Errors in landmarking and the evaluation of the accuracy of traditional and 3D anthropometry

Body dimensions are based on landmarks of the body, but the magnitude of error in landmark determination is not well known. Therefore, a study was performed in which 40 subjects were marked five times in total by one highly skilled marker and a novice marker. Immediately after marking, a skilled measurer determined 34 body dimensions that were based on the mark locations. Intra- and inter-observer errors in landmarking of 35 landmarks, as well as those in 34 body dimensions were quantified. The error in landmarking was defined as the distance between two marks made on the same landmark by the same marker (intra-observer error) or by two different markers (inter-observer error). To make the first mark invisible when the second mark was made, the first mark was made using an invisible ink pen under black light. Landmarks with large intra-observer errors also had large inter-observer errors. Errors in body dimensions were smaller than landmarking errors in 23 measurements, which suggested that the magnitude of landmarking error would be underestimated from errors in body dimensions. In 15 body dimensions, measurements based on marks made by two different markers were not comparable according to the ISO 20685 criterion. Examination of body dimensions and landmarks with large inter-observer errors suggested that reducing inter-observer landmarking errors was necessary to reduce inter-observer measurement errors, and that a possible solution was to explicitly define landmarks with large errors in more detail so that anthropometrists can pinpoint them on the skin. Quantitative data on the intra- and inter-observer landmarking errors in the present study may be useful as a reference when evaluating and comparing the performance of software for calculating landmark locations for 3D anthropometry.