. The length has

no upper bound. The mnemonic associated with each of these fields (xx.001) is LEN. It

is a numeric (positive integer) value. The mnemonic LEN is used in Field 98.900:

 Audit log / ALF for the information item information identifier / IID in order to record

changes to the value in this field. 

With the exception of the Type-1 record (See Section 8.1), the second field shall be

labeled as field “2” and contain the information designation character / IDC. See

Section 7.3.1.

The data in the Type-1 record shall always be recorded in variable length fields using the

7-bit American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) as described in

ISO/IEC 646328. For purposes of compatibility, the eighth (leftmost) bit shall contain a

value of zero. All field numbers and information separators shall be recorded in 7-bit

ASCII as described in ISO/IEC 646.

Textual fields in Record Types 2 and 9-99 may occur in any order after the first two

fields and contain the information as described for that particular numbered field, except

for field 999, which shall be the concluding field, when it is included in a record. The

allowed character encoding sets are included in Table 4.

In the Type-1, Type-2, Type-9 through Type-99 records, information is delimited by the

four ASCII information separators. The delimited information may be items within a

field or subfield, fields within a logical record, or multiple occurrences of subfields.

These information separators are defined in the referenced standard ISO/IEC 646 with the

code table shown in Table 128 . See also Annex A: Character encoding information. 

These characters are used to separate and qualify information in a logical sense. Viewed

in a hierarchical relationship, the File Separator “

F

S” character is the most inclusive

followed by the Group Separator “

G

S”, the Record Separator “

R

S”, and finally the Unit

Separator “

U

S” characters. The four characters are only meaningful when used as

separators of data items in the ASCII fields of records. There is no specific meaning

attached to these characters occurring in binary sample records and binary fields – they

are just part of the exchanged data. Information separators should be functionally viewed

as an indication of the type data that follows. 

328 See Section 3 Normative references.

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[2013a>]329 The following is a detailed description of the separator characters and

related data structures used to contain data throughout the standard:

Transaction (T) contains all biometric data to be submitted. A transaction is

comprised of records.

Record (R) contains data related to one biometric modality or a set of related biometric

modalities. A record is comprised of fields.

Field (IF) is used to transmit a particular datum or group of closely related data. A

field contains one or more subfields.

Subfield (SF) separates logical groups of data within a field. A subfield contains one

or more information items.

Information Item (II) is the smallest representation of data within a transaction which

may not be separated into further components.

FN is the number of a field (including record type) within a record, other than Types 4,

7 or 8. 

F

S File separator character – separates logical records within a transaction (Decimal 

value 28).

G

S Group separator character – separates fields within a record. (Decimal value 29).

R

S Record separator character – separates repeated subfields within a field. (Decimal 

value 30).

U

S Unit separator character – separates information items within a subfield (Decimal 

character 31).

How separators are used:

The separators defined above are used to separate multiple instances of data structures

including records, fields, subfields, and information items. The number of separators

present is always equal to one less than the number of structures present. For example,

if two fields are present in a record, then only one G

S

 separator is present, between the

two fields being separated. As a special case, when only one structure is present, there

are no separators. Thus, there is no difference in encoding when no structures are

present and when one structure is present, because in both cases there are no separators.

As a result of this observation, and to ensure consistency across all fields, a field

contains a minimum of one subfield which contains a minimum of one information

item. This case is listed as “Field containing a single value” in the definitions below.

General structure of a transaction:

T = R1

 F

S... Rn where n is the number of records in the transaction.

The F

S

 separator is used to separate records, R, contained in the transaction.

Note: The following definitions apply only to non-binary record types (Types other

than 4, 7, or 8). Binary records are comprised of pure binary data, and all structures are

329 [2013a>] The text here has been rewritten for clarity. [<2013a]

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processed according to defined byte offsets.

General structure of a record:

R = FN1:IF1

 G

S... FNn

:IFn where n is the number of fields in the record.

The G

S

 separator is used to separate the fields contained in a record. Fields include a

field number, FN, and a colon before the field contents: FN:IF

General structure of a field:

Fields are formatted differently depending upon the type of data being transmitted.

Every field contains a minimum of one subfield (one grouping of data), which contains

at least one information item (the value of the field).

1. Field containing a single value: IF = II

These fields appear in the record layout tables as a single row containing only one

value. Example: Field 1.002: Version number / VER.

This case represents the simplest field type, which contains only one value represented

by a single information item. Note that the single subfield that contains the II is not

visible because there are no subfield separator characters.

2. Field containing multiple values that do not repeat:

IF = II1

 U

S... IIn where n is the number of information [2015e>] items [<2015e] present.

These fields appear in the record layout tables as a field with a set of information items.

Example: Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM

The U

S

 separator is used to separate information items, II. Note that the single subfield

that contains the set of II’s is not visible because there are no subfield separator

characters.

3. Field containing values with different formats that repeat as a set:

IF = SF1

 R

S... SFn 

and SF = II1

 U

S... IIk

where n is the number of subfields present and k is the number of information items

present for the given subfield.

These fields appear most commonly as “Subfields: Repeating sets of information

items”, but sometimes appear as “Subfields: Repeating pairs of information items” or

“Subfield: Single set of information items”. 

Examples: Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT and Field 1.016: Application

profile specifications / APS.

The R

S

 separator is used to separate subfields, SF, in the field. The U

S

 separator is used

to separate information items, II, in the subfields.

4. Field containing a value that may have multiple entries:

IF = SF1

 R

S... SFn 

and SF = II

where n is the number of subfields present.

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These fields appear as “Subfields: Repeating values”. Example: Field 10.019.

The R

S

 separator is used to separate subfields, SF, in the field, which each contain a

single information item, II.

Normally, there should be no empty fields or information items and therefore only one

separator character should appear between any two data items. The exception to this

rule occurs for those instances where the data in information items in a transaction are

unavailable, missing, or optional, and the processing of the transaction is not dependent

upon the presence of that particular data. In those instances, multiple and adjacent

separator characters shall appear together rather than requiring the insertion of dummy

data between separator characters. In general, if one or more mandatory or optional

information items are unavailable for a field or subfield, then there shall be one fewer

separator character present than the number of information items specified. For

example, consider the definition of a field that consists of three information items. If

the information for the second information item is missing, then two adjacent U

S

information separator characters would occur between the first and third information

items. If the second and third information items were both missing, then three separator

characters should be used – two U

S characters in addition to the terminating field or

subfield separator character. [<2013a] 

B.1 Transmitted data conventions

B.1.1 Byte and bit ordering

Each information item, subfield, field, and logical record shall contain one or more bytes

of data. Within a file, the order for transmission of both the ASCII and the binary

representations of bytes shall be most significant byte first and least significant byte last

otherwise referred to as Big-Endian format. Within a byte, the order of transmission shall

be the most significant bit first and the least significant bit last. Figure 22 illustrates the

order of transmission of the bytes and bits within a file.

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Figure 22: Byte and bit ordering

B.1.2 Date format

Dates shall appear as eight digits in the format YYYYMMDD. The YYYY characters

shall represent the year of the transaction; the MM characters shall be the tens and units

values of the month; and the DD characters shall be the day in the month. For example,

“20070103” represents January 3, 2007. See Section 7.7.2 Date and time. 

B.1.3 Agency Codes

The 2007 version of the standard included only agency identifier fields (See Section 7.6).

The 2008 version added the option of entering an organization name. This capability of

the 2008 version is retained in this version of the standard by adding new fields (Field

1.017: Agency names / ANM and Fields xx.993 Source agency name / SAN) 

B.1.4 Date/Time format

GMT/UTC shall be represented as YYYYMMDDhhmmss, a 15-character string that is

the concatenation of the date with the time and concludes with the character “Z”. The

YYYY characters shall represent the year of the transaction. The MM characters shall be

the tens and units values of the month. The DD characters shall be the tens and units

values of the day of the month. The hh characters represent the hour; the mm the minute;

and the ss represents the second. See Section 7.7.2.2 Greenwich Mean Time

(coordinated universal time – UTC) / GMT.

[2015a>]

Local date and time is the same format minus the Z. Local date is of the format

YYYYMMDD. For Local Date Estimate it is possible to specify the date to the level

known and fill the rest of the date with zeros. 

B.1.5 Date offset

For Traditional encoding, the format YyyMmmDdd is used for date offsets. Only one

value need be present, but the code and an associated number shall be present. For

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First Byte Last Byte

Byte of Data

Most Significant Byte Least Significant Byte

Most Significant Byte Within a Block Transmitted First

Most Significant Bit Within a Byte Transmitted First

Most

Significant

Bit

Least

Significant

Bit

MSB LSB MSB LSB

Most Significant Byte Least Significant Byte

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example Y01 (or Y1) is valid. Leading zeroes fore the offsets are optional. See B.1.5

Date offset and Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules.

B.1.6 Date and time offset

For Traditional encoding, the format YyyMmmDddhhhmmm is used for date and time

offsets. Only one value need be present, but the code and an associated number shall be

present. For example h01 is valid. Leading zeroes fore the offsets are optional. See

 B.1.6 Date and time offsetand Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules.

[<2015a]

B.1.7 Record layout

For the Type-1, Type-2, Type-9 through Type-99 records, each information field that is

used shall be numbered in accordance with this standard. The format for each field shall

consist of the logical record type number followed by a period “.”, a field number

followed by a colon “:”, followed by the information appropriate to that field. The field

number may be any one to nine-digit number occurring between the period “.” and the

colon “:”. It shall be interpreted as an unsigned integer field number. 

This implies that a field number of “2.123:” is equivalent to and shall be interpreted in

the same manner as a field number of “2.000000123:”.

For purposes of illustration throughout this annex, a three-digit number shall be used for

enumerating the fields contained in each of the Record Types, other than 4, 7 and 8.

Field numbers will have the form of “TT.xxx:” where the “TT” represents the one- or

two-character record type followed by a period. The next three characters comprise the

appropriate field number followed by a colon. Descriptive ASCII information or the

sample data follows the colon.

Logical Type-1, Type-2, and Type-9 records contain only ASCII textual data fields (See

Annex A: Character encoding information). The entire length of the record (including

field numbers, colons, and information separators) shall be recorded as the first ASCII

field within each of these record types. The ASCII File Separator “F

S” control character

(signifying the end of the logical record or transaction) shall follow the last byte of ASCII

information and shall be included in the length of the record.

The Record Type-4: Grayscale fingerprint image, the Record Type-7: User-defined

image record and the Record Type-8: Signature image record contain only binary

data recorded as ordered fixed-length binary fields. The entire length of the record shall

be recorded in the first four-byte binary field of each record. For these binary records,

neither the record number with its period, nor the field identifier number and its

following colon, shall be recorded. 

Furthermore, as all the field lengths of these three records are either fixed or specified,

none of the four separator characters (“

U

S”, “R

S”, ” G

S”, or “

F

S”) shall be interpreted as

anything other than binary data. For these binary records, the “F

S” character shall not be

used as a record separator or transaction terminating character.

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Each ASCII field contains a numeric field identifier and its descriptive data.

When Field 999 is present in a record, it shall appear as the last entry in the record and

shall contain the data placed immediately following the colon (“:”) of the field identifier.

The record length field shall contain the length of the record. The ASCII File Separator

“

F

S” control character shall follow the last byte of the compressed or uncompressed

sample data. The “

F

S” character shall signify the end of the logical record or transaction

and shall be included as part of the record length.

The Base-64 encoding scheme (See Annex A: Character encoding information) shall

be used for converting non-ASCII text into ASCII form. The field number including the

period and colon, for example “2.001:”, in addition to the “

U

S”, “

R

S”, “

G

S”, and “

F

S”

information separators shall appear in the transaction as 7-bit ASCII characters without

conversion to Base-64 encoding.

B.1.8 Switching between character encoding sets

All of the fields in the Type-1 record shall be recorded using the 7-bit ASCII code, which

is the default character encoding set code within a transaction. In order to effect data and

transaction interchanges between non-English speaking or foreign-based agencies, a

technique is available to encode information using character encoding sets other than 7-

bit ASCII. Fields from the Type-1 logical record and ASCII Field xx.001 and Field

xx.002 text fields shall still be encoded using 7-bit ASCII, but all other designated text

fields may be encoded using an alternate character encoding set, if they are shown with

the character type of 'U' or 'user-defined' in the record layout tables at the beginning of

each Record Type Section of this standard. One alternate character encoding set may be

chosen per transaction. 

