The Magna Database: A Database of Three-Dimensional Facial Images for Research in Human Identification and Recognition

The most common means of identifying people from photographs involves facial comparisons. The history of forensic facial comparisons extends back for many decades. However, what is lacking is a quantitative means of establishing a match between two facial images, and in the event of a match, there is no process by which to estimate the frequency of any given face shape in the general population. A key resource required to further scientific investigation in forensic facial comparison is a large database of precise facial measurements collected in 3-D, which can be used to develop tools for face-shape comparison and frequency estimation. This paper reports on the development of such a database that includes both 3-D and 2-D datasets and is available for dissemination to researchers in crime prevention and detection via agreement between government agencies. The details of data collection, database contents, and structure are presented, and its value in research and arrangements for dissemination are discussed.