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Tabular data is at the heart of scientific analysis—whether in medicine, the social sciences, or even archaeology. Making it comprehensible and usable is often a tedious task, especially when the data is extensive or complex. The Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (IKIM) at the University of Duisburg-Essen has developed an elegant solution: Datavzrd. This open-source tool transforms simple tables into interactive, visually appealing HTML reports – without any programming knowledge or additional software. The open-access journal PLOS One reports on this.
Raw data in table form is often difficult to read and confusing. In most cases, data points cannot be filtered, sorted, or linked. And when tables are sent or shared, context and links are often lost. Tools such as R Shiny offer good options for visualizing data and making it interactive. However, they require special technical knowledge or specific software.
Not so with the Datavzrd solution developed at IKIM. The reports created can be opened locally in a browser, sent by email, or used as manuscrt attachments. They remain fully interactive, even with large data sets containing millions of rows. “The big advantage of Datavzrd is that it is particularly user-friendly and low-maintenance,” explains computer scientist Felix Wiegand.
The scientist, who is part of Prof. Dr. Johannes Köster's working group at IKIM, helped develop the tool. “The reports are not programmed, but simply described in an easy-to-understand text file – similar to a profile that specifies which data should be displayed and in what way. This allows even users without programming experience to prepare their data quickly and clearly.” In addition, complex relationships between different tables can be mapped, for example to navigate through data hierarchies or link related entries. A tutorial makes the tool easy to use.
The IKIM team demonstrates the versatility of Datavzrd in the publication using various examples, including these two: In a molecular tumor board, genetic findings and therapy options are presented interactively on a patient-specific basis – just as required in medical practice. And in an archaeological study, decorated clothing elements from various archaeological sites are prepared in a comparable manner and presented in a linked format.
“Datavzrd makes data-based results intuitive, flexible, and sustainable,” says Felix Wiegand, summarizing the advantages. “It is suitable for almost all disciplines and scientific fields – from research and teaching to evaluation.”
Felix Wiegand, IKIM, felix.wiegand@uni-due.de,
Prof. Dr. Johannes Köster, IKIM, johannes.koester@uni-due.de
Wiegand F, Lähnemann D, Mölder F, Uzuner H, Prinz A, et al. (2025) Datavzrd: Rapid programming- and maintenance-free interactive visualization and communication of tabular data. PLOS ONE 20(7): e0323079. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323079
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