To switch character encoding sets within a transaction, the Type-1 record shall contain

Field 1.015: Character encoding / DCS. The DCS consists of 3 information items

containing an identifying code, the name of an international character encoding set, and

its version.

Retained for backward compatibility is a mechanism using codes to signal the conversion

to a different international character encoding set. This mechanism is not recommended

for new applications. However, these codes must be used for UTF-16 or UTF-32 data,

since only UTF-8 is allowed to be used without the codes. Use of the code requires the

ASCII Start-of-Text “STX” character (0x02) followed by the equal sign “=” to signal the

change to an alternate character encoding set defined by the specific DCS code that

follows. The entire Start-of-Text sequence is terminated by a single instance of the

ASCII End-of-Text “ETX” character (0x03). This alternate character encoding set will

remain active until a closing “ETX” character is encountered or the next ASCII information

separator character is encountered. All text between the STX sequence and the closing

ETX character shall be encoded in Base-64 notation (See Annex A: Character encoding

information). This is true even when the 7-bit ASCII character encoding set is specified.

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Usage of UTF-8 is allowed as an alternative to the technique that requires the usage of

the ASCII “STX” and “ETX” characters to signify the beginning or end of international

characters. UTF-8 is only allowed in fields marked 'U' or 'user-defined' in the character

type column of the record layout tables. Notice that this technique does not require the

conversion of text to Base-64 as does the technique employing “STX” and “ETX”.

 B 1.9 Handling of lists

[2015a>] Lists require special handling for Traditional encoding. They are treated as a

single data element. Each item in the list is separated by the special character “|”. See

Section 7.7.13 [<2015a]

B.2 Encoding for specific record types

The following sections provide specific detail for certain fields within the record types to

ensure clarity to programmers.

B.2.1 Type-1 record

Field 1.001: Record header shall begin with “1.001:” followed by the length of the

record including every character of every field contained in the record and the

information separators. 

The “G

S” separator character shall separate the length code of Field 1.001 from the next

field. 

The year, month, and day values in Field 1.005: Date / DAT are concatenated

“YYYYMMDD”. 

In Field 1.013: Domain name / DOM, the default is “1.013:NORAMU

S

G

S”

Immediately following the last information item in the Type-1 record (See Section 8.1),

an “F

S” separator character shall be used to separate it from the next logical record. This

“

F

S” character shall replace the “GS” character that is normally used between information

fields. This is the case with all Record Types.

B.2.2 Type-4 record

Table 133 shows the fields for the Type-4 logical record (See Section 8.4). The order of

fields for Type-4 records is fixed. All fields and data in this record type shall be recorded

as binary information.

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Table 133 Type 4 record layout

Field

Number Tag Field Description Byte Count Byte Position

1 LEN LOGICAL RECORD LENGTH 4 1-4

2 IDC INFORMATION DESIGNATION

CHARACTER

1 5

3 IMP IMPRESSION TYPE 1 6

4 FGP FINGER POSITION 6 7-12

5 ISR IMAGE SCANNING

RESOLUTION

1 13

6 HLL HORIZONTAL LINE LENGTH 2 14-15

7 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH 2 16-17

8 CGA COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 1 18

9 DATA IMAGE DATA <LEN> – 18 19 through <LEN>

B.2.3 Type-7 record

With the exception of the first two fields, the order of the remaining fields of the Type-7

record (See Section 8.7) is user-defined. All fields and data in Type-7 records shall be

recorded as binary information. The first two fields are fixed length and total five bytes.

These fields shall precede one or more user-defined fields, including the image data,

contained in the remainder of the record.

 B.2.3.1 Logical record length / LEN

This mandatory four-byte binary field (Field 7.001: Record header) shall occupy bytes

one through four. It shall contain the length of the logical record specifying the total

number of bytes, including every byte of all the fields contained in the record.

B.2.3.2 Information designation character / IDC

This mandatory one-byte binary field (Field 7.002: Information designation

character / IDC) shall occupy the fifth byte of a Type-7 record. It shall be used to

identify the image data contained in this record. The IDC contained in this field shall be

a binary representation of the IDC found in Field 1.003: Transaction content / CNT.

B.2.3.3 User-defined fields for Type-7 records

The remaining fields (Section 8.7.3) of the Type-7 logical record shall be user-defined.

Individual fields required for a given transaction, such as field description, size, and

content shall conform to the specifications set forth by the agency to whom the

transmission is being sent.

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B.2.3.4 End of Type-7 record

Since the Type-7 logical record is a defined and specified series of binary data fields, no

additional bytes shall be transmitted to signify the end of this logical record type.

B.2.4 Type-8 record

Table 134 shows the fields for the Type-8 logical record (See Section 8.8). The order of

fields for Type-8 records is fixed. All fields and data in Type-8 records shall be recorded

as binary information.

Table 134 Type-8 record layout

Field

Number Tag Field Description Byte Count Byte Position

1 LEN LOGICAL RECORD LENGTH 4 1-4

2 IDC INFORMATION DESIGNATION

CHARACTER

1 5

3 SIG SIGNATURE TYPE 1 6

4 SRT SIGNATURE

REPRESENTATION TYPE

1 7

5 ISR IMAGE SCANNING 

RESOLUTION

1 8

6 HLL HORIZONTAL LINE LENGTH 2 9-10

7 VLL VERTICAL LINE LENGTH 2 11-12

8 DATA SIGNATURE IMAGE DATA <LEN> – 12 13 through <LEN>

If the SRT field contains the binary value of “0” then DATA shall contain the

uncompressed scanned binary image data for the signature. In uncompressed mode, the

data shall be packed at eight pixels per byte.

If the SRT field contains the binary value of “1” then this field shall contain the scanned

binary image data for the signature in compressed form using the ANSI/EIA-538-1988

facsimile compression algorithm.

If the SRT field contains the binary equivalent of “2”, then DATA shall contain a set of

vectors describing the pen position and pen pressure of line segments within the

signature. Each vector shall consist of five bytes. 

The first two bytes of each vector shall contain the unsigned binary X coordinate of the

pen position with the high order byte containing the most significant bits. The next two

bytes shall contain the unsigned Y coordinate using the same convention to denote the

most significant bits. Both the X and Y coordinates shall be expressed in units of .0254

mm (.001 inches) referenced from the bottom leftmost corner of the signature. Positive

values of X shall increase from left-to-right and positive values of Y shall increase from

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bottom-to-top.

An unsigned binary number between “0” and “255” contained in the fifth byte shall

represent the pen pressure. This shall be a constant pressure until the next vector

becomes active. Binary value of “1” shall represent the least recordable pressure for a

particular device, while the binary equivalent of “254” shall represent the maximum

recordable pressure for that device. To denote the end of the vector list the binary

equivalent of “255” shall be inserted in this entry. 

B.2.5 Type-9 record

Fields 9.005 through 9.012 are to be used for legacy data only. See ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-

2007 for instructions on use of these fields.

Paths in EFS require a special data construct for Traditional encoding. See Section

7.7.12.2 Type-9 extended feature set (EFS) paths.

Polygons are used in the following EFS fields:

 Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP

 Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI

 Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS

 Field 9.357: EFS local quality issues / LQI

 Field 9.360: EFS area of correspondence / AOC.

Open paths are used in the following EFS field:

 Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS.

A comma separates the X and Y coordinates for a given vertex, and a dash separates

consecutive vertices. For example: X1,Y1-X2,Y2-X3,Y3

B.2.6 Type-10 record

[2013d>] Field 10.049: Cheiloscopic image data / CID contains information items

that are lists. In Traditional encoding, the values in the list are separated by the special

character “|”. [<2013d

B.2.7 Type-11 record

 [2013v>] The Type-11 record contains information items that are lists. In Traditional

encoding, the values in the list are separated by the special character “|”. [<2013v]

[2015a>]See Section 7.7.13 [<2015a]

B.2.8 Type-12 record

 [2013d>] The Type-12 record contains information items that are lists. In Traditional

encoding, the values in the list are separated by the special character “|”. [<2013d]

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[2015a>]See Section 7.7.13 [<2015a]

B.2.9 Type-13 record

For Field 13.014: Search position descriptors / SPD, multiple portions of the EJI may

be listed and separated by the “R

S” separator character. 

B.2.10 Type-14 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.11 Type-15 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.12 Type-16 record

 There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.13 Type-17 record

 There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.14 Type-18 record

 There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.15 Type-19 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.16 Type-20 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.17 Type-21 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

B.2.17 Type-22 record

 [2013d>] There are no special requirements for this record type. [<2013d]

B.2.18 Type-98 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

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B.2.19 Type-99 record

There are no special requirements for this record type.

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Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules

Normative

This annex contains a set of requirements for encoding the 2011 ANSI/NIST-ITL

standard using eXtensible Markup Language (XML). [2015a>] This annex has been

shortened from previous versions of the standard, since the encoding rules between

NIEM 2.1 and NIEM 3.1 have changed. Schemas for the NIEM XML encoding will be

made available on the standard’s website upon their publication:

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_references.cfm “ [<2015a]

Many data interchange and processing applications have converted to or are in the

process of migrating toward an XML format approach for processing data. In order to

provide the ability to directly interface with such applications, this XML encoding

representation of the textual, image, and other biometric information has been developed.

This is an XML alternative to the “traditional” encoding format. Implementers will find

that, with very few exceptions, there is a “one-to-one” correspondence of XML elements

to the elements of the base specification, and to the numerically tagged (or untagged

binary) traditional elements described in the Annex B: Traditional encoding. The

repeating subfield and information items (separated by the R

S and U

S characters in the

traditional representation) have been given named XML counterparts. 

The XML encoding rules and referenced materials conform to the National Information

Exchange Model (NIEM), which facilitates interoperability for information sharing

among multiple government agencies. The XML encoding includes rules for how userdefined extensions may be included inside the standard XML package, but do not define

how the package may be wrapped in other XML structures. 

There are “user-defined” elements that implementers may create to extend this

specification so that it is useful in a particular application. The implementer’s substitution

elements shall be created in a separate, user-declared namespace. The content of the

substitution elements shall be well-formed XML and shall follow NIEM rules.

Implementers may modify or add namespace declarations and import elements to

reference user-defined namespaces and extension schemas. Implementers may create

constraint schemas that add any of the schemas used in this standard. These constraint

schemas must follow the rules for NIEM constraint schemas as they are defined in the

NIEM Naming and Design Rules330. They may only be used to add constraints and

restrictions to components; they must not loosen the standard by allowing content that is

not allowed by the schemas upon which they are based. 

Implementers shall not introduce new elements except for the substitution elements

described above. They shall not change the order or structure of elements defined by the

330 [2013a>] For the current version of the NIEM NDR visit the website https://www.NIEM.gov/ and

search for “Naming and Design Rules” [<2013a]

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standard. The root element may be included as a payload in a larger package.

An exchange package shall consist of two or more logical records. See Section 5.1

Structure of a transaction. For each logical record contained in the package, several

information elements appropriate to that record type shall be present. Complex elements

may contain one or more complex or simple elements according to the rules of wellformed XML. Taken together, these items are used to convey different aspects of the data

contained in a data information object. To the extent possible, the objects used have been

defined as a part of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). Some

information objects may be repeated multiple times. 

The XML schema referenced for this encoding define the structure and order of the

elements in the information exchange package. To the extent possible, the schema define

data types and constraints that enforce the allowable content rules of the base standard.

Nevertheless, the XML schema may not strictly enforce the allowable content. The base

standard defines allowable content, and its requirements shall be met by implementers

regardless of encoding method. 

[2013a>] Schema from other standards may be incorporated. The Type-99 record is

explicitly designed to accommodate this eventuality. Other record types, such as Type22 may also utilize this feature. [<2013a] 

All separators are defined by the W3C XML recommendations. The characters “<”

and “>” are reserved exclusively for enclosing XML element names. Every element

with a start tag <Name> shall have an end tag of format </Name>. 

[2015a>] Lists are coded in XML as regular elements. There are no special

considerations for list encoding in XML, as in Traditional format.

Date and time formats have different element names in different versions of NIEM.

Check the associated schemas available on the standard's website. [<2015a]

If the base specification and schema define an element as optional, it should be omitted

altogether rather than transmitting the element tags without any data content. For

mandatory elements, in all cases, the element tags shall appear in the instance package.

When there is no information to be transmitted for a mandatory element, prior agreement

shall be made with the recipient agency or organization before constructing and

transmitting an instance package. 

