Facial geometry
A facial recognition system is a computer driven application for automatically identifying a person from a digital image. It does that by comparing selected facial features in the live image and a facial database.
It is typically used for security systems and can be compared to other biometrics such as fingerprint or eye iris recognition systems. The London Borough of Newham, in the UK, has a facial recognition system built into their borough-wide CCTV system; see also Closed-circuit television.
Popular recognition algorithms include eigenface, fisherface and the Hidden Markov model.
Critics of the technology complain that the LB Newham scheme has, as of 2004, never recognised a single criminal, despite several criminals in the system's database living in the Borough and the system having been running for several years. An experiment by the local police department in Tampa, Florida, had similarly disappointing results.
See also
