Longitudinal Shoe Study: Paper + Powder images

Images of 160 shoe prints (“Nike Winflo 4” or “Adidas Seeley”; 4 sizes each) made using fingerprint powder on paper, with associated measurements and data about shoe wear, surfaces, and wearers.

Each pair of shoes was worn for at least 10,000 steps per week over a 6-month period, with multiple measurements of the shoe soles taken initially and during three check-in periods spaced at approximately 5 week intervals.

The images are accompanied by 3 CSV files describing the shoes, visit (information collected from surveys along with the shoes), and individual images. The codebooks contain descriptions of the variables in each of the CSV files as well as a more extensive description of the file naming scheme outlined in the README.

These files can be used to examine wear pattern development, to look for the presence of identifying characteristics among shoes with similar features, and to develop algorithms for matching shoes based on individualizing characteristics. In addition, the paper prints include manipulations of the kinematic effects of the shoe print process: different actions were recorded including careful stepping, jumping, smudging, and walking. These prints may be useful when developing algorithms to match prints across different types of motion.