[2013a>] A value verification may be handled by using SimpleType in the NIEM XML

schema. For example, EyePositionCode can only have one of three values (0, 1 or 2).

This restriction is made explicit in the schema. 

However, when the restricted values may change, such as is the case with externally

referenced lists. Kit ID / KID is an information item in Field 18.016: Autosomal STR,

X-STR and Y-STR / STR that is restricted to values contained in an external file that

is periodically updates as new DNA kits come to market. Thus, these values are not

contained in the schema and must be validated.

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Certain portions of the exchange package, such as Record Type-2, shall be in accordance

with definitions set according to the implementation domain or application profile (See

Section Implementation domain and application profiles).

The latest version of all documents to be referenced, including the latest ANSI/NIST 

XML schemas are available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm.

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Annex D: NCIC code table

Normative

In the 2007 and 2008 versions of the standard, the NCIC code table was present in the

text of the standard as an annex. The NCIC table codes have been updated since the

publication of those versions of this standard. In order to ensure consistency with the

current version of these codes, this version of the standard includes the latest version of

the NCIC code table as a normative reference. It is available at

http://www.oregon.gov/osp/CJIS/Pages/NCIC.aspx.

Note that any codes that were listed in the 2007 and 2008 versions of this standard that

are not included at the above website are still valid, in order to maintain backward

compatibility. An example is CRIP FOOT. The current version of the NCIC code table

has CRIP L FT and CRIP R FT. 

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Annex E: Facial Capture – SAPs 30 and above

 Normative

E.1 Introduction

This annex is based upon work originating at a Mugshot and Facial Image Workshop held

at NIST in 1995. The original recommendation document was incorporated as Annex H in

the 2007 / 2008 version of the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard, supplemented by Annex I, which

extended the recommendations further, as well as Annex J, which dealt with Face-Pose

values. This annex combines the three annexes of the 2007 / 2008 standard and includes

new information, which in no manner contradicts earlier guidance.

The annex is not designed to render current and legacy mugshot collections unacceptable.

Rather, it is intended as a means of establishing or improving interoperability between

mugshot systems. The provisions of this annex are keyed to the quality aspects associated

with the unaltered captured mugshot image. For new mugshot images being captured, the

specifications contained in this annex are equally applicable to real-time electronic capture

of mugshots as well as the electronic conversion of photographic images. For conversion of

legacy files of photographs, the provisions of this annex are applicable.

This annex consists of a set of Sections describing the capture of facial images at SAP

levels 30 and above. See Section 7.7.5.1 Subject acquisition profile for face / SAP.

These Sections can be categorized into six types of requirements: digital, photographic,

subject and scene, number of photographs, data handling, and format (for SAP levels 40

and above). 

E.2 Digital requirements

E.2.1 Pixel aspect ratio

Digital cameras and scanners used to capture facial images shall use square pixels with a

pixel aspect ratio of 1:1.

E.2.2 Image aspect ratio

For SAPs 30 and 32, the aspect ratio shall be 4:5 (480x600 pixels). For SAP 40 and above,

the aspect ratio shall be 3:4. SAP 40 specifies a minimum of 768x1024 pixels, which

corresponds to this aspect ratio, allowing a COTS digital camera to be used for capture.

Images from some types of camera with a different aspect ratio shall need to be cropped.

E.2.3 No interlacing

Interlaced video frames shall not be used in the capture of a facial image.

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E.2.4 No digital zoom

Digital zoom (interpolation) to achieve specified resolution associated with

Subject Acquisition Profiles shall not be used in the capture of a facial image.

E.2.5 Minimum number of pixels

The minimum number of pixels in an electronic digital image shall be 480 pixels in the

horizontal direction by 600 pixels in the vertical direction. It should be noted that the image

quality of the captured mugshots and facial images may be improved as the number of

pixels in both directions are increased. However, as images are captured with an increased

number of pixels, the 4:5 (SAPs 30/32) and 3:4 (SAP 40 and above) (Width:Height) aspect

ratio shall be maintained.

E.3 Photographic requirements

E.3.1 Depth of field

The subject’s captured facial image shall always be in focus from the nose to the ears.

Although this may result in the background behind the subject being out of focus, this is not

a problem. It is recommended that auto-focus on the central part of face be used with digital

camera photography. For optimum quality of the captured mugshot, the f- stop of the lens

should be set at two f-stops below the maximum aperture opening when possible.

[2013a>] An objective metric to ensure that the subject is in focus is to test that the

optical efficiency is > 90%.331 [<2013a]

E.3.2 Subject lighting

Lighting shall be equally distributed on the face. There shall be no significant direction of

the light from the point of view of the photographer. For non-mobile SAPs (those other

than 32, 42 and 52), the following conditions apply:

• Subject illumination shall be accomplished using a minimum of three (3)

point-balanced illumination sources. Although a minimum of three photo

lights is required for illuminating the subject’s face, two of these lights

should be sufficient for some operational environments. Use of a third light

as a backlight generally requires about two feet of additional floor space

behind the subject, which may not be available in all environments.

• Appropriate diffusion techniques shall be employed and lights positioned to

minimize shadows, and to eliminate hot spots on the facial image. These hot

spots usually appear on reflective areas such as cheeks and foreheads. 

331 [2013a>] See ISO 12233:2000 Photography – Electronic still-picture cameras – resolution

measurements. [<2013a]

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• Proper lighting shall contribute to the uniformity of illumination of the

background described in the exposure requirement.

• The region of the face, from the crown to the base of the chin, and from earto-ear, shall be clearly visible and free of shadows. In particular, there shall

be no dark shadows in the eye-sockets due to the brow, and the iris and pupil

of the eyes shall be clearly visible.

E.3.3 Background and lighting

This section does not apply to mobile SAPs (32, 42, or 52).

The subject whose image is being captured shall be positioned in front of a background that

is 18% gray with a plain smooth flat surface332. A Kodak or other neutral gray card or

densitometer shall be used to verify this 18% gray reflectance requirement. The boundary

between the head and the background should be clearly identifiable about the entire subject

(very large volume hair excepted). There should be no shadows visible on the background

behind the face image. Proper lighting shall contribute to the uniformity of illumination of

the background.

Ensure that the background completely fills the image frame behind the subject. If possible,

avoid the presence of visible shadows and other objects in the background, such as a clock.

[2013a>] An objective measure is to have the Δ E1976 between all points on a uniform

gray card to be < 5.334 Δ E1976 are calculated from the known CIELab value of the card and

the sRGB camera code values. [<2013a]

E.3.4 Exposure calibration

This section does not apply to mobile SAPs (32, 42 or 52). The exposure shall be keyed to

the background. Several areas of the recorded 18% gray background shall be used to verify

the proper exposure. The averages of the 8-bit Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) components

within each area shall be calculated. Each of the RGB means shall fall between 105 and 125

with a standard deviation of ±10. Furthermore, for every area examined, the maximum

difference between the means of any two of the RGB components shall not exceed 10.

[2013a>] A quanitifable test is to measure the RGB code values for a minimum of six

gray patches ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 neutral density. Target values for these patches are

calculated for the sRGB color space. Allowable values are within 10 code values of the

target. [<2013a]

332 An example of a paint formula that will approximate an 18% gray (on matte surface) is one quart 

Olympic Premium Interior Latex Eggshell, Base 3 - 72403, 101-1Y31.5, 109-8.5, or one quart Benjamin 

Moore & Co. Premium Interior Latex Flat Finish Wall Satin, Medium Base 215 2B, Formula: OY-81⁄2 RX3/4 BK-21 GY-4 WH-10, Area/Tint Code: B.

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E.3.5 Exposure

When capturing images using digital cameras, the exposure should be such that the image is

as bright as possible without introducing any clipping of the highlights. With most digital

cameras, this can easily be checked by examining the histogram333 associated with the

image. Most modern digital cameras have sophisticated metering systems that should

ensure that a properly exposed image is always captured once the camera and lights have

been correctly set up.

[2013a>] A quanitifable test is to measure the RGB code values for a minimum of six

gray patches ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 neutral density. Target values for these patches are

calculated for the sRGB color space. Allowable values are within 10 code values of the

target. This action is done to ensure absolute brightness without clipping. [<2013a]

E.3.6 No saturation

For each patch of skin on the person’s face, the gradations in textures shall be clearly

visible. In this sense, there shall be no saturation (over or under exposure) on the face.

[2013a>] A quantifiable test is to use color targets to include red, green, blue, cyan,

magenta, and yellow patches with known CIELab334 values. The Δ E 1976 of each color

for the sRGB color space is to be less than 10. [<2013a]

E.3.7 No unnatural color or “red-eye”

Unnaturally colored lighting (e.g., yellow, red) is not allowed. Care shall be taken to correct

the “white balance” of image capture devices. The lighting shall produce a face image with

natural looking skin tones when viewed in typical examination environments. “Red-eye” is

not acceptable.

E.3.8 No color or grayscale enhancement

A process that overexposes or underexposes a part or all of a color or grayscale image for

purposes such as beauty enhancement or artistic pleasure is not allowed. The full spectrum

shall be represented on the face image where appropriate. Teeth and whites of eyes shall be

clearly light or white (when appropriate) and dark hair or features (when appropriate) shall

be clearly dark.

E.3.9 Distortion and angle of view

Unnatural radial distortion of the camera lens, resulting in a diagonal angle of view of

approximately 20 to 28 degrees, shall not be allowed. Fish eye effect, a type of distortion

where central objects of the image erroneously appear closer than those at the edge,

333 http://www.photographyreview.com/histogramguidecrx.aspx

334 [2013a>] CIE is the International Commission on Illumination. CIELab is a color space. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_difference. Δ E 1976 refers to the 1976 formula of the CIE using the

distance metric Δ E. [<2013a]

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typically resulting in what appear to be unusually large noses in the image, is not allowed.

While some distortion is usually present during portrait photography, that distortion should

not be noticeable by human examination. For a typical photo capture system with a subject

1.5 to 2.5 meters from the camera, the focal length of the camera lens should be that of a

medium telephoto lens. For 35 mm photography, this means that the focal length should be

between 90 mm and 130 mm. For other negative formats/sensors, the recommended focal

length is 2 to 3 times the diagonal of the negative/sensor.

E.3.10 Allowed color space

Digital images shall be represented as 24-bit RGB pixels. For every pixel, eight (8) bits

shall be used to represent each of the Red, Green, and Blue components. The RGB color

space is the basis for other color spaces including the Y, Cb, Cr and YUV. Additional color

management techniques are available from the International Color Consortium.

Information regarding these techniques can be downloaded from the following URL:

http://www.color.org/. A full color image shall be captured. To ensure that color images

exchanged between differing systems can be correctly displayed or printed, images shall be

converted to the device-independent color space, sRGB.

E.4 Subject and scene requirements

E.4.1 Pose

The full-face or frontal pose is the most commonly used pose in photo lineups and shall

always be captured. This pose is in addition to profiles or intermediate angled poses

captured to acquire perspective and other information. 

E.4.2 Subject position

 It is important that no shadows are cast onto the background from the subject’s head. One

way to achieve this is by positioning the subject 1-2 feet away from the background, and/or

using an additional light source to illuminate the background.

E.4.3 Centering

The full-frontal face pose shall be positioned to satisfy all of the following conditions. For

non-frontal pose (SAP levels 40, 50 and 51) , the subject shall satisfy these conditions when

the head is rotated about an axis through the head and torso from the current pose back to

center (zero angles) pose. 

E.4.3.1 The “Head and Shoulders” photo composition

The composition consists of a subject’s head, partial shoulders, and plain background. For a

frontal-facing pose, the width of the subject’s head shall occupy approximately 50% of the

width of the captured image. This width shall be the horizontal distance between the midpoints of two imaginary vertical lines. 

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Each imaginary line shall be drawn between the upper and lower lobes of each ear and shall

be positioned where the external ear connects to the head. See Figure 24. 

• The approximate horizontal mid-points of the mouth and of the bridge of the nose

shall lie on an imaginary vertical straight line positioned at the horizontal center of

the image.

• An imaginary horizontal line through the center of the subject’s eyes shall be located

at approximately the 55% point of the vertical distance up from the bottom edge of

the captured image.

• The width of the subject’s head shall occupy approximately 50% of the width of the

captured image. This width shall be the horizontal distance between the mid-points

of two imaginary vertical lines. Each imaginary line shall be drawn between the

upper and lower lobes of each ear and shall be positioned where the external ear

connects to the head.

