What is Bluejay?
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Bluejay is a set of Java™ objects for the processing, display
and querying of XML encoded linear
scale data. The main subject for analysis in our implementation are genetic and protein sequences,
where features fall somewhere on the linear molecules. Bluejay is growing
with the goal of creating a graphical genetic data viewer with point-and-click
data mining capabilities, such as those available through your standard Web browser.
If the image to the left was animated when you first loaded this document,
you should have all you need. Otherwise click on the image to obtain the
Java Runtime Environment. Please see the
publications for more details on Bluejay. |
Launch Bluejay
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Clicking on the image to the left (a Bluejay view of the Sulfolobus
solfataricus genome) will give you several options for launching
Bluejay depending on the task you wish to perform. |
Bluejay & MAGPIE
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The key
difference between Bluejay and MAGPIE
is that MAGPIE generates relatively static hypertext reports from a predetermined
set of analyses, while Bluejay's display and query engine is completely
user driven and configurable, accepting virutally any kind of data. Bluejay
can use the information gathered by MAGPIE as a data source for exploration
or cross-referencing, in addition to Entrez, etc.. |
Bluejay is not meant to be a
full-fledged browser (such as Netscape, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox), but rather a complementary browsing
and query systems for when the data presented is more easily understood
and manipulated in a graphical format because of spatial relationships or
the sheer quantity of data. Bluejay differentiates itself from genome browsers
such as OmniGene and Apollo
because Bluejay has no built-in expectation of the structure of the data
passed to it, and transforms non-XML conformant data on the fly, allowing
the user access to most data sources in molecular biology. The flexibility
of input will also make it appropriate in the near future as a MOBY Web Services interface.
Other Applications
While our primary focus is visualization of data
in molecular biology, the linear display infrastructure provided by Bluejay
could be used in visualizing XML encoded timelines
in the humanities, or seismic data.
Contact Us
For inquries about Bluejay, please send an email to bluejay at visualgenomics dot ca.
