SPREAD 4

SPREAD 4 visualizes pathogen phylogeographic reconstructions from BEAST to map and animate spatial and temporal dynamics using phylogenies annotated with discrete and continuous location data.

Key Features:

• Geospatial Visualization: Maps pathogen dispersal estimates onto geographic maps to represent spatial spread.
• Temporal Animation: Animates phylogeographic reconstructions over time to depict the temporal progression of pathogen movement.
• Flexible Input Handling: Accepts BEAST outputs and phylogenies annotated with both discrete and continuous location data.
• Customized Visualization Options: Produces customizable visualizations and exportable, publication-ready figures.

Scientific Applications:

• Epidemiology: Identifies transmission patterns and potential sources of outbreaks from genomic phylogeographies.
• Evolutionary Biology: Facilitates interpretation of lineage movements and evolutionary dynamics across geography and time.
• Public Health: Informs assessment of geographic barriers and spatiotemporal patterns relevant to intervention and surveillance strategies.

Methodology:

Ingests outputs from Bayesian phylogeographic inference performed with BEAST; parses phylogenies annotated with discrete and continuous location data; maps dispersal estimates onto geographic maps and generates temporal animations and exportable figures.