Modern visualisation tools for research and education in biomechanics

The DataManager presented in this paper allows the multimodal visualisation of heterogeneous data originating from the biomedical field and, more particularly, biomechanics. In the latter, the aim is to increase our understanding of the musculo-skeletal system, and to achieve this, numerous disparate data must be collected and combined. Previously, no software tool fully allowed such integration, but the DataManager and its development environment (the MAF) now provide an answer to that problem. This paper presents the current visualisation and data processing tools available from the DataManager. Its usefulness for research, educational and clinical activities will be demonstrated. The system developers hope that the data management mechanisms available within the software will stimulate data sharing between scientists and will encourage them to participate in enhancing the system by integrating their own software tools.