Figure 1.

The GIS paradigm of the map layers can be applied to the integration and visualization of genome data. For a typical geo-referenced map (left) diverse geographic data (road systems, topography, building positions) can be combined by the relation of each data set to the underlying space defined by geographic location. In a similar way diverse genomic data (right) can be combined by the relationship of each data type to an underlying genome coordinate space or to the features in that space.