DAL 2010

[Guy Rixon]

Hi Pat,

I do a little work with TAP on behalf of VAMDC (Virtual Atomic and  
Molecular Data Centre, an EU project). The piece we're missing at the  
moment is a way of saying, in a capability, what options a service  
instance provides. Mainly, I need to say which query languages and  
output formats are available; we have more formats and QLs in play  
than IVOA. I, or Kevin Benson, can design a capability schema for TAP  
if need be, but we'd rather use an official one.

Cheers,
Guy

On 10 Sep 2010, at 20:34, Patrick Dowler wrote:

>
> Now that summer is over I want to get some discussions going and  
> make some
> progress in the DAL-WG. I encourage everyone with an interest in  
> defining and
> implementing data access *and* in writing applications that use the  
> data
> access services to contribute. Although we will have most of the  
> discussions
> on this mailing list, I am looking into the plausibility of having  
> some more
> specific discussions via telecon in order to make progress in key  
> areas.
>
> * Where are we now?
>
> The Standing Committee on Science Priorities has outlined a few high  
> priority
> science cases that we as a community need to tackle.
>
> First, the ObsTAP project is nearing completion. This is mainly a DM- 
> WG
> project (ObsCore DM) but for use in a TAP service we need to define an
> extension schema so TAP services can advertise that they support  
> this (and
> other) data models.
>
> The next priority is to deliver services to support the SED science  
> cases.
> This has already been identified to require the photometry data  
> model (PhotDM)
> and is closely related to SSA; in the coming months we will need to  
> study the
> science cases and determine what is required in DAL to expose this  
> model and
> support the use cases.
>
> The final science use case that impacts DAL is for users to be able  
> to search
> by list of sources and types of sources; this sounds like  
> functionality that
> is available via TAP but likely requires wider implementation,  
> additional
> content, and orchestrated use of multiple services.
>
> We currently have several standards under development or being  
> considered for
> update. Inconsistencies have been identified in SpecDM that require  
> an update
> to the model and may require an update to the SSA specification. We  
> also have
> several ongoing efforts that have been languishing (PQL, SIAv2),  
> transfers from
> other groups (SimDAP), and several new proposals (simple event  
> access, simple
> light curve access).
>
> * priorities for DAL
>
> - TAP (or DAL) extension schema
> - possible SSA maintainence release (1.x?) when SpecDM changes are  
> known
> - new SSA (1.x or v2?) to support the SED science case
> - SIAv2
> - SimDAP
> - understanding new ideas/proposals and where they fit in
>
> There is not much to discuss here unless I inadvertently left  
> something out.
> In a follow-up message, I will present a modest proposal for a  
> roadmap of DAL
> activities (relatively short-term), which I am sure will prompt some
> discussion.
>
> Once we have defined the various parts, I will re-organise the DAL- 
> WG wiki
> pages to make them a useful point of coordination.
>
> -- 
>
> Patrick Dowler
> Tel/Tél: (250) 363-0044
> Canadian Astronomy Data Centre
> National Research Council Canada
> 5071 West Saanich Road
> Victoria, BC V9E 2M7
>
> Centre canadien de donnees astronomiques
> Conseil national de recherches Canada
> 5071, chemin West Saanich
> Victoria (C.-B.) V9E 2M7