SPREAD 4

SPREAD 4

SPREAD 4 (Spatial Phylogenetic Reconstruction of Evolutionary Dynamics version 4) is a major update to SPREAD and SpreaD3 and constitutes a package for analysis and visualisation of pathogen pylodynamic reconstructions.

Using SPREAD 4

SPREAD 4 is compatible with popular browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) and can be accessed directly here: https://spreadviz.org/.

There is no need to install anything, and you only need either a Google account or an e-mail address (and an internet connection) to make use of SPREAD4, which runs entirely online. SPREAD 4 is essentially an overhaul of SpreaD3 to ensure easily shareable visualisations and continued support in commonly-used browser platforms.

Featuring account-based storage and easy sharing of visualisations by means of unique web addresses, SPREAD 4 is very similar in use as SpreaD3. To get started with SPREAD 4, browse to https://spreadviz.org/ where you will see the following login screen

Here, you can either provide an e-mail address or directly “Continue with Google” if you have a Gmail account / e-mail address. Note that Google uses a 2-step verification procedure (e.g. via your smartphone) in order to log in. You should then see the following starting screen for SPREAD 4

We show several use cases (with detailed step-by-step instructions) for SPREAD 4 in a tutorial on discrete phylogeographic inference as well as in a tutorial on continuous phylogeographic inference.

Citing SPREAD4

Nahata, K. D., Bielejec, F., Monetta, J., Rambaut, A., Suchard, M. A., Baele, G., Lemey, P. SPREAD 4: online visualisation of pathogen phylogeographic reconstructions. Virus Evol., 2022, 8(2): veac088.