TAP1.0 Comments - TABLEDATA

[Paul Harrison]

On 2009-07 -17, at 14:18, Markus Demleitner wrote:

> So, summing up: *If* you really feel (and I don't) that TAP will at
> some point have to support languages specifying results with multiple
> tables, at least clearly specify which languages must return single
> table-VOTables; and make sure there are nothing in the rest of TAP
> that breaks with such a change in model (like the CSV issue mentioned
> above).

As someone who initially was of the opinion "why restrict to one  
table?", I think that the "other formats" argument is the clincher  
that means it can only be one table in the output.

However, what about the other restriction on VOTable that have been  
mentioned - only returning TABLEDATA - this seems like an unnecessary  
restriction also, and one that stops efficient transfer of large  
amounts of data, possibly restricting TAP services to being "toy"  
services rather than the basis of large scale cross matching as is  
hoped. What was the thinking behind this restriction?

Cheers,
	Paul.