Reference:
Medland, S.E., Park, D. A., Loesch, D. Z., Martin, N. G. (2007). RIDGECOUNTER: A program for obtaining semi-automated finger ridge counts. Annals of Human Biology (Acepted April 07)
Finger-ridge count is a valuable quantitative phenotype used in a wide range of biological and anthropological research. However, the scoring of the phenotype is both labor intensive and error prone. We describe a freely available software program RIDGECOUNTER that can be used to obtain ridge counts from digitized prints (either collected using a digital finger print scanner or scanned from an inked print). The program yields semi-automated ridge counts and logs the location of the user selected core and delta points to aid in the training of new researchers and ensure the repeatability of count. In a validity study of 451 prints, the semi-automated ridge counts of digital prints showed good agreement (r = .957) with traditional manual counts of inked rolled prints (which were obtained 2 years apart and counted by different researchers). In a reliability study of 200 prints, semi-automated ridge counts derived from digital prints collected at two different time points also showed good agreement (r = .962) (the prints were obtained 2 years apart and counted by the same researcher). Although designed for use with fingerprints the program is suitable for use with palm, foot or toe prints using user defined landmarks.
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