Biometric and Forensics Research 

Database Catalog

Project Briefing

January 23, 2015

Shannan R. Williams

Project Manager

Forensic Science Research Program 

Shannan.Williams@nist.gov
Forensic Science Program Overview

MISSION

The Office of Special Programs’ Forensic Science 

Program (FSP) will be the premier resource for 

forensic science standards through research, 

development, testing, evaluation, outreach, and 

advocacy.

VISION

To promote and enhance the application of science 

to the pursuit of justice.
To achieve this mission:

 We provide access to research, measurement science, and 

standards that make the forensic science community more 

successful

 We form the best teams to develop solutions to complex 

forensic science problems

 We create opportunities for success at NIST through 

trusted and reliable partnerships

 We connect NIST scientists with forensic practitioners to 

better use the full range of competencies that make NIST a 

unique agency

Forensic Science Program Overview
Project Outputs of These Activities Include:

• Standard reference materials development 

• Guidance documents development

• Design of test methods, operating procedures, 

measurement tools, equipment guidelines, and artifact 

standards

• Research to develop and validate emerging technologies 

and science

• Technology transfer

• Providing strategic counsel, management, technical 

assistance, and outreach

Forensic Science Program Overview
The Biometric and Forensic Dataset 

Project

NIJ has sponsored NIST to:

• Create a comprehensive catalog of publicly 

available biometric and forensic datasets for 

the following modalities: finger/palmprints, 

iris, face, person at a distance, voice, and 

handwriting; and 

• Host a symposium to discuss the adequacy of 

existing publicly-available datasets and the 

future needs in these areas. 
The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort

Goals

- To provide a pointer to publicly available 

datasets for researchers

- To provide baseline data on existing publicly 

available datasets to determine gaps for 

future collections

- To use lessons learned to establish best 

practices in developing databases 
Data Collection

Phase 1 – Collect comprehensive listing of 

existing databases

Phase 2 – Categorize based on taxonomy

Phase 3 – Evaluate and assess quality of datasets

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Catalog Effort
Where did we look?

1. Web searches

2. Journal articles 

3. Universities with well known programs in 

biometrics

- WVU, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Carnegie 

Mellon, etc.

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort

So far we’ve found 362 datasets...
Person

22%

Friction Ridge

11%

Iris

9% Handwriting

11%

Face

39%

Voice

4%

Other

4%

Datasets by Modality

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort

Total: 362

*About 5% 

(18) of the 

databases 

were multimodal
Site Development 

– Site created with in-house NIST Office of System 

Information Management (OISM) developers

– Can be used internally for data entry and 

externally to conduct searches 

– Users are capable of conducting two types of 

searches: via text or via taxonomy

– 165 databases currently entered

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort

https://tsapps.nist.gov/BDbC/
https://tsapps.nist.gov/BDbC/

Catalog Homepage

Options to 

search via 

text or 

taxonomy

Related NIST 

pages 
https://tsapps.nist.gov/BDbC/Search

Search Via Text 

Page
Search by text or taxonomy

Details 

about each 

database 

record are 

included in 

catalog
- Title

- Website

- Managing Organization

- Contributing 

Organization

- Country

- Description

- Subjects Description

- Special Notes

- Status

- Access Requirements

- Related Publication

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort

Data Collection – Entry Details
Taxonomy Categories

- 212 categories

- Major categories include: modality, data type, 

quality, method of associating mated subjects, 

capture, and misc. data characteristics

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort

Data Collection 

https://tsapps.nist.gov/BDbC/Search/SearchByTaxo

nomy
We need your help...

- Please provide your feedback to the existing 

catalog, how it is categorized, and whether it 

is useful

- All the information collected will be used in 

road map and best practice guide for 

developing future databases

BDBC@nist.gov

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort
Acknowledgements

Melissa Taylor

Brag Wing

Austin Hicklin

Lina Nardecchia

Colin Bowers

Robert Commarota

Sushama Singh

The Biometric and Forensic Database 

Cataloging Effort
Questions?

Shannan R. Williams

Shannan.Williams@nist.gov

301-975-8021