World first scientific application for Optometry portal

The Optometrists Association of Australia today launched an innovative web application aimed at scientific collaboration in the field of optometry.

The online database of retinal topography maps is a web-only feature of the Clinical and Experimental Optometry, the official journal of the Optometrists Association of Australia.

The database enables scientists to upload, compare and analyse "retinal maps", basically images which represent unique genetic blueprints from the eyes of various species.

The key feature of the database is the ability to search for retinal maps by name, species classification and a variety of other scientific classifications.

Retinal Maps homepage

Retinal Map and descriptions

The web database search system allows all sorts of filtering, tagging and column sorting.

The "micro-database" web application was built by Datalink using the Freestyler content management framework in conjunction with the Concord web application development platform.  This solution provides a comprehensive administration interaface for the web system which can be managed behind the scenes, whilst scientists can navigate the vast number of scientific records via the Clinical and Experimental Optometry website.  The project has evolved over the past few months, with Datalink's technicians working closely with Shaun Collin of the Optometrists Association to put together the data framework.

You can visit the retinal maps page at: http://www.optometrists.asn.au/ceo/retinalsearch