Every year the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conducts a contest called the VAST Challenge – Visual Analytics Science and Technology. It seeks to highlight visual analytics tools by encouraging groups to compete in analyzing benchmark data sets to solve a particular challenge. The VAST Challenge encourages technology development in new areas.
2010 addressed a new area for the VAST Challenge: bioinformatics. Entrants included teams from Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, India, Canada, China, Austria, Norway, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Brazil, and the United States. Winners were announced during IEEE VisWeek in Salt Lake City in October 2010.
This year, MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2) participated with a team assembled by Noblis. Other members of the team included: Centrifuge Systems, Future Point Systems, and Georgetown University. Here are the team’s submissions for each Mini Challenge and the Grand Challenge (links and videos provided by Noblis):
- Mini Challenge 1: Text Records – Investigations into Arms Dealings
- Mini Challenge 2: Hospitalization Records – Characterization of Pandemic Spread
- Mini Challenge 3: Genomics Information – Tracing the Mutations of a Disease
- Grand Challenge: Integration of Data Sets Looking for a Link Between Arms Dealings and Pandemic
Related Links:
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Noblis.org
- VAST Challenge Recap and Awards – note that our own Noblis, MI2, Georgetown, Centrifuge Systems, and Future Point Systems team took 1st place.