E.4.3.2 The “Head Only” photo composition

The composition consists of a subject’s head, and a plain background. For a frontal- facing

pose, the width of the subject’s head shall occupy approximately 70% of the width of the

captured image. This width shall be the horizontal distance between the midpoints of two

imaginary vertical lines. Each imaginary line shall be drawn between the upper and lower

lobes of each ear and shall be positioned where the external ear connects to the head. A

template and an example are shown in Figure 25. This composition is applied to SAP 51.

For other than frontal image capture, the composition shall be rotated about an imaginary

axis extending from the top of the head through the base of the neck.

E.4.4 Head Coverings

Head coverings, including hats and scarves, shall not be worn. The full face and ears shall

be displayed. 

E.4.5 Hair

When capturing frontal, profile and angled images, the subject’s hair shall be moved to

reveal the full face and ears. If hair covers the ears, then when possible, two photographs

should be captured – one with hair in its normal state, and one with hair pulled back behind

the ears. For SAP levels 40 and above, if hair covers the ears, then when possible, two

photographs shall be captured. One should be with hair in its normal state, and a second

should be with hair pulled back behind the ears.

E.4.6 Glasses and eye patches

[2015n>] Since the 1990s, the best practice for face image capture was that subjects

who normally wear eyeglasses should wear those eyeglasses when a face image is

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captured. 

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) states that for

drivers' licences, Motor Vehicle Administrations should “Avoid eyeglasses – Glare

affects enrollment – Heavy glasses affect comparison”335 In addition, recent studies in

Australia and the United States336 have quantified the negative impact that wearing

glasses has upon automated face recognition. 

Previous versions of this standard stated “For subjects who normally wear eyeglasses,

every effort should be made to capture the mugshots with the glasses on.” This

guidance is now changed. Every effort should be made to capture the face image

for enrollment without glasses. When possible, images taken for comparison to a

database (probes) should also be taken without glasses. Note that this

recommendation does not prohibit the wearing of glasses in facial images. Whether to

allow any subjects to wear glasses is a policy decision dependent upon local needs,

conditions, and legal restrictions. For some organizations, legacy data, and

unconstrained systems, it may not be possible to require facial images without glasses.

[<2015n]

Specification of eyeglasses in Field 10.026: Subject facial description / SXS is required.

The wearing of eye patches is allowed only for medical reasons. In these cases, the

specification of the patch, in the Field 10.026: Subject facial description / SXS is

required.

E.4.6.1 Rationale for the recommendation: 'no glasses, if possible'

[2015n>] Both the Australian and US studies found:

• Eyeglasses are detrimental to automated 337 face recognition.

• When a subject wears glasses in one image, but not in another image, there is

an elevated Type-1 error rate (that the subject will not be identified)

• When a subject wears glasses and the images in the database contain people

with glasses, the rate of false matches to others is elevated. This is a Type II

error. 

• Presence of glasses increases similarity scores in imposter comparisons.

• Images with glasses dominate candidate lists when probes are wearing

335 [2015n>] AAMVA, “Facial Recognition Program – Best Practices.”, p.28, August 2015. It is

available at http://www.aamva.org/Best-Practices/

336 [2015n>] US National Body Contribution to ISO/IEC JTC 1 / SC37, “The Impact of Eye Glasses on

Face Recognition,” ISO/IEC JCT1 / SC37 N 6097, 12/22/2014 

and 

Australian experts presentation, “Impact of Glasses on Face Recognition,” ISO/IEC JTC 1 / SC37/ WG4

N 29, 12/22/2014 [<2015n]

337 [2015n>] The Australian study also found that there was a negative effect of wearing glasses on

human-operated face recognition. [<2015n]

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glasses.

• Imposter retrievals from the databases exhibit higher levels of facial

similarities when subjects are not wearing glasses.

• Glasses can occlude facial features and interfere with eye localization.

• Glasses can be detected automatically with reasonable accuracy.

[<2015n]

E.4.7 Expression

The expression should be neutral (non-smiling) with both eyes open normally (i.e., not

wide-open), and mouth closed. Every effort should be made to have supplied images

conform with this specification. A smile with closed jaw is not recommended.

E.4.8 Mouth 

Mouth shall be closed (unless medical condition precludes it).

E.4.9 Subject facial expression

The Subject facial description field shall be present in the transaction when one or more

of the facial attributes given by the type codes of Field 10.026: Subject facial description /

SXS is present in the image.

E.4.10 Subject hair color

The Subject hair color Field 10.028: Subject hair color / SHC shall be present in the

transaction.338

E.4.11 Subject eye color 

The Subject eye color Field 10.027: Subject eye color / SEC shall be present in the

transaction. 338

E.4.12 Shoulder position

Shoulder position shall be square to the camera and forward facing for frontal images.

Shoulder position shall be perpendicular to the camera for profile images.

E.4.13 Make-up and cleanliness

The subject's face should not be presented with heavy make-up, dirt, blood, etc. In an

operational environment where this may not be possible, best practice is to take a second

(set of) photographs once the subject has been cleaned up.

338 [2015n>] Removed the restriction that UNSPECIFIED' shall not be entered. [<2015n]

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E.4.14 Face count

Only one face per image is allowed.

E.4.15 Medical conditions

If bruising, injuries, bandages, or medical conditions exist, these shall be captured as is. In

an operational environment, and where business processes and legislation permit, best

practice should be to take a second picture once any bandages have been removed and any

injuries to the face have healed.

E.5 Number of photographs

Levels 50 and 51 records mandate multiple images. However, if the subject has accessories

that occlude facial features, e.g., such as eyebrow studs, ear plugs, or rings through the nose,

at least one frontal image should be captured with them and one image without. Levels 50

and 51 shall include at least five photographs of the subject: (frontal, left full profile, right

full profile, left half profile and right half profile).

Figure 23: Five poses for SAP 50 and 51

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Figure 24: A facial template and example of "Head and Shoulders" scene constraints

Figure 25: Facial image template and example of "Head Only" scene constraints

E.6 Data handling requirements

E.6.1 Compression algorithm

 E.6.1.1 SAP Levels 30 and 32 only

The algorithm used to compress mugshot and facial images shall conform to the JPEG

Sequential Baseline mode of operation as described in ISO/IEC 10918. The target size for a

JPEG compressed color mugshot image file shall be 25,000 to 45,000 bytes.

 E.6.1.2 SAP Levels 40 and above

Non-frontal facial images shall be compressed using JPEG 2000, as specified in ISO/IEC

15444. (JPEG is not allowed). There shall be one frontal facial image compressed using

lossless JPEG 2000. If multiple frontal images are in the transaction, then one image must

be compressed via lossless compression and the others can be compressed either using

lossless JPEG 2000 or lossy JPEG 2000 that meets the maximum compression limits

specified below. The best practice is to apply the lossless compression to the frontal image

with ears visible.

E.6.2 Compression ratio

The maximum compression ratio for both JPEG and JPEG 2000 of a rectangular region

containing any exposed skin of the face, from crown to chin and ear to ear, shall be at most

15:1. This requirement is derived from studies of face algorithm matching at high and low

resolutions. The non-facial portion of the mugshot, as well as other Type-10 records, can

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be compressed up to a ratio of 120:1.

Custom JPEG source code can be created to implement compression with both ROI and

fixed compression ratios. For JPEG 2000, these capabilities are built into the

implementation.

For both JPEG and JPEG 2000, care must be taken to account for automatic compression

by camera hardware. Multiple compression stages can damage the quality of photographic

data. When possible, minimum compression (highest resolutions) should be applied at the

camera level when external software performs the final (15:1 or less) compression stage.

Table 135: Example file sizes after compression

Level Minimum

WxH

Uncompressed

Size (RGB888)

Size @ 2:1

Lossless

Compression

Size @ 15:1

compression

for the entire

image

Size @ 15:1

compression for

the face and

120:1 for the

background

30/32 480x600 844 KB 58 KB 19.34 KB

40/42 768x1024 2.3 MB 156 KB 52.8 KB

50 3300x4400 42.5MB 14.2 MB

51/52 2400x3200 22.5 MB 7.5 MB

Table 135 provides the typical size of a single facial photograph using the compression

recommendations contained in this section. This table is based upon the image being

formatted as RGB888 (8 bits per color channel per pixel) for levels 30, 32, 40 and 42. Since

the face width is 50% of the image width, then the area taken by the face is estimated to be

25% of the total image area. SAP levels 50, 51, and 52 include the constraint of lossless

compression for the frontal pose facial image as discussed above.

E.7 Format requirements (SAP levels 40, 42, 50, 51 and 52)

E.7.1 The definition and range of pose angles

The Yaw and Roll angles shall be measured from the full face pose position and have a

range of values from -180 degrees to +180 degrees. The Pitch angle shall have a range of

values from -90 degrees to +90 degrees. The pose angle set is given by Tait-Bryan angles

as shown in Figure 26.

339

339 From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_angles

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Figure 26: Tait-Bryan angles statically defined with the Z-X’-Y’’ convention

The angles are defined relative to the frontal view of the subject, which has angles (0, 0, 0).

Examples are shown in Figure 27.

Yaw angle: rotation about the vertical (y) axis. A positive Yaw angle is used to express the

angular offset as the subject rotates from a full-face pose to their left (approaching a right

profile). A negative Yaw angle is used to express the angular offset as the subject rotates

from a full-face pose to their right (approaching a left profile).

Pitch angle: rotation about the horizontal side-to-side (x) axis.

Roll angle: rotation about the horizontal back to front (z) axis.

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Figure 27: Pose angle set is with respect to the frontal view of the subject

 a b c d e f g

Figure 28: Examples of pose angles and their encodings.

The pose angles (Y, P, R) of (a) – (g) in Figure 28 are given by (0, 0, 0), (+45, 0, 0), (-45,

0, 0), (0, -45, 0), (0, +45, 0), (0, 0, -45), and (0, 0, +45), respectively. (See also Section

E.7.3 The order of rotation through pose angles)

The uncertainty in the pose angles is given by the range 0 to 90, inclusive. It shall denote

approximately a maximum value of possible deviation in the measurement of the pose. This

shall correspond to a two standard deviation confidence interval.

The encoding of angles is in ASCII format, with the minus sign “-“ used to denote a

negative value and the plus “+” sign optionally used to denote a positive value. Pose angle

uncertainty angles always are positive.

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E.7.2 Subject Pose (POS) and subject pose angles (SPA)

One of either the POS or SPA fields shall be used to denote pose angles.

The code values in Field 10.020: Subject pose / POS of “F”, “R”, and “L” can be used for

images in which the Pitch and Roll angles are 0 and the Yaw angle is 0, 90, and -90

respectively. (The sign of the Yaw angle in the previous sentence corresponds to the Field

10.020 case where a right profile is when the subject is facing left).

Field 10.025: Subject pose angles / SPA can be used for the above poses and shall be used

for all other angled poses. Field 10.020: Subject pose / POS shall then be of type code

“D”, for determined 3D pose, instructing the user to use Field 10.025: Subject pose

angles / SPA as the reference for pose angles. (For example, a 3⁄4 profile capture would

require a POS field entry of “D” with the angle specified for SPA.)

A frontal view consists of a face with Yaw, Pitch, and Roll angles of zero. Field 10.025:

Subject pose angles / SPA values shall be recorded as (0, 0, 0).

A full profile view consists of a face with a Yaw pose angle of ±90 degrees, and with Pitch

and Roll angles of zero. Field 10.025: Subject pose angles / SPA values shall be recorded

as (90,0,0), subject facing left (right profile), and (-90, 0, 0), subject facing right (left

profile). For full profile photographs, the ear facing the camera should be visible, pushing

the hair back to the extent possible. For full profile images, the entire body shall be rotated

with the head.

A half profile view consists of a face with a Yaw pose angle of ±45 degrees, and with Pitch

and Roll angles of zero. Field 10.025: Subject pose angles / SPA values shall be recorded

as (45, 0, 0), subject facing left, and (-45, 0, 0), subject facing right. For half profile, the

orientation of the head is rotated 45 degrees to half profile; the rotation of the body is

recommended, but not required. Care should be taken to prevent the subject from keeping

the head fixed while changing only the gaze. SAP 50/51 records may optionally include 3⁄4

profile views, with a Yaw pose angle of ±67.5 degrees, and with Pitch and Roll angles of

zero. Subject pose angle (SPA) values shall be recorded as (67.5, 0, 0), subject facing left,

and (-67.5, 0, 0), subject facing right. In all cases, the uncertainty in the Yaw pose angle

determination shall be less than 5 degrees of the frontal photograph, and 10 degrees in the

non-frontal photographs. Uncertainty in the Pitch and Roll angles shall be less than 5

degrees.

