3D scanning and imaging for quick documentation of crime and accident scenes

Fast documentation of complex scenes where accidents or crimes occurred is fundamental not to lose information for post-event analyses and lesson learning. Today 3D terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry offer instruments capable of achieving this task. The former allows the fast geometric reconstruction of complex scenes through dense point clouds. Different kinds of instruments can be used according to the size of the area to survey and to the required level of details. The latter can be used for both geometric reconstruction and for photo-realistic texturing of laser scans. While photogrammetry better focuses on small details, laser scanning gives out a more comprehensive view of geometry of whole crime/accident scene. Both techniques can be used for recording a scene just after a crime or a disaster occurred, before the area is cleared out to recover regular activities. Visualization of results through an easy-to-use 3D environment is another import issue to offer useful data to investigators. Here two experiences of crime scene documentation are proposed.