John Hoffer

Mr. John Hoffer


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

10Years (2017-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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28 August 2017 in Informatics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
Daniel HaehnDaniel Haehn
Daniel Haehn
JHJohn Hoffer
John Hoffer
BMBrian Matejek
Brian Matejek
ASAdi Suissa-Peleg
Adi Suissa-Peleg
AAAli K. Al-Awami
Ali K. Al-Awami
HPHanspeter Pfister
Hanspeter Pfister
Connectomics has recently begun to image brain tissue at nanometer resolution, which produces petabytes of data. This data must be aligned, labeled, proofread, and formed into graphs, and each step of this process requires visualization for human verification. As such, we present the BUTTERFLY middleware, a scalable platform that can handle massive data for interactive visualization in connectomics. Our platform outputs image and geometry data suitable for hardware-accelerated rendering, and abstracts low-level data wrangling to enable faster development of new visualizations. We demonstrate scalability and extendability with a series of open source Web-based applications for every step of the typical connectomics workflow: data management and storage, informative queries, 2D and 3D visualizations, interactive editing, and graph-based analysis. We report design choices for all developed applications and describe typical scenarios of isolated and combined use in everyday connectomics research. In addition, we measure and optimize rendering throughput—from storage to display—in quantitative experiments. Finally, we share insights, experiences, and recommendations for creating an open source data management and interactive visualization platform for connectomics.