ImageGP: An easy-to-use data visualization web server for scientific researchers.

Area of Science:

• Bioinformatics
• Scientific Visualization
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Effective data visualization is essential for scientific communication and knowledge sharing.
• Existing visualization tools often require coding expertise, are specialized, or are not freely accessible.
• Researchers need accessible tools for interpreting complex biological and chemical data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce ImageGP, a specialized and user-friendly visualization platform for biology and chemistry data.
• To provide a tool that simplifies data illustration for researchers with varying technical skills.
• To offer a comprehensive solution for both generalized and specialized data visualization needs.

Main Methods:

• ImageGP provides a web-based interface for generating various plot types.
• Users can create plots like lines, bars, scatters, boxes, sets, heatmaps, and histograms.
• The platform supports specialized plots such as volcano plots and functional enrichment plots, alongside microbiome analysis tools.

Main Results:

• ImageGP requires minimal user input, often just a few clicks or data pasting.
• It offers extensive customization with up to 26 parameters for tailored visualizations.
• The platform has served over 336,951 visits since 2017, indicating widespread adoption.

Conclusions:

• ImageGP is an effective and efficient tool for experimental researchers.
• It facilitates comprehensive data visualization and interpretation for both wet-lab and dry-lab generated data.
• The platform democratizes data visualization in biology and chemistry research.