VERTICAL SCENE MAPPING

using Digital camera and VistaFX

There is an easy method to collect facts and measurements off any true, vertical plain.  This has great application for nearly all aspects of scene documentation by Public Safety forensic investigators.  Location of finger prints, bullet holes, shrapnel, various patterns and other ‘foreign’ objects. 

The purpose of documenting this by digital pic and further rectifying it is the same for forensic scene information collected on an otherwise flat, horizontal plain ~ to document locations and illustrate relationships between evidence points.

You will first want to ascertain that the digital pic is in either .bmp or .jpg format and that you know of its location on your PC, mobile device or Camera.

In VistaFX, pick the IMAGE TOOL button found on the top tool bar, as shown here-

In the ‘properties’ dialog area at screen bottom, choose the “scaled image” button, as shown here-

L-click at screen center to open the “select Image file” dialog box.  Then LOOK IN, or find your .bmp or .jpg file.

Notice below, once the image is on the screen, the ‘grips’ on the scalar line.  Pick one and move it to one end of an area where a KNOWN DISTANCE was measured.  In this example, a distance of 1.55 was measured vertically along the B-pillar from the bottom of the drivers’ window to the top of the same window.

In this example, a distance of 1.55 ft. (always Ft/Tenths) measured along the upper drivers side B-pillar from the bottom of the drivers’ window to the top of the same window, seen here-

This distance is then substituted for the [L]ength input as shown here (as well as the desired height for the measurement-text font.

Then, so long as the plain is of a Vertical nature, all measurements can then be determined using the DIMENSION TOOL from the top tool-bar.

And because the photo can be scaled from a known ‘reference’ measurement, all measurements then are within significant limits of accuracy.

This digital pic demonstrates further use of this proven method of further documenting Vertical Scenes when other means are not available.

This accurate technique has great application possibilities and is only limited by the users’ imagination!! 

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