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Local Annotation Tracks

13.5 Local Annotation Tracks

Annotation tracks are stored on disk in Interval Data Format (IDF) files. This format is optimized to store many intervals of genomic data. A single IDF file can also support many annotation tracks, and each track can support a flexible set of data format configurations.

Each track is uniquely identified within a file by an integer id. Associated with this id is the track name, the genome map identifier, a type specifier, a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), and a schema descriptor for the track’s data content.

An IDF file may contain many tracks, and each track may contain many features. Within each track the format of each feature must be consistent with the schema description. Tracks can be created using the Python scripting interface (see Writing to an Annotation Track) or the Annotation Track Manager.

To add a local annotation track to an existing Plot Viewer window, select the Annotation Tracks node in the graph control tree. Make the Add Local Track tab active. From here, check the tracks you would like to add, then click the Add button. By default only tracks associated with the current genome map’s species and build are displayed. By checking ’Show tracks for all genome maps’ the list can be made to show all the tracks available, regardless of the species and build. Adding tracks which correspond to an incompatible genome map may result in unexpected and/or incorrect data and feature positions.