i2b2 Sponsored Project - Mapping tools

A set of mapping tools have been created to assist with the assignment, verification, integration, export and import of mappings between two ontologies. In version 1.1 we add the ability to automated mappings to any UMLS ontology.

The need for Mapping tools

The Mapping tools were created to assist in the use case where you need to merge one or more sets of ontology terms into another.  Typical use cases are such as that found in federated query systems, e.g. SHRINE, where the ontology to use is dictated to you by another party and you have terms that do not align readily to the dictated ontology. For example the ontology might specify medication terms as RxNorm and your local ontology uses NDC or you may have extensive local terms and codes that have to be aligned.                                       
Merging medications into an RxNorm-based tree                                                                                      Merging local diagnoses into an ICD-9-based tree