Standardising units and formats (and ref frames?) in transmission

[D.Humbert at iaea.org]

Bonjour,

I don't know if it could fit IVOA standards, but for information, a xml
standard for units (UnitsML) is developped at NIST
(http://unitsml.nist.gov/).

Regards,
Denis

-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Seaman [mailto:seaman at noao.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, 19 May 2009 06:31
To: IVOA VOTable; IVOA DAL
Subject: Re: Standardising units and formats (and ref frames?) in
transmission

It's a good sign that we're wrestling with these sorts of issues
(again).

Roy wrote:

> I agree with Alberto that restricting the diversity of units is a very

> effective strategy, easier and perhaps more effective than building 
> complex infrastructure to handle that diversity.
>
> Proposal: As a first step, perhaps we could agree to have "No 
> Sexagesimal Inside"?
>
> Note: While users will see sexagesimal in the VO, it should always be 
> created at the final, presentation stage, along with the choice of 
> font sizes and colors. While users will be able to input sexagesimal 
> in the search boxes, it should always be converted by the browser to 
> decimal before going to the server.

Whether or not this is the right design choice, the question is whether
this obviates the need for VO infrastructure complex enough to handle
the breadth of astronomical usage.  Rather, doesn't this just relocate
from the server to the client where a library to standardize units and
formats is linked into the code?

These discussions keep coming up.  Perhaps a dispassionate analysis of
VO use cases would reveal a requirement for such a library of
astronomically aware software tools.  Astronomy is full of units and
formats - astronomers aren't being quixotic when they choose diverse
representations for overtly similar quantities:

	-
http://www.amazon.com/Astrophysical-Quantities-Arthur-Cox/dp/0387987460
	-
http://www.amazon.com/Astrophysical-Formulae-Radiation-Processes-Astroph
ysics/dp/3540296921/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b/190-9360854-9222241
	- http://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/docs/exp_supp.php
	-
http://www.amazon.com/Astronomical-Algorithms-Jean-Meeus/dp/0943396352
	...

Such a work product seems like it could be very popular with users
independent of the VO functionality it would enable.

Rob

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