Neuroscientists employ a range of methods and generate increasing amounts of data describing brain structure and function. The anatomical locations from which observations or measurements originate represent a common context for data interpretation, and a starting point for identifying data of interest. However, the multimodality and abundance of brain data pose a challenge for efforts to organize, integrate, and analyze data based on anatomical locations. While structured metadata allow faceted data queries, different types of data are not easily represented in a standardized and machine-readable way that allow comparison, analysis, and queries related to anatomical relevance. To this end, three-dimensional (3D) digital brain atlases provide frameworks in which disparate multimodal and multilevel neuroscience data can be spatially represented. We propose to represent the locations of different neuroscience data as geometric objects in 3D brain atlases. Such geometric objects can be specified in a standardized file format and stored as location metadata for use with different computational tools. We here present the Locare workflow developed for defining the anatomical location of data elements from rodent brains as geometric objects. We demonstrate how the workflow can be used to define geometric objects representing multimodal and multilevel experimental neuroscience in rat or mouse brain atlases. We further propose a collection of JSON schemas (LocareJSON) for specifying geometric objects by atlas coordinates, suitable as a starting point for co-visualization of different data in an anatomical context and for enabling spatial data queries.

中文翻译：

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Locare 工作流程：将神经科学数据位置表示为 3D 大脑图集中的几何对象

神经科学家采用一系列方法并生成越来越多的描述大脑结构和功能的数据。观察或测量的起源解剖位置代表了数据解释的共同背景，以及识别感兴趣数据的起点。然而，大脑数据的多模态性和丰富性对基于解剖位置的数据组织、整合和分析提出了挑战。虽然结构化元数据允许分面数据查询，但不同类型的数据不容易以标准化和机器可读的方式表示，从而允许与解剖相关性相关的比较、分析和查询。为此，三维（3D）数字大脑图谱提供了可以在空间上表示不同多模式和多层次神经科学数据的框架。我们建议将不同神经科学数据的位置表示为 3D 大脑图集中的几何对象。此类几何对象可以以标准化文件格式指定并存储为位置元数据以供不同计算工具使用。我们在此介绍 Locare 工作流程，其开发用于将啮齿动物大脑中的数据元素的解剖位置定义为几何对象。我们演示了如何使用工作流程来定义代表大鼠或小鼠脑图谱中多模式和多层次实验神经科学的几何对象。我们进一步提出了一个 JSON 模式集合 (LocareJSON)，用于通过图集坐标指定几何对象，适合作为解剖上下文中不同数据的共同可视化和启用空间数据查询的起点。