Analytical provenance in spatial-omics visualization tools

Determine how analytical provenance can be applied to spatial-omics visualization tools so that spatial context and provenance are preserved as findings move across linked views, scales, and derived representations.

Background

The paper argues that current spatial transcriptomics tools support exploratory inspection but are weaker at maintaining analytical context across coordinated views and levels of abstraction. In particular, a finding may lose its spatial context or provenance as it moves from a tissue-embedded representation to an abstract summary or derived analysis. The authors explicitly characterize applying analytic provenance to spatial-omics tooling as an unresolved question.

References

This distinction echoes the broader visual analytics literature on analytic provenance, although its application to spatial-omics tooling specifically appears to be a genuinely open question.

— How Do We Visualize Space in Molecular Biology? A Study of Spatial Transcriptomics Visualization Practices  (2609.20324 - Chacón-Ramírez et al., 17 Sep 2026) in Section 5, Discussion