E.7.3 The order of rotation through pose angles

As order of the successive rotation around the different axes does matter, the encoded

rotation angle shall correspond to an order of execution starting from the frontal view. This

order shall be given by Roll (about the front axis), then Pitch (about the horizontal axis) and

finally Yaw (about the vertical axis). The (first executed) Roll transformation shall therefore

always be in the image (x, y) plane. Examples are shown in Figure 29. From the point of

view of executing a transformation from the observed view to a frontal view, the

transformation order shall therefore be Yaw, Pitch, and then Roll. The encoded angle is

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from the frontal view to the observed view. The pose angles have an origin of coordinate

system at the nose tip. Figures (a)-(c) show three successive rotation steps to achieve the

pose angles (Y, P, R) of (-45, -30, +45). Figures (d)-(f) show three successive rotation steps

to achieve the pose angles (-30, +20, -30).

 (Y, P, R)=(0, 0, +45) (Y, P, R)=(0,-30, +45) (Y, P, R)=(-45, -30, +45)

 a b c

(Y, P, R)=(0, 0, -30) (Y, P, R)=(0, +20, -30) (Y, P, R)=(-30, +20, -30)

 d e f

Figure 29: Examples of the order of rotation

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Annex F: Extended Feature Set Detailed

Instructions

Normative

At the ANSI/NIST-ITL Standard Workshop I in April 2005, the Scientific Working Group

on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study, and Technology (SWGFAST) was tasked to identify,

define and provide guidance on additional fingerprint features beyond the traditional ending

ridges and bifurcations currently defined in the ANSI/NIST-ITL-2000 standard. SWGFAST

drafted a memo to NIST in response340, enumerating the features used by expert human

latent examiners that are not currently addressed in fingerprint feature standards.

SWGFAST stated its concern: “AFIS [Automated Fingerprint Identification System]

technology, since its onset, has utilized a very limited amount of fingerprint detail. Latent

print experts must rely on far more information in effecting individualizations/exclusions

than just ending ridges and bifurcations, i.e., the Type-9 minutiae record. SWGFAST is

attempting to educate and provide to the vendor community the additional features and how

they are utilized by these experts.” In response to SWGFAST, a presentation was given at

the ANSI/NIST-ITL Standard Workshop II in December 2005, entitled “Extended

Fingerprint Feature Set”, and it was proposed that a committee be convened to define an

Extended Fingerprint Feature Set as an Annex to the next ANSI/NIST-ITL standard. The

Committee to Define an Extended Fingerprint Feature Set (CDEFFS) was chartered for that

purpose. The committee included representatives from various Federal Agencies,

SWGFAST and the latent fingerprint community, and engineers from a variety of AFIS

vendors. 

This Annex to the standard and the fields associated with EFS included in Type-9 of this

version of the standard are the result of agreements reached among the members of

CDEFFS during workshops held in April, May, and July 2006, and extensive electronic

interactions and document reviews from December 2005 through March 2011, as well as

presentations and the agreement of participants in the workshops held in July 2010 and

March 2011 at NIST to include EFS in the 2011 version of the standard. 

F.1 Introduction

This annex to the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 standard defines a series of updated fields for

340 Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology 

(SWGFAST); Memo to Mike McCabe (NIST) Regarding ANSI/NIST ITL 1-2000; 

November, 2005; 

http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/standard/ansi_2010/archive/SWGFAST_Memo.pd

f

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the Type-9 record that include a broad, complete, and detailed set of friction skin

features. These fields are collectively described as the “Extended Friction Ridge Feature

Set” (EFS). Extended friction ridge features will generally correspond to a latent

fingerprint or palm [2013a] or plantar [<2013a] print image in a Type-13 record, a

fingerprint image in a Type-14 record, a palm print image in a Type-15 record, or a

plantar image in a Type-19 record.

F.2 Scope

This annex defines the content, format, and units of measurement for the definition

and/or exchange of friction ridge feature information that may be used in the

identification of a subject based on fingerprint or palm [2013a>] or plantar [<2013a]

print image information. This information is intended for an individual examiner to

define the content of a single impression or comparison of two impressions, as well as

for interchange between criminal justice administrations or organizations that use

fingerprints or palm prints [2013a>] or plantar prints [<2013a] for identification

purposes.

F.3 Purpose

The purpose of this annex is to define a quantifiable, repeatable, and clear method of

characterizing the information content or features of latent or exemplar images from

fingerprints, palm prints, or other friction ridge skin. 

Uses may include, but are not limited to: 

• Definition of the information content of a single friction ridge impression as

discerned by an examiner during analysis, for archiving, interchanges with other

examiners, validation and quality assurance processing, and quantitative analysis.

• Definition of the information content and determination of a comparison of two

friction ridge impressions as discerned by an examiner during comparison and

evaluation, for archiving, interchanges with other examiners, validation and quality

assurance processing, and quantitative analysis.

• Interoperable interchange format for automated fingerprint or palm print systems,

for human-initiated searches, fully automated searches, data interchange between

automated systems, and feedback to examiners from automated processing.

Different uses may require different subsets of the features defined in this annex. Field

9.303: EFS feature set profile / FSP defines the specific sets of EFS fields. Profiles can be

incorporated by reference into the definition of transactions: this decoupling of feature sets

from transactions enables different transactions to share a common feature set, aiding in

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interoperability.

Automated algorithms can use the extended features defined for a latent search without

explicitly computing them for the exemplar image, and thus it must be emphasized that

automated extraction of the extended features on the exemplar is not necessarily the only

nor the best way to use this information.

F.4 No features present fields

The following table shows the correspondence between related pairs of fields. For each row

in the table, only one field shall be present in a record.

For example, if there are no cores included in Field 9.320: EFS cores / COR, then Field

9.325: EFS no cores present / NCOR would be set to “Y” if analysis determined that there

were no cores discernible, but would have been omitted if analysis had not been conducted

for cores.

Table 136: Features and Corresponding presence fields

Feature fields Fields indicating lack of the feature

 Field 9.320: EFS cores / COR Field 9.325: EFS no cores present / NCOR

 Field 9.321: EFS deltas / DEL Field 9.326: EFS no deltas present /

NDEL134

 Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS Field 9.327: EFS no distinctive features

present / NDIS134

 Field 9.331: EFS minutiae / MIN Field 9.334: EFS no minutiae present /

NMIN

 Field 9.340: EFS dots / DOT Field 9.346: EFS no dots present / NDOT

 Field 9.341: EFS incipient ridges / INR Field 9.347: EFS no incipient ridges

present / NINR

 Field 9.342: EFS creases and linear

discontinuities / CLD

 Field 9.348: EFS no creases or linear

discontinuities present / NCLD

 Field 9.343: EFS ridge edge features / REF Field 9.349: EFS no ridge edge features

present / NREF

 Field 9.345: EFS pores / POR Field 9.344: EFS no pores present / NPOR

If a field shown in the second column of Table 136 is included, it will be populated with a

“Y” indicating the analysis of the image has positively determined that there are no

instances of that feature present in the image. If the analysis has not been performed for that

particular feature, or if the analysis has determined there are a number of those features

present in the image, the field in the second column of Table 136 will be omitted from the

transaction.

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F.5 Definitions of feature confidence and local quality

Local friction ridge quality (Field 9.308: EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM) is an

assessment of confidence in small local areas within an image. The local quality map is used

to define the confidence in all other features, and therefore is key information. In addition,

when the quality map indicates a high-quality region in which features are not marked, that

information can be used as “negative features” or definitive absence of features, which can

be used for exclusion.

Accurate and consistent markup of local quality is essential, and the guidelines in Table 137

and Figure 30 should be followed as closely as possible. The names and color-coding

indicated here are the result of extensive research and user feedback and are normative.

Table 137: Definitions for ridge quality map values

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Figure 30: Decision process for local ridge quality

Is any ridge information 

present?

Local area in 

Friction Ridge 

Image

LocQ 0

Background No

Are you certain of the 

continuity of ridge flow?

Yes

LocQ 1

Debatable ridge flow No

Are you certain of the 

presence and absence of 

all minutiae?

Yes

LocQ 2

Definitive ridge flow, debatable 

minutiae

No

Are the ridge edge contours 

clear and unambiguous?

Yes

LocQ 3

Definitive minutiae, 

debatable ridge edge

No

LocQ 5

All data is clear Yes

Are you certain of the presence, 

direction, and continuity of the 

ridges in the area? Are you certain 

that the ridges entering, passing 

through, and exiting the area are 

the same ridges and not due to 

another impression, double tap, or 

a smear?

Are you certain of the presence or 

absence of all minutiae in the area 

– to the extent that contradiction in 

a comparison would be reason for 

an exclusion? 

Are the edges of all ridges in the 

area clear and continuous? 

Are the pores clear and 

unambiguous?

LocQ 4

Definitive ridge edge, 

debatable pores

No

Yes

Are you certain that all pores in the 

area can be located precisely? 

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F.6 Extended friction ridge feature set fields – detailed 

instructions

The following sections provide additional definition or examples for some of the EFS 

fields described in the main text. [2015a>]Further guidance in the markup of EFS 

features in included in NIST Special Publication 1151, Markup Instructions for Extended 

 Friction Ridge Features. [<2015a]

F.6.1 Location and orientation fields

These fields define where the impression is located in the image, how it is oriented, and the

type of impression(s) present. Fields are described in this section only if there are additional

instructions and guidance beyond that covered in the Sections comprising 8.9.7 Extended

Feature Set. The fields in this grouping are:

• Field 9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI

See 8.9.7.2 EFS region of interest in Section 8.9.7 for more

information about the ROI. With the exception of Field 9.323: EFS

center point of reference / CPR, all other fields are in relation to

the ROI defined in this field, and not the original image.

• Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT

• Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP

F.6.1.2 Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT instructions

While arbitrary rotation of the image is not recommended due to image degradation

concerns, rotation of the image in multiples of 90° can be performed without image

degradation and is acceptable. See Section 8.9.7.2 for a description of the information items

contained in this field.

Figure 31: Example of orientation: -25 ± 20 degrees

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F.6.1.3 Field 9.302: EFS finger - palm - plantar position / FPP instructions

If the image/region of interest contains multiple areas, this field allows the option to label

and mark each of those areas within the region of interest. Each of the areas present shall be

indicated using the appropriate friction ridge generalized position / FGP, with a polygon

delineating each of the areas. Polygons may overlap if appropriate. See Figure 32, Figure

33 and Figure 34 for examples.

If the image is an exemplar entire joint image or full finger view (from a set of complete

friction ridge exemplars), or a latent of equivalent area, it shall be marked with the

information item friction ridge generalized position / FGP (0-10), and shall have the

individual segments marked with the information item segment polygon / SGP (See Figure

32 for segment areas)

If the image is of a palm (or foot), each of the palm areas present shall be marked with the

relevant friction ridge generalized position / FGP and delineated with the information

item segment polygon / SGP.

The information item off-center print / OCF information item is optional, but is only used

for fingerprints. An example is shown in Figure 34 of an off-center fingerprint.

Figure 32: Use of polygons to mark multiple finger segments in a latent equivalent to a

full finger view

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Figure 33: Use of polygons to mark multiple areas within a palm impressio

Figure 34: Examples of off-center fingerprint positions

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F.6.2 Overall image characteristics

F.6.2.1 Field 9.307: EFS pattern classification / PAT instructions

This field, described in Section 8.9.7.5, contains fingerprint classification information for

the image. This field shall only be used for fingerprints, and shall be omitted (left empty) for

other friction ridge impressions. 

The first information item, general class / GCF, is the general set of pattern classifications

with a value selected from Table 44 Pattern classification codes, general class column.

The second information item, subclass / SUB, is the subclass of arches and whorls selected

from Table 44 Pattern classification codes, subclass column. This information item shall

only be included if the sub-classification can be determined precisely.

The third information item, whorl - delta relationship / WDR (also known as Whorl

Tracing) may optionally be used by a human examiner or automated system to provide the

relationship between the deltas in a whorl. This information item shall only be included for

whorls if the subclass is known, and only if the whorl delta relationship can be determined

precisely. This information item shall be set to I (Inner), O (Outer), or M (Meeting),

following the guidelines from The Science of Fingerprints, p. 60 (See Section 3 Normative

references): When the deltas have been located, the ridge emanating from the extreme left

delta is traced until the point nearest or opposite the extreme right delta is reached. The

number of ridges intervening between the tracing ridge and the right delta are then counted.

