PURPOSE: To contrive enhancement of the accuracy of a person-specifying means such as a certificatory photograph, by extracting the features of a face characteristic of a person as optical, electronic or chemical signals to formulate the features into a map, and recording a map signal thus obtained in a recording medium as data.

CONSTITUTION: The features of a face 1 characteristic of a person are extracted as optical, electronic, chemical or other information signals 2 to formulate the features into a mapping 3, and a mapping signal 4 thus obtained is recorded in a recording medium 5 such as a computer, a card and a photograph as data. The mapping of the face features and the quantification of the mapping signal 4 are carried out by applying an information-processing means 6 such as a mathematical technique (e.g., vectorization) and a physical technique (e.g., laser holography) to the recesses and projections in the profile, the positions of the eyes and the nose on the front face or the like. The recording of the mapping signal and the data is carried out by encipherment or other physical technique or the like to provide confidentiality, thereby producing a certificatory mapped matter 7 for specification of the persion. The optical signal is a wave signal such as laser, whereas the electronic signal is an electric, magnetic or other physical signal, and the chemical signal is a biological signal (e.g., molecular DNA) or the like. The formulation of the mapping means selectively extracting elements from a mathematical set according to a rule, and arranging the elements through formulation according to a rule.