VO App for iPhone/iPod Touch

[Mike Fitzpatrick]

        For those of you who got an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas,
a new web app called "iPortal" is available for browsing the Registry
and Data services using only the native Safari browser.  For the anxious,
point your iPhone/iPod to

                http://iraf-nvo.noao.edu/iportal

A web page description with a test interface and screenshots is available at

                http://iraf-nvo.noao.edu/iportal-test

This test interface is only an approximation of what you'd see on the
actual device, and please note that non-Safari browsers may not work at
all.

        iPortal is a one-box Google-like interface styled to fit the
screen of an iPhone/iPod.  Its features include:

        - Display an image of any part of the sky (color if in the
          SDSS DR6 footprint, B&W from DSS otherwise).

        - Full keyword search of the Registry.  Categorized resources
          found may be browsed by type, or user can drill down to
          view full description, including a 'Try It' feature

        - Object name resolution: an image of the object is displayed
          along with the resolved coords

        - Arbitrary coordinate input:  Sexagesimal (whitespace or
          colon-delimited) or decimal values allowed, and image of those
          coords is displayed.

        - Cone search capability for Cone services, results table
          displayed on the interface

        - SIAP capability for image services. Results containing a
          Graphics JPEG/GIF have links to the image displayed on the
          interface

        - Full access to Vizier tables displayed locally.
        - Zero download for user, all done on server-side (w/ VOClient)
          and web pages


Example inputs might be things like

        x-ray binaries                  Keyword search
        ngc4258  or  M51                Object Names
        13:29:55.72  +47:13:53.4        Coordinates

Qualifiers may be put on the input to constrain the search to a particular
type (see the Help button).  Coordinates may be decimal or sexagesimal
(colon or whitespace-delimited)

        Further development (e.g. a Dashboard Widget version) and similar
apps are planned, please feel free to send me your comments, bug report
or suggestions.


Thanks,
-Mike