If the ridge traced passes inside of (above) the right delta, and three or more ridges

intervene between the tracing ridge and the delta, the tracing is designated as an “inner”

[...] If the ridge traced passes outside of (below) the right delta, and three or more ridges

intervene between the tracing ridge and the delta, the tracing is designated as an “outer”

[...] All other tracings are designated as “meeting.”

This field may include up to seven subfields, indicating all possible pattern classifications.

Classification must be conservative: if the pattern is known precisely, only a single pattern

shall be indicated; however, if there is any doubt as to the precise classification, all possible

patterns shall be included. If the pattern cannot be classified, but a pattern type can be

definitively excluded, then that shall be indicated by including all possible patterns. For

example, a latent that contains a delta but no other pattern area information could possibly

be a left loop, right loop, whorl (of any type), or tented arch, so it would indicate 4 subfields

with the following information items specified:

general class / GCF = LS

general class / GCF = RS

general class / GCF = WU

general class / GCF = AU and subclass / SUB = TA

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Complete Scar (SR) and Dissociated Ridges/Dysplasia (DR) should only be noted if the

fingerprint cannot be classified. If the print can be classified and scar(s), dissociated ridges,

and/or dysplasia are present, this field should note the classification(s) and the scar(s),

dissociated ridges, and/or dysplasia should be noted in Field 9.324: EFS distinctive

features / DIS. The use of Field 9.322: EFS core delta ridge counts / CDR can be used to

further subcategorize pattern classification.

F.6.3 Reference points

F.6.3.1 Field 9.321: EFS deltas / DEL instructions

This field is described in Section 8.9.7.17.

For fingerprints, one or more deltas are defined for all pattern classifications other than plain

arches, as shown in Table 52 EFS delta codes. Note that tented arches should have deltas

marked if such a structure is present. Accidentals may have any number of deltas. Most

palm prints contain four interdigital deltas and one carpal delta. Other delta-like patterns

may be defined using this field if such structures are present in friction ridge images.

This field consists of the following information items:

The first two information items are mandatory. ('x' coordinate / DXC and 'y' coordinate /

DYC). They define the location of the delta, in units of 10 micrometers (10 μm = 0.01 mm).

The next three optional information items (direction up / DUP, direction left / DLF, and

direction right / DRT) define the three directions of the delta, in degrees counterclockwise

from the right. The three angles shall be reported in order by increasing angle, which for

fingerprint deltas with known orientation will result in the order up, left, then right. These

three information items may be omitted (left empty).

The sixth information item, type / DTP, is optional. It defines the type of delta, as defined in

Table 52 EFS delta codes.

The seventh information item, radius of position uncertainty / RPU, is optional. It defines

the radius of a circle centered at the location (X,Y) of the delta; the circle is sized to include

the area of other possible locations of the delta, if the precise location cannot be determined

(such as due to poor clarity). If the location is known precisely, the radius of position

uncertainty may be omitted or set to 0. The radius of uncertainty is measured in integer units

of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm), and may overlap the edge of the image.

The eighth through tenth information items (direction uncertainty up / DUU, direction

uncertainty left / DUL, and direction uncertainty right / DUR ) contain the uncertainty

of the three delta angles, in non-negative integer degrees. Valid values range from “0” to

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“180”: a value of “0” (default) indicates a certain direction, while a value of “180” indicates

an unknown orientation. If one or more deltas are present and the features set is from a

fingerprint, Field 9.307: EFS pattern classification / PAT should be defined. Note that this

does not mean that the classification has to be known definitively, but must at least be

known to the extent of excluding plain arches.

Figure 35: Palm with carpal delta and interdigital deltas 7-10 marked

F.6.3.2 Field 9.323: EFS center point of reference / CPR instructions

This field, described in Section 8.9.7.19, contains the location of a center point of reference

of a fingerprint, which can be used to define how centered a fingerprint is, as a feature, for

registration or orientation, and for quality measurements. While the core may serve some of

the same purposes, a center point of reference is defined for arches and provides a single

center location for complex whorls, unlike cores. The location of a center point of reference

can be determined using different algorithms, as stored in the Method information item, in

which case different center points of reference may be stored in different subfields.

The center point of reference is defined for fingerprints or toeprints, not for other types of

friction ridge images. This field consists of the following information items: 

The first information item is the method / CPM of determining the X,Y location, selected

from Table 138. (This is an expanded version of Table 53).

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The second and third information items ('x' coordinate / PXC and 'y' coordinate / PYC)

are the location of the center point of reference, as defined in CPM, stated in units of 10

micrometers (0.01 mm)

The fourth information item, radius of position uncertainty/ RPU, is optional. It is 0

(default) if the location is known precisely; if the precise location cannot be determined

(such as due to poor clarity), the position is marked at the best estimate of position, with a

radius including the area of other possible locations, in integer units of 10 micrometers (0.01

mm). The radius of uncertainty can overlap the edge of the image.

Table 138: Explanation of methods of determining center point of reference locations

Name Code Description

Lateral center only L

The center location is defined laterally (across the finger) but is

not meaningful in the other dimension (longitudinally, or along

the finger), such as for defining the center line of arches, tips, and

lower joints. Lateral center is only meaningful if the orientation

(Field 9.301: EFS orientation / ORT) is known; the point

marked is the center with respect to the orientation angle.

Uppermost point of the ridge

with greatest curvature 0

For a fingerprint with a known or estimated orientation, the center

point is determined by finding the highest point of each ridge that

is convex and pointing upward, and measuring the curvature/peak

angle by following the ridge 1.63 mm (0.064in) in both directions

from that point, as shown in Figure 37. The point with the

minimum angle (greatest curvature) is the center point of

reference.

Overall fingerprint focal point 1

The overall fingerprint focal point is the point where the lines

perpendicular to ridge flow converge as shown in Figure 38. The

point of convergence is determined in terms of least squares (see,

e.g., Novikov and Kot (1998)341

341 Novikov S.O and Kot V.S.; “Singular Feature Detection and Classification of Fingerprints using Hough 

Transform”; Proc. Of SPIE (Int. Workshop on Digital Image Processing and Computer Graphics (6th): 

Applications in Humanities and Natural Sciences); vol 3346, pp 259-269, 1998

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Figure 36: Lateral center example

Figure 37: Uppermost point of the ridge with greatest curvature. Measurements are

angles (degrees)

Figure 38: Overall fingerprint focal point

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F.6.4 Minutiae

F.6.4.1 Field 9.331: EFS minutiae / MIN instructions

This field is used to define the characteristics of all minutiae in the region of interest. 

Figure 39: Minutia placement for a bifurcation

The information item type / MTY of minutiae shall be marked if it is clearly identifiable as

a ridge ending or bifurcation (as selected from Table 55 EFS codes for minutia types);

otherwise, it shall be marked as unknown type (code 'X'). If the type is unknown, the

information item radius of position uncertainty/ MRU shall be indicated. As seen in

Figure 39, the center of the bifurcation should be at the "Y" of the ridge. The theta angle

should run down the valley.

Figure 40: Minutia placement for a ridge ending

As seen in Figure 40, the center of the ridge ending should be at the "Y" of the valley. The

theta angle should run up the ridge. Note that the ridge ending location corresponds with that

used for the FBI’s EFTS and INCITS 378, and differs from some vendor-specific

approaches. If the precise location for a ridge ending cannot be ascertained, a radius of

uncertainty shall be marked to include the area of possible locations.

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Figure 41: Minutia placement when type is unknown

In Figure 41, the minutia is placed as for a ridge ending, type / MTY is set to unknown,

and the radius of position uncertainty / MRU is defined to include possible points of

intersection with neighboring ridges, as shown. The type / MTY of minutia shall be set if

the examiner/encoding process is confident as to type: the “either” type ( Code 'X' from

Table 55 EFS codes for minutia types) shall be used for all minutiae that are not clearly

identifiable as a ridge ending or a bifurcation. Because of the frequency with which minutiae

appear to be ridge endings in one impression and bifurcation in another, even in clear

images, it is recommended that the minutiae type / MTY be used as supporting evidence

rather than as a basis for exclusion. All complex minutiae types (crossovers/trifurcations etc)

should be marked as combinations of bifurcation/endings. Unusually distinctive

types/combinations of minutiae should be marked as unusual minutiae/groups of minutiae in

 Field 9.324: EFS distinctive features / DIS.

The location of the minutia ( the information items 'x' coordinate and 'y' coordinate) , are

in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm). Ridge endings are located at the fork of the midpoint

of the valley (see Figure 40), and bifurcations are at the fork of the midpoint of the ridge

(Figure 39). Unknown types are marked as for ridge endings (Code 'E' in information item

type / MTY), and with the information item radius of uncertainty / MDU also defined

(Figure 41).

The direction of the minutia, the information item theta / MTD, is expressed in degrees.

The angle of the minutia is determined by constructing three virtual rays originating at the

minutia and extending 1.93 mm (0.064” – about three ridge widths) along each ridge (for a

bifurcation) or valley (for a ridge ending). The smallest of the three angles formed by the

rays is bisected to indicate the minutiae direction. 

The information item radius of position uncertainty / MRU is optional. It defines the

radius of a circle centered at the location (X,Y) of the minutia; the circle is sized to include

the area of other possible locations of the minutia, if the precise location cannot be

determined (such as due to poor clarity). If the location is known precisely, the radius of

position uncertainty may be omitted or set to 0. The radius of uncertainty is measured in

integer units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm), and may overlap the edge of the Region of

Interest.

The information item direction uncertainty / MDU is optional. It contains an integer from

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“0” (default) to “180” indicating the precision in the direction (theta) of the minutia,

measured in degrees. The resulting direction is Theta±Uncertainty°. Examples of cases in

which confidence in direction may be low include cases when the ridge stops or bends close

to the minutia so that a good angle measurement cannot be taken, or cases with three equally

spaced legs.

Note the relationship between Field 9.308: EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM and

minutiae. In areas of RQM that are green, blue or aqua, the presence and absence of

minutiae is definitive and can be used in future comparison. Otherwise, the regions should

be marked yellow.

F.6.5 Additional features

F.6.5.1 Field 9.343: EFS ridge edge features / REF instructions

This field is described in Section 8.9.7.32. 

Ridge edge features include Protrusions (abrupt increases in ridge width), Indentations

(abrupt decreases in ridge width), and Discontinuities (points where a ridge stops briefly):

• A protrusion (or spur) is an abrupt increase in ridge width that is not long enough

to be called a bifurcation. An event on a ridge longer than local ridge width shall

be marked as a standard bifurcation with a ridge ending; a shorter event shall be

marked as a protrusion. Protrusions are marked at the center of the protruding

area.

• An indentation is an abrupt decrease in ridge width. Indentations are marked at

the center of the gap in the ridge.

• A discontinuity is a point where the ridge stops briefly and restarts again without

shifting. A wider gap in the ridge flow, or where the ridges do not line up across

the divide, should be marked as two ridge endings, not a discontinuity. A series

of discontinuities in a line (such as a cut or crack) should be marked as a linear

discontinuity, using the Field 9.342: EFS creases and linear discontinuities /

CLD. A discontinuity is marked at the center of the gap in the ridge.

This field consists of three information items. The first two ('x' coordinate/ CLX and 'y'

coordinate ' CLY) are the coordinates of one endpoint in units of 10 micrometers (0.01

mm). The third information item is the type / CLT of feature. It is:

 P (Protrusion), I (Indentation), or D (Discontinuity).

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F.6.6 Corresponding features

These fields are used to define the areas or points that correspond or do not correspond

between two or more of the images contained in the current transaction: when images are

compared as candidates for individualization (potential mates), the corresponding areas and

points can be retained in these fields; similarly, the reasons for complex exclusions can be

indicated. Points of Correspondence may be marked using any type of feature, and are

explicitly not limited to minutiae.

Comparison features are especially appropriate in transactions in which one latent image is

bundled with one or more candidate/potential match images in order to show which areas

and points in the latent image correspond to areas and points in the candidate images. Such

transactions may be useful for exchanges between examiners, or for communicating results

back from AFIS searches. See Figure 12: EFS areas and points of correspondence in

rolled exemplar, latent, and plain exemplar images for an example. The latent illustrated

has two different areas of correspondence, one for each of the exemplars.

