Figure 2.

An extensible and flexible atlas based framework for data sharing. Data and client are located on a user's computer. Red describes a workflow for data contribution. Gray elements are specialized servers, databases, tools, and standards built by the scientific community that facilitate integration of data. Yellow cylinders represent data sources that offer a certain data type (i.e., GeneNetwork and the BIRN Microarray Database are both Microarray databases with services that allow access to their data). Blue describes a path for data retrieval. Standardized application program interfaces (APIs-blue arrows) allow the creation of tools that access services offered by a source.