title: The forensic holodeck: an immersive display for forensic crime scene reconstructions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this article, we present a low-cost system that allows immersive, three-dimensional and interactive visualization of forensic incident scene reconstructions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Medicine, Virtopsy, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190/52, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland, lars.ebert@virtopsy.com.
authors.forename: Lars C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: Tuan T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Breitbeck
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Thali
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003415:Crime; D044709:Forensic Ballistics / Q000295:instrumentation; D044707:Forensic Sciences / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D012985:Software Design; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D018910:Video Games