F.6.6.1 Field 9.361: EFS corresponding points or features / CPF instructions

This field, described in Section 8.9.7.48 , is used to label points or features for comparison

of the current feature set with other Type-9 feature sets in this transaction, as illustrated in

Figure 10: EFS locations of major flexion creases. This field is to be used only when two

or more images contained in a single transaction are compared, either as candidates for

individualization (potential mates), or for annotating reasons for exclusion. For each of the

images being compared, specific points or features are marked in each of the Type-9

records, with correspondence indicated by the use of the same label. Labels within a single

Type-9 record shall be unique. 

For example, if a transaction contains one latent and multiple candidate exemplars, a feature

labeled “A” in the latent’s Type-9 feature set corresponds with the feature labeled “A” (if

present) in all of the exemplar Type-9 feature sets.

Table 139: Informal explanation of types of corresponding points and features

Category Type Code Description

Definite

correspondence

Feature F The labeled feature definitely corresponds to the feature defined

by the corresponding field number / CFN and corresponding

field occurrence / FOC information items. (corresponding x

coordinate / CXC and corresponding Y coordinate / CYC are

unused)

Informally: It definitely exists & it corresponds to this specific

minutia (or dot, pore, core, etc)

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Category Type Code Description

Point P

The labeled feature definitely corresponds to the location with the

coordinates defined in the corresponding x coordinate / CXC

and corresponding Y coordinate / CYC information items.

(corresponding field number / CFN and corresponding field

occurrence / FOC information items are unused) 

Informally: It definitely exists & it corresponds to this specific

point (allows quick definition of points, rather than having to

define each feature)

Possible or

debatable

correspondence

Debatable

Feature DF

The labeled feature may debatably correspond to the feature

defined by the corresponding field number / CFN and

corresponding field occurrence / FOC information items.

(corresponding x coordinate / CXC and corresponding Y

coordinate / CYC information items are unused).

Informally: It appears to correspond to this specific minutia (or

dot, pore, core, etc), but it isn’t clear enough to be certain. 

Debatable

Point DP

The labeled feature may debatably correspond to the location with

the coordinates defined in the corresponding x coordinate / CXC

and corresponding Y coordinate / CYC information items.

(corresponding field number / CFN and corresponding field

occurrence / FOC information items are unused)

Informally: It appears to correspond to this specific point, but it

isn’t clear enough to be certain. 

Definite lack of

correspondence

Does not

exist X

The labeled feature definitely does not exist in the impression, and

the consistency of presentation of the potentially corresponding

region is sufficient to make a definite determination.

(corresponding x coordinate / CXC, corresponding Y

coordinate / CYC, corresponding field number / CFN and

corresponding field occurrence / FOC information items may

optionally be used342)

Informally: The feature isn’t there, and the regions correspond

enough that I would be able to see it if it were there – this is

presumably a justification for an exclusion.

Inconclusive Out of

region

R The labeled feature is not visible in the impression because it lies

outside of the area of correspondence for this image: the feature

may or may not be present, but the impression does not include

the relevant area (corresponding x coordinate / CXC,

corresponding Y coordinate / CYC, corresponding field

number / CFN and corresponding field occurrence / FOC

information items are unused)

Informally: It isn’t in the area of overlap, so I can’t say anything.

342 [2013n>] 2011 version stated that these are unused. It is changed in the 2013 Update to state that they

may optionally be used. [<2013n]

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Category Type Code Description

Unclear

area

U

The labeled feature is not visible in the impression because the

potentially corresponding region is not sufficiently clear: the

feature may or may not be present, but local quality issues prevent

a definite determination. (corresponding x coordinate / CXC,

corresponding Y coordinate / CYC, corresponding field

number / CFN and corresponding field occurrence / FOC

information items are unused)

Informally: I can’t tell if the feature is there because the area

where it would be is smudged or otherwise unclear.

Corresponding Points or Features may refer to arbitrary points, or may refer to predefined

features (as noted in Table 139 and Table 66 EFS codes for field numbers used for

corresponding features). Note that the features include point features (such as minutiae,

dots, or pores), but also may refer to areas (such as distinctive characteristics), lines

(incipients or creases), or paths (ridge path segments). 

Arbitrary points may be used to indicate characteristics that were not noted during analysis,

or to indicate points in an exemplar that were not previously marked up. For example, see

Table 140. Assume that a latent and exemplar are both present in a transaction, and that the

latent and exemplar columns in these tables are examples from Field 9.361: EFS

corresponding points or features / CPF from different Type-9 records in a single

transaction. The label “M1” indicates that the latent minutia (stored in Field 9.331: EFS

minutiae / MIN) #5 corresponds to location (1024, 765) within the exemplar’s 8.9.7.2 EFS

region of interest. The label / COL “X1” indicates that the dot ( Field 9.340: EFS dots /

DOT) #1 does not exist within the exemplar image.

 Field 9.361: EFS corresponding points or features / CPF consists of the following

information items:

The first information item, label / COL, 1-3 character alphanumeric label used to indicate

correspondence between feature points in different Type-9 records within the same

transaction. Labels within a single Type-9 record shall be unique. Note that the use of a

given label in one Type-9 record means that point or feature corresponds with any or all

other features with the same label in other Type-9 records in the transaction.

Table 140: Examples of corresponding points and features

Field 9.361 information Item Latent Exemplar Latent Exemplar

label / COL M1 M1 X1 X1

type of correspondence / TOC

(from Table 139: Informal explanation of types 

of corresponding points and features)

F P F X

corresponding field number / CFN 331 340

corresponding field occurrence / FOC 5 1

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corresponding x coordinate / CXC 1024 846343

corresponding y coordinate / CYC 765 992343

The second information item, type of correspondence / TOC, is a 1-2 character

information item and is set to the appropriate value from Table 139.

The third information item, corresponding field number / CFN, is used only if TOC = F

or DF). This information item indicates the field being compared as shown in Table 140:

Examples of corresponding points and features. Note that these are simply the Type-9

field numbers of the fields that can be used for comparisons.

The fourth information item, corresponding field occurrence / FOC, is used only if TOC

= F or DF. This information item indicates which subfield (occurrence) of the specified field

to which the label is applied. This is a 1-based index, not a 0-based index: occurrences are

numbered (1...count), not (0...count-1).

The fifth and sixth information items (corresponding x coordinate / CXC and

corresponding y coordinate / CYC) are used only if TOC = P or DP) These two optional

information items define the location of the CPF, in units of 10 micrometers (0.01 mm). 

[2013a>] If the type of correspondence is “X”, the CXC and CYC information items

may optionally be used to specify the location where the specified feature would have

been expected. For example, for the example used to illustrate code X in Table 139:

Informal explanation of types of corresponding points and features, if the dot with

the labeled “X1” is present in the latent image, but is definitely not present in the

exemplar, the labeled “X1” is specified for the exemplar with the approximate location

where the dot would have been expected. This is to allow the user interface to indicate

the location of the missing feature. [<2013a]

The seventh information ( comment / COM) is optional. It allows a free text comment or

description related to the CPF.

F.6.7 Ridge path: Skeletonized image and ridge path segments

Ridge path describes the course of a friction ridge. This specification provides for image or

vector representations of ridge path information: as a skeletonized image, or as a set of ridge

path segments (open path vectors). Either representation is a simplified representation of the

ridges in the image that provides a rich method of conveying information, including feature

placement, interrelationships, ridge direction, and wavelength. Note that the ridge path

representation is a means of annotating the image (rather than replacing the image): it is a

clear way of defining and communicating the specific path of each ridge, both for a human

343 [2013n>] Added in the 2013 Update to allow optional specification of coordinates for type X.

[<2013n]

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examiner and an automated extractor. 

Skeletonized image

The ridge path for the entire region of interest can be represented as a skeletonized image,

also known as a ridge tracing, which reduces the friction ridge impression to an image with

thinned representations of each ridge. The skeletonized image is a 2-tone image with a white

background and a black single-pixel-wide thinned representation of each ridge and stored in

 Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM.

Ridge Path Segments

The ridge path can be decomposed into a number of ridge path segments. Each ridge path

segment (if completely visible) is the portion of a ridge that connects two minutiae, so each

ridge path segment starts and stops either where the ridge intersects another ridge path

segment (a bifurcation) or ends (a ridge ending). In the infrequent case in which a ridge

segment forms a complete loop back on itself without intersecting another ridge segment

(such as near the core of some plain whorls or central pocket loops), the ridge path starts and

stops at a single arbitrary point on the ridge. Each ridge path segment is saved as an open

path (ordered set of vertices) in Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS; see Section

7.7.12.1, Type-9 extended feature set (EFS) paths for information on path formats.

Incipient ridges, dots, ridge discontinuities, and protrusions are not included in the ridge

path representation.

Figure 42: Example of interrelationships between minutiae, with connecting ridge

path segments highlighted

Note that often ridge path segments are not visible over their entire length due to image

clarity problems or due to being truncated by the edge of the impression, and therefore one

or both ends of a ridge segment may not end at points defined as minutiae. Effective use of

ridge path representations requires distinguishing between any areas in which the skeleton is

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debatable rather than definitive. Field 9.308: EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM is

used for this purpose: Table 141 shows the relationship between the local quality values and

the ridge path. Figure 43 shows an example of a skeletonized image with a quality map:

black and red areas (quality 0-1) have no skeleton; the yellow areas are poor (quality 2) and

the skeleton information is not definitive; in other areas the skeleton is definitive.

Table 141: Local ridge quality and tracing

Ridge Path

Local

Quality

Code

Name Display

Color

Ridge path is definitive

5 Definitive pores

4 Definitive ridge edges, debatable pores

3 Definitive minutiae, debabatable ridge edges

Ridge path is detabable 2 Definitive ridge flow, debabatele minutiae

No ridge path

1 Debatable ridge flow

0 Background

Figure 43: Examples of fingerprint, skeletonized representation, and overlay of

original / skeleton / quality map

A ridge skeleton can represent sophisticated interrelationships between features. For

example, Figure 42 shows that the bifurcation in green shares the same ridge with the three

minutiae in red. The human latent fingerprint comparison process relies heavily on such

feature interrelationships.

Note that the PATH format permits the treatment of each ridge segment as a distinct feature,

indexed by its (1-based) subfield number. Each ridge segment can be associated with the

minutiae at its ends and features such as pores and ridge edge features along its length. Dots

and incipients can be associated with the ridge segments on either side. Each ridge ending is

associated with one ridge segment; each bifurcation is associated with three ridge segments.

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In the case that the type of minutia cannot be determined or its precise location cannot be

ascertained, a minutia can be tentatively associated with any ridge segments that cross the

minutia’s radius of uncertainty, as shown in Figure 44. 

Figure 44: Examples of minutiae of uncertain type and radii of uncertainty, without

and with ridge segments

F.6.7.1 Field 9.372: EFS skeletonized image / SIM instructions

The skeletonized image, also known as a ridge tracing, is stored as a 1-bit per pixel

grayscale PNG344 compressed image, bit-packed 6 bits per character using base-64

representation (See Annex A: Character encoding information). (Note that the result is a

bit-packed image with 6 pixels per base-64 character). The entire PNG-formatted image file

is included as a single subfield. Interlacing, alpha transparency, and color palettes shall not

be used. The resolution of the skeletonized image must be the same as the original image.

Each black pixel can have 1, 2, or 3 neighboring black pixels; other values (0, 4-8) are

errors. The skeletonized image’s dimensions shall be identical to that specified in Field

9.300: EFS region of interest / ROI.

The values in Field 9.308: EFS ridge quality/confidence map / RQM are used to

distinguish between the areas in which the skeleton is debatable and those in which it is

definitive.

F.6.7.2 Field 9.373: EFS ridge path segments / RPS instructions

Each skeletonized ridge segment is stored as a separate subfield, as an open path of

consecutive vertices (see Section 7.7.12.1 Type-9 extended feature set (EFS) paths). Each

endpoint of a ridge segment is either shared by 3 ridge segments (at a bifurcation) or is

unique to a single ridge segment (at a ridge ending). 

344 See ISO/IEC 15948:2004 in Section 3 Normative references.

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Annex G: Mapping to the NIEM IEPD

Informative

Machine-readable tables, which map the elements defined in the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011

specification to the specific XML elements used to implement them in the NIEM‐

conformant XML encoding (described in Annex C: NIEM-conformant encoding rules)

are available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_references.cfm). Note that the allowed

elements and their cardinalities may be more restrictive in this Annex than in the

accompanying schema, due to the reuse of complex types across multiple record types, in

accordance with NIEM conformance requirements. 

