ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2007 in Traditional Format

The first version of this standard, ANSI/NBS-ICST 1-1986, was published by NIST (formerly the National Bureau of Standards) in 1986. It was a minutiae-based standard that required a minimum amount of memory for the exchange and storage of fingerprint information. In 1993 an updated version of the "Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint Information" standard (ANSI/NIST-CSL 1-1993) was approved by ANSI. While retaining the provision for minutiae data, the standard focused on formats for the exchange of fingerprint images rather than processed minutiae data. In 1997 an addendum was approved to provide for the interchange of facial ("mugshot") image data and captured image data from scars, marks, and tattoos. The addendum carried the ANSI designation of ANSI/NIST-ITL 1a-1997.

A workshop convened in 1998 to review the standard and its addendum. This resulted in a new revision that merged the two documents, emphasized the tagged-field record, and introduced new record types for the exchange of recorded fingerprint, latent, and palm print images. The revision was titled “Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial, & Scar Mark & Tattoo (SMT) Information” and carried the ANSI designation of ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000. This current version of the standard is the result of agreements reached during two workshops held in April and December of 2005 to review the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000 standard. During the first workshop, proposals to update the standard were introduced. The proposals were refined and presented for discussion and approval during the second workshop. The major enhancements in this revision include:

• Image quality and segmentation data to support the processing of the "flat" images
• Definition of a new block of minutiae fields to harmonize with the INCITS M1 minutiae
  standard
• Best practice application levels for the capture of facial images
• A new record type for the exchange of iris information
• A new record type to contain biometric information not described in this standard but
  conformant to other registered biometric data format standards; and
• An XML alternative representation for this standard.