Data Analysis Modules
This is a list of possible modules related to data collection and analysis that might be of use with a Drupal-based ELN. We try to include only those that are known to be fairly mature and reliable. User ratings of these modules are available on the Drupal Modules website.
| Module Name | General Description | Use in an ELN |
|---|---|---|
| Flot | This module provides an API for using the flot graphing library, written in Javascript. It is designed to make it simple for developers to add flot graphs to their modules or applications. | Although there are a couple of other plotting and graphing modules available (View Charts, Charts), this one is our favorite because it is fairly simple and straightforward and does not require any outside services. It does need some work, however, to make it easy to plot a given data set. |
| Timeline Map | Timeline Map was built as a Views 2 style plug-in. It allows you to load one or more datasets onto both a map and a timeline simultaneously. Only items in the visible range of the timeline are displayed on the map. Timeline Map displays data represented in the timeline as markers on Google map. | This can be useful for plotting data that has both time and location aspects to it. |
| Trackfield | A CCK field type to store lists of co-ordinates, or tracks. These tracks are intended to be visualised on maps, plotted as distance/altitude profiles, have statistics derived from them, etc. | Useful for tracking data over geo locations. |
| GMap | The GMap module provides an interface to the Google Maps API within Drupal. It integrates with the Location module to provide users a clickable map for entering latitude and longitude, as well as to display maps of Drupal nodes and users. GMap can be used to create interactive maps with various map markers and content in map bubbles, taking advantage of Drupal's other content management features. The module also provides a Views display plugin which allows users to display the results of a view on a Google map. | Great module for displaying geo-locations on a map. Used in our UH Biotech labs for geo-locating our soil samples. There are also many add-on modules related to this, for things like adding addresses through CCK fields or map overlays. |
| Sheetnode | Sheetnode integrates the JavaScript spreadsheet engine SocialCalc as a new node type in Drupal. SocialCalc was written by Dan Bricklin, co-author of the original VisiCalc spreadsheet app in 1979, and is used in the OLPC XO laptop and the SocialText Collaboration Platform. | Powerful module that gives users online capabilities of a spreadsheet to store data results in a structured and yet ad-hoc manner. For full capabilities for use in an online ELN, it would be great to have this data exposed in RDF format so that it could be accessed via SPARQL queries. |
| Timecert | TimeCert is a web service for timestamping content. This provides evidence by a trusted third-party that something (e.g. a blog post, a document, or a file) existed at a given time. TimeCert records and gives you the timestamp for when someone first referenced a given digital fingerprint. | This would be valuable in time-stamping investigative results during an experiment for legal/patent issues afterwards. This would be important if an installation wanted to be compliant with the 21 CFR Part 11 standard. |
| Sensor Hub | Sets up data structures to represent sensor boards, sensor board data, sensors and sensor readings. |
Useful in cases where sensor data needs to be collected automatically. |