Geometric morphometrics in the cloud

Abstract XYOM, for XY Online Morphometrics, is an online implementation of the geometric morphometric (GM) approach. It is a platform-independent product, and is presented here as an optional alternative software to client side morphometrics software. From the point of view of the user, the interesting features of a web application are: no download, no installation, no configuration, and automatic updating. Because XYOM is accessible through a standard web interface, it is expected to allow an easier and faster learning process. Additional benefits are that users will have their own highly secured cloud storage, with a 24/7 access from any device, allowing users to share their data, export/download them into their device. Ideally, there would be a permanent, anywhere anytime access on any device (computer, tablet, smartphone, etc). Using modern web browsers, XYOM allows online 2D images digitization of either landmarks, semilandmarks or pseudolandmarks (contours), and develops corresponding statistical analyses. In its present configuration, XYOM is dedicated to the identification and characterization of organismal forms.