What is a discovery interface?

This is a blog about how a scientist can implement an interactive web interface that allows others to get additional information their data. The discovery interface is first used to provide a mechanism whereby 2D, 3D, or 4D images can be measured by a web audience. However, it is not limited to just visualization data; it could be any set of data from which further information could be derived by web-based tools. For visualization data, times, distances, surfaces, and flows can be quantitatively evaluated. The interface then provides a semi-automatically generated visual model that incorporates the measurements or other new information provided by the web audience. The scientist provides the "skeletal" features of the visual model. By providing measurements derived from the scientist's data, the web audience can first validate the model and gain understanding of what the model is showing, then the model can be used to test new ideas, as a gateway to discovery.