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The forensic holodeck: an immersive display for forensic crime scene reconstructions

Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

In forensic investigations, crime scene reconstructions are created based on a variety of three-dimensional image modalities. Although the data gathered are three-dimensional, their presentation on computer screens and paper is two-dimensional, which incurs a loss of information. By applying immersive virtual reality (VR) techniques, we propose a system that allows a crime scene to be viewed as if the investigator were present at the scene.

Methods

We used a low-cost VR headset originally developed for computer gaming in our system. The headset offers a large viewing volume and tracks the user’s head orientation in real-time, and an optical tracker is used for positional information. In addition, we created a crime scene reconstruction to demonstrate the system.

Discussion

In this article, we present a low-cost system that allows immersive, three-dimensional and interactive visualization of forensic incident scene reconstructions.

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Correspondence to Lars C. Ebert.

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Ebert, L.C., Nguyen, T.T., Breitbeck, R. et al. The forensic holodeck: an immersive display for forensic crime scene reconstructions. Forensic Sci Med Pathol 10, 623–626 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-014-9605-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-014-9605-0

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