GE Healthymagination and Healthline Networks have launched a new online 3-D search tool of the human body for consumers.

According to executives at the two companies, BodyMaps is the first-ever human body 3-D visual search tool. The interactive search application transforms the body into a navigation and information platform to help educate and empower health consumers, executives said in an announcement made Tuesday.

BodyMaps allows consumers to navigate male and female anatomy, view systems and organs down to their smallest parts and explore in detail how the body works, according to the companies. It transforms the body into a rich, visual learning platform with trademarked "Medically Guided" search capabilities and links to related information including videos, animations, learning centers and wellness guides.

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Healthline and GE healthymagination executives said they created BodyMaps in partnership with Visible Productions, which produced the 3-D modeling and graphics for the new search platform.

In addition to the interactive aspect of BodyMaps, the search platform will also allow a search and find of 964 different views of the body along with simplified health terms and definitions; health and wellness prevention tips; and social media tools, Healthline and GE said.

"A picture tells a thousand words, and BodyMaps tells a powerful story about personal wellbeing," said West Shell III, chairman and chief executive officer of Healthline Networks. "It's unlike anything else on the web -- BodyMaps uses 3-D models with our medically guided search to immediately connect consumers with information about their bodies and conditions in a personalized way. Consumers have a compelling new way to understand how the body works and visualize better health."

According to Shell, BodyMaps is free to consumers, widely accessible, and does not require any download or additional viewing applications. Future enhancements to BodyMaps will include mobile and tablet extensions, predictive views of what happens to the body based on human behavior, diseases and specific conditions, including topics like how the body changes during pregnancy, how cancer tumors grow and what happens as the body ages.

[See also: GE and Intel's 'Care Innovations' goes live.]

Michael Barber, vice president of Healthymagination said empowering patients is a priority for GE. "Improving the physician/patient dialog is an important step in helping patients to do this," he said.

Michael Roizen, MD, author of the RealAge and YOU books said doctors appreciate that the role of the patient has changed. Patients are smarter and more involved in their care, and they are using the Internet to research treatment options, learn about medications, and gain insights into the information their doctors have hared with them.

"Seeing is believing, and when it comes to understanding our bodies, seeing is learning," Roizen said. "Patients can use innovative visuals like this to better manage their health."

The BodyMaps platform will be rolled out to a number of Healthline Networks partners in the second half of 2011 and is also available for licensing, integration into sites across the web, custom advertising solutions, and in-office applications for healthcare providers.

Follow Diana Manos on Twitter @DianaManosHITN.