·German software vendor Derdack has been awarded Finalist in the German Innovation Award 2004 for its solution for mobile art crime investigation

Thanks to an innovative solution by Derdack, art thefts can soon be investigated much more quickly and efficiently. Until now investigators needed to carry a notebook and an image catalogue on two CD-ROMs and manually browse through the image library in order to identify stolen pieces of art they have seen on the go. Using Derdack’s solution investigators now simply take a picture with a PDA and its built-in camera. Wirelessly and within seconds, they get the information on the stolen piece of art back and can quickly decide about actions to take. There is currently no comparable system throughout the world.

Derdack’s unique solution combines latest mobile technology with high-profile image processing research of the German Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology. It consists of a software program running on Pocket PCs or Smartphone with a built-in camera.

This software picks up pictures taken by the camera and sends them to an image processing server which is connected an art databases. The image analysis system now compares the received information, i.e. the photograph, with images stored in the database and returns the result to the mobile device almost in real time. If the image processing information match and the piece of art turns out to be stolen or missing, the investigators can take immediate action. The solution can be used for tracing stolen paintings, valuable art pieces, forged products, and vehicles.

The image processing technology of Fraunhofer Institute analyzes the photograph on the basis of structure, texture, color and contour. The analysis is not affected by reflections, damage or shooting conditions and delivers results even in case of differences to the original picture. If the original item cannot be found in the database the system returns a list of similar objects.

Derdack’s mobile solution provides an easy-to-use, graphical user interface and is optimized for both GPRS or UMTS (3G). Latest compression and encryption technologies guarantee fast and secure communication over the wireless network. A fast return on investment is guaranteed as the solution is based on standard PDAs and Smartphones and does not require proprietary hardware. The system is suitable for various purposes and organizations including police, customs, border police, insurance companies, art dealers, art collectors and others.

Derdack’s mobile art investigation solution was nominated for the German Brandenburg/Berlin Innovation Price 2004 and has been awarded finalist.