Genomic analysis, particularly for less well-characterized organisms, is greatly assisted by performing comparative analyses between different types of genome maps and across species boundaries. Various providers publish a plethora of on-line resources collating genome mapping data from a multitude of species. Datasources range in scale and scope from small bespoke resources for particular organisms, through larger web-resources containing data from multiple species, to large-scale bioinformatics resources providing access to data derived from genome projects for model and non-model organisms. The heterogeneity of information held in these resources reflects both the technologies used to generate the data and the target users of each resource. Currently there is no common information exchange standard or protocol to enable access and integration of these disparate resources. Consequently data integration and comparison must be performed in an ad hoc manner.