Thursday, October 11, 2012

Google Maps for Cognition


I do like it when developers use custom images with the Google Maps API. However a lot of attempts to use the Google Maps API to navigate custom images don't really take advantage of the many features of the API to add interactivity to otherwise static images.

That isn't true of this map of the human brain that includes a number of options to add custom polylines on top of the brain to illustrate a number of cognitive processes.

Cognitive Consilience is a Google Map that was created to accomapny a Frontiers in Neuroanatomy publication "Cognitive consilience: Primate non-primary neuroanatomical circuits underlying cognition", by Soren Solari and Rich Stoner.

The map uses a custom image in Google Maps to help show cortical circuits in the brain. The map includes a number of overlays that can be added to the brain diagram to show the processes involved in consolidated long-term declarative memory, short-term declarative memory, working memory/information processing, behavioral memory selection, behavioral memory output, cognitive control and cortical information flow regulation.

Also See
  • The KESM Brain Atlas - maps of mouse brains that can be viewed using the Google Maps interface.
  • Brain Neural Maps - Brown University's two-dimensional neural image maps of the brain
  • NYU School of Medicine Virtual Microscope - the Virtual Microscope uses the Google Maps API to display and navigate scanned slides of microscopic images
  • Genome Projector - a searchable database browser that uses the Google Maps API to provide a zoomable user interface for molecular biology
  • Zygote Body - a body browser that uses a Google Maps type interface to explore the human body

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