Lifemap is an interactive tool to explore the WHOLE NCBI TAXONOMY. The concept used in Lifemap is similar to the one used in cartography with tools like Google Maps© or Open Street Maps: exploring is done by zooming and panning.

 The current tree contains ALL species present in NCBI taxonomy. It is automatically updated every Saturday.

 All the nodes in the tree are clickable. This displays various information and options:

• The species name (and the associated common name if there is one)
• The rank (kingdom, family, class, species...)
• Ability to go to the corresponding node/species on NCBI web site (displayed in a new window)
• Possibilty to get the whole lineage from the current node/tip to the root of the tree.

 Itineraries between taxa can be computed by clicking on the bottom right button of the main page and filling the two search fields. When filled, the route is drawn between the taxa, the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of the two groups/species is returned. The user gets also access to a list of all the nodes that are encountered in the way from one group to the other. This list is clickable.

 [new] Subtrees for a subset of species or nodes identified by their Taxid can be visualized and downloaded (in Newick format). For simplicity, species can be searched in the search bar and added to the dedicated box with the add button.

 Lifemap was written by Damien M. de Vienne (web page), a CNRS researcher working in the Laboratory of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology (LBBE) in Lyon (France) with support from the informatics departement (especially Stephane Delmotte and Bruno Spataro).

 Reference: de Vienne DM (2016) Lifemap: Exploring the Entire Tree of Life. PLOS Biology 14(12):e2001624. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2001624"