External applications can interact with the The Ark via a secure web services interface. The interface was initially developed with a focus on allowing external applications to utilise The Ark's pedigree modelling and visualisation capabilities. To date, the web services layer facilitates the following functions:
- Create and edit study subjects
- Create and delete pedigree relationships
- Create and delete twin relationships
- Configure pedigree modelling and visualisation functionality
- For a given proband persisted in The Ark, retrieve an inferred pedigree membership, complete with relationship labels
- Generate and retrieve a pedigree visualisation for a proband persisted in The Ark
- Irrespective of existing studies and subjects stored in The Ark, send pedigree data and retrieve a corresponding visualisation without saving this data in The Ark.
Work on The Ark web services interface continues, and greater coverage of the system’s functionality will arrive in future releases.