[2013a>] The requirements in the standard may be more restrictive than those included in

the associated schema. For instance, in the Type-19 record, the element name

biom:PlantarPositionCode is used in Fields 19.013, 19.018, 19.019 and 19.024. The valid

codes for Field 19.013: Friction ridge (plantar) generalized position / FGP range from

60 to 79, as listed in Table 9 Friction ridge position code & recommended image

dimensions. For Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP the codes 60 and 63 are

excluded (unknown sole and unknown toe). All other codes are valid. In Field 19.019:

Friction ridge - toe segment position(s) / FSP the codes are restricted to 64 through 73,

since this field deals with specific, known toes only. Field 19.024: Friction ridge -

plantar print quality metric / FQM allows the full range of 60 through 79. The table of

possible values for biom:PlantarPositionCode is set to 60 through 79. Therefore, the IEPD

generator or a conformance checking program will need to verify that only the smaller set

of valid values for Field 19.019: Friction ridge - toe segment position(s) / FSP and

Field 19.018: Amputated or bandaged / AMP are entered into the data. 

Note that the schema requires that Record Type-2 be before Types 4-99, which is not

required for the Traditional encoding. [<2013a]

[2015a>] Available machine-readable Tables (MRT) can be found at:

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_references.cfm 

An MRT is a file which takes table-based definitions for fields and transactions as

defined in the ANSI/NIST-ITL standard and converts them into a machine-readable

format. The master format of an MRT is in XML. Instead of manually recording the

information into your software, you can download and use the MRTs to make the

process more seamless and eliminate the manual step. At the time of publication,

Machine Readable Tables area available for ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 and ANSI/NISTITL 1-2011:Update 2013 only. [<2015a]

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Annex H: Conformance Specifications

[2015n>] Biometric Conformance Test Software (BioCTS)345 for ANSI/NIST-ITL

supports testing of biometric transactions for conformance to the ANSI/NIST-ITL

standards. The conformance tests performed by the software are based on the

Conformance Testing Methodology documents in NIST SP 500-295 R.1346 for the 2011

version and the Conformance Testing Methodology Framework documented in NIST

SP 500-304 347 for the 2013 Update. New versions of the Conformance Testing

Methodology Framework and BioCTS software may be developed to support the 2015

Update after its publication. [<2015n]

345 See http://www.nist.gov/itl/csd/biometrics/ansi-nist.cfm

346 Available at 

http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/BiomResCenter/CTA_BETA/DRAFT_NIST_SP_500_295_REV_1_DRAF

T.pdf

347 Available at http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.500-304.pdf

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Annex I: Bibliography

Informative

The following bibliography includes documents not listed as normative references in

Section 3 Normative references. 

[2015n>]

AAMVA, Facial Recognition Program Best practices, August 2015. It is available at 

www.aamva.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=7061

[<2015n] 

ANSI INCITS 378-2009, Finger Minutiae Format for Data Interchange.

348

ANSI/INCITS 379- 2009 Iris Image Interchange Format. 348

ANSI/INCITS 385-2009 Information technology - Face Recognition Format for Data 

Interchange. 

348

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000, Information systems – Data Format for the Interchange of 

Fingerprint, Facial, and Scar Mark & Tattoo (SMT) Information.

349

ANSI/NIST-ITL 1a-2009, 'Update to Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, 

Facial & Other Biometric Information” for multiple finger capture designations. 349

ANSI X3.172-1990, Information Systems --- Dictionary for Information Systems.

348

[2015n>]

ICAO, Document 9303, Machine Readable Travel Documents, Seventh Edition, 2015, 

Part 3: Specifications Common to all MRTDs. It is available at 

http://www.icao.int/publications/Documents/9303_p3_cons_en.pdf

[<2015n] 

ISO/IEC 19794-5, Information Technology – Biometric data interchange formats – Part

5: Face image data.350

ISO/IEC 19794-6 Information Technology – Biometric data interchange formats – Part

6: Iris Image Data 350

348 It is available at http://www.incits.org

349 It is available at http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm

350 All ISO documents available from the American National Standards Institute, 11 West 42nd Street, New 

York, NY 10036.

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Introduction to the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), Document Version 

0.3, NIEM Program Management Office, February 12, 2008 

http://reference.niem.gov/niem/guidance/introduction/0.3/niem-introduction-0.3.pdf

National Information Exchange Model Concept of Operations, NIEM Program 

Management Office, January 9, 2007. It is available at:

https://reference.niem.gov/niem/guidance/concept-of-operations/0.5/concept-ofoperations-0.5.pdf 

NIST Interagency Report 7629, IREX I, Performance of Iris Recognition Algorithms on 

Standard Images, September 22, 2009. It is available at http://iris.nist.gov

[2015n>] NIST Special Publication 500-280 V2: Mobile ID Device Best Practices

Recommendation Version 2.0.349[<2015n]

[2015n>] NIST Special Publication 500-289: Compression Guidance for 1000 ppi

Friction Ridge Imagery; http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-289[<2015n]

Novikov S.O and Kot V.S.; “Singular Feature Detection and Classification of 

Fingerprints using Hough Transform”; Proc. Of SPIE (Int. Workshop on Digital Image 

Processing and Computer Graphics (6th): Applications in Humanities and Natural 

Sciences); vol 3346, pp 259-269, 1998

Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST);

Memo to Mike McCabe (NIST) Regarding ANSI/NIST ITL 1-2000; November, 2005; 

http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/standard/ansi_2010/archive/SWGFAST_Memo.pdf 

Techniques for Building and Extending NIEM XML Components, Version 2.0.1, August 

7, 2007, Georgia Tech Research Institute. It is available at 

https://reference.niem.gov/niem/guidance/techniques-for-building-andextending/2.0.1/techniques-for-building-and-extending-niem-2.0.1.pdf

NIST memo, WSQ Compression Change in Subband Variance Computation, October 4, 

2010. It is available at http://biometrics.nist.gov/cs_links/wsq/WSQ_notice.pdf

[2013n>] [2013d>] [2013v>]

American Board of Orthodontics, The American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) Digital 

Model Requirements. It is available at https://www.americanboardortho.com/media/1157/abo-digitalmodel-requirements.pdf

ANSI S3.5-1997, American National Standard Methods for Calculation of the Speech

Intelligibility Index (SII)

Apple Computer, Inc., Audio Interchange File Format: “AIFF”, A Standard for

Sampled Sound Files, Version 1.3, January 4, 1989.

Audio Engineering Society, “AES standard for audio metadata - Audio object

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structures for preservation and restoration”, AES57-2011, Sept. 21, 2011

Audio Engineering Society, “AES standard for audio metadata - Core audio metadata”,

AES60-2011, Sept. 22, 2011

Collaborative Digitization Program, Digital Audio Working Group, “Digital Audio Best

Practices”, version 2.1, October, 2006, 

http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/systems/digitalinitiatives/docs/digital-audio-

 bp.pdf

Coward R.C.; The Stability of Lip Pattern Characteristics Over Time; Journal of

Forensic Odonto-Stomatology, Vol. 25, No. 2, December 2007, pp 40-56

Crystal, D., Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing,

2008.

Dailey J.C.; Aging of Bitemarks: A Literature Review, Journal of Forensic Sciences

1997;42(5):792-795 

Dorion R.B.J.; Bitemark Evidence, A Color Atlas and Text, Second Edition, 2012, CRC

Press

Golden, S.G.; Use of Alternative Light Source Illumination in Bite Mark Photography,

Journal of Forensic Sciences Vol 39, No.3, May 1994, pp. 815-823

Intel Corporation, Programming with the x87 Floating Point Unit. It is available at

http://docplayer.net/334928-Programming-with-the-x87-floating-point-unit.html

ISO 12233:2000 Photography – Electronic still-picture cameras – Resolution

measurements. 

ISO 2382-2:1976 Information Technology – Vocabulary: Part 2 Data Processing. 

ISO 2382-37:2012, Information technology – Vocabulary – Part 37: Biometrics

ISO/IEC 19794-10:2007, Biometric data interchange formats – Part 10: Hand silhouette

data

ISO/IEC 19794-7:2007/Cor. 1:2009, Biometric data interchange formats – Part 7:

Signature / sign time series data/ Cor. 1

ISO/IEC 19794-9:2007, Biometric data interchange formats – Part 9: Vascular image

data

ITU-T Recommendation G.701, Vocabulary of Digital Transmission and Multiplexing,

and Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) Terms, March, 1993.

Kaminski J.A., Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks – A New Application of the ABFO #2

Scale, Journal of Forensic Sciences, Vol 49, No.6, November 2004, pp. 1332-1334.

M. Muthusubramanian, K.S. Limson, R. Julian, Analysis of Rugae in Burn Victims and

Cadavers to Simulate Rugae Identification in Cases of Incineration and Decomposition,

The Journal of Forensic Odonto-Stomatology, Vol. 23, No.1, June 2005.

National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Digital Imaging and Communications

in Security (DICOS) Information Object Definitions (IODs), NEMA IIC v02, 2012. 

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NIST Special Publication 500-289, 1000 ppi Fingerprint Imagery Compression Profile

for the ANSI/NIST Standard, Version 1.0. It is available at

http://www.nist.gov/publication-portal.cfm Enter “500-289” in the 'Simple text

search' to retrieve the document. 

NIST Special Publication 500-295 Conformance Testing Methodology for ANSI/NISTITL 1-2011, Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial & Other Biometric

Information (Release 1.0), August 2012. It is available at

http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/BiomResCenter/CTA_BETA/DRAFT_NIST_SP_500_

295_REV_1_DRAFT.pdf

NIST Special Publication 500-304 Conformance Testing Methodology Framework for

ANSI/NIST-ITL 10211 Update:2013, Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint,

Facial & Other Biometric Information, August 2015. It is available at

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.500-304.pdf

NIST Special Publication 1151, Markup Instructions for Extended Friction Ridge

Features, January 2013 is available at

http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.1151.pdf

Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, Unified Victim

Identification System (UVIS) Information Guide, August 24, 2009. It is available at

http://www.nyc.gov/html/ocme

Oxford English Dictionary Thumb Index Edition, 10th Edition, 2002

Pallett D., Performance Assessment of Automatic Speech Recognizers, Journal of

Research of the National Bureau of Standards, Volume 90, Number 5, SeptemberOctober 1985

Podio, F., Published Biometric Standards Developed by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC37 –

Biometrics and Adopted by INCITS as INCITS/ISO/IEC Standards. It is available at

https://standards.incits.org/apps/group_public/download.php/ 36177 /Adopted_I

 nternational_ Standards.pdf

Senn D.R. and Stimson P.G.; Forensic Dentistry, Second Edition, 2010, CRC Press

Silver W.E and Souviron R.R.; Dental Autopsy, 2009, CDC Press 

Suzuki K and Tsuchihashi Y; New Attempt of Personal Identification by Means of Lip

Print, Journal of the Indian Dental Association, January 1970, pp 8-9

[<2013v] [<2013d] [<2013n]

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ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: UPDATE 2015 

Annex J: Errata

Normative

J.1 Introduction

Although each version of the standard has been submitted to careful proofreading by the Editor and the

Community of Interest (COI), errors do sometimes go undetected. 

Errata are considered to be text erroneously published in the ITL or its Supplements that does not

accurately reflect the intended requirements as approved by the COI.

A compilation of errata is maintained on the homepage of the standard

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm to ensure that ITL users receive errata information

in a timely manner. Any errata listed on the website will be incorporated into the next revision of the

standard.

The issuance of an erratum does not lessen the value of the original publication. Since the vast majority

of the standard's content is unaffected by errata.

Users are encouraged to send notice of any possible errors in the standard to the e-mail address posted at

http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/ig/ansi_standard.cfm. 

J.2 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Errata

Two errors have been fixed with this errata:

1. The verbiage surrounding wearing glasses during facial image capture has been updated to include

“legal restrictions” when evaluating implementation-specific procedures.

2. Iris acquisition profiles has been updated to change greater than (>) and less than (<) signs to be 

greater than or equal to (≥) and less than or equal to (≤), respectively. Also to specify exposure 

times for IAP 20, IAP 30, and IAP 40.

December 2015 ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011 Update:2015 Page 571

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