ADQL XMATCH

François-Xavier Pineau francois-xavier.pineau at astro.unistra.fr
Wed Feb 10 10:53:35 CET 2016


I agree with Marco and Mark, so just a last comment on this thread.

On 02/09/2016 06:49 PM, Arnold Rots wrote:
> That would be nice, but I suspect that people might find it too 
> complicated.
I guess most astronomers are used to the chi-square test so
it should not be that complicated to understand.
We just have to show them how it can be done iteratively
when cross-correlating more than 2 catalogues
(weighted mean positions and associated errors is the answer).
> Besides, the you really would want to do a proper Bayesian cross-match
> that handles complete collections of sources and takes into account the
> areas of coverage as well.
Well, although it may not be really clear in my mind,
for me the cross-match is just the selection of candidates
(based on a chi-square test if we account for the positional errors, 
fixing a significance level).
Then, computing and putting threshold on Bayesian 
probabilities/posterior likelihoods,
performing cuts based on color-color diagrams/... is part of the 
cross-identification
and can be made in a second step.

fx

>
>   - Arnold
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Arnold H. Rots Chandra X-ray Science Center
> Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory tel:  +1 617 496 7701
> 60 Garden Street, MS 67   fax:  +1 617 495 7356
> Cambridge, MA 02138 arots at cfa.harvard.edu <mailto:arots at cfa.harvard.edu>
> USA http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~arots/ 
> <http://hea-www.harvard.edu/%7Earots/>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 12:23 PM, François-Xavier Pineau 
> <francois-xavier.pineau at astro.unistra.fr 
> <mailto:francois-xavier.pineau at astro.unistra.fr>> wrote:
>
>     Going this way, why not taking into account elliptical errors:
>
>     xmatch(ra1, dec1, a1, b2, pa1, ra2, dec2, a2, b2, pa2, thresold on
>     the Mahalanobis distance)
>
>     with:
>     - a: semi major axis
>     - b: semi minor axis
>     - pa: position angle
>
>     returning the Mahalanobis distance, the weighted mean position and
>     the associated elliptical error to be able to coherently chain
>     cross-matches...
>
>     Cheers,
>
>     fx
>
>
>     On 02/09/2016 06:01 PM, Arnold Rots wrote:
>>     Alowing the two radii to be specified separately would make it more
>>     explicit that they are associated with specific catalogs and allows
>>     users to keep track of those specific catalog-dependent values,
>>     particularly
>>     if they do cross-matching involving multiple catalogs.
>>
>>     One might even consider returning the overlap ratio (area of
>>     intersection
>>     over area of smallest circle) as a (admittedly somewhat bogus)
>>     match probability .
>>
>>     Cheers,
>>
>>       - Arnold
>>
>>     -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>     Arnold H. Rots            Chandra X-ray Science Center
>>     Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory                   tel: +1
>>     617 496 7701 <tel:%2B1%20617%20496%207701>
>>     60 Garden Street, MS 67 fax: +1 617 495 7356
>>     <tel:%2B1%20617%20495%207356>
>>     Cambridge, MA 02138 arots at cfa.harvard.edu
>>     <mailto:arots at cfa.harvard.edu>
>>     USA http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~arots/
>>     <http://hea-www.harvard.edu/%7Earots/>
>>     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>     On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 11:50 AM, Tom McGlynn (NASA/GSFC Code
>>     660.1) <tom.mcglynn at nasa.gov <mailto:tom.mcglynn at nasa.gov>> wrote:
>>
>>         Arnold,
>>
>>         Assuming you mean for a match to occur whenever the two
>>         circles overlap, then wouldn't
>>
>>             xmatch(ra1,dec1,rad1, ra2,dec2,rad2)
>>
>>         be equivalent to
>>
>>            xmatch(ra1, dec1, ra2, dec2, rad1+rad2)
>>
>>         if we're returning only integer values 1 and 0.
>>
>>         I suppose one could define this differently with
>>            xmatch(ra1,dec1,rad1, ra2, dec2,rad2)
>>         returning the fraction of the circle defined by ra1,dec1,rad1
>>         which
>>         is enclosed in the second circle.  Not sure I really see the
>>         use case for that though.
>>
>>             Tom
>>
>>
>>         Arnold Rots wrote:
>>
>>             I don't think I am the only one who is not enamored of these
>>             brute-force unnuanced cross-matches, but I wonder whether
>>             it would be helpful to improve them by allowing two radii.
>>
>>             Cheers,
>>
>>               - Arnold
>>
>>             -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>             Arnold H. Rots Chandra X-ray Science Center
>>             Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory tel: +1 617 496
>>             7701 <tel:%2B1%20617%20496%207701>
>>             60 Garden Street, MS 67   fax: +1 617 495 7356
>>             <tel:%2B1%20617%20495%207356>
>>             Cambridge, MA 02138 arots at cfa.harvard.edu
>>             <mailto:arots at cfa.harvard.edu>
>>             <mailto:arots at cfa.harvard.edu <mailto:arots at cfa.harvard.edu>>
>>             USA http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~arots/
>>             <http://hea-www.harvard.edu/%7Earots/>
>>             <http://hea-www.harvard.edu/%7Earots/>
>>             --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>             On Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 10:21 AM, Mark Taylor
>>             <M.B.Taylor at bristol.ac.uk
>>             <mailto:M.B.Taylor at bristol.ac.uk>
>>             <mailto:M.B.Taylor at bristol.ac.uk
>>             <mailto:M.B.Taylor at bristol.ac.uk>>> wrote:
>>
>>                 Hi Marco and DAL,
>>
>>                 I support the introduction of a new XMATCH function
>>             for two main
>>                 reaons:
>>
>>                 Usability:
>>                    A dedicated crossmatch function should be easier
>>                    for users to use and remember, and all round less
>>             horrible,
>>                    than the current recommended(?) cross-match idiom:
>>                       1 = CONTAINS(POINT(coordsys, lon1, lat1),
>>                                    CIRCLE(coordsys, lon2, lat2, radius))
>>                    (where coordsys is a string that should probably
>>             be 'ICRS', or
>>                    maybe should be empty, but anyway is unlikely to
>>             make much
>>                    difference to the result).
>>
>>                 Implementability:
>>                    It may make it easy/possible to provide standard
>>             ADQL syntax for
>>                    efficient sky crossmatching in database backends
>>             that otherwise
>>                    can't do it, because they have trouble
>>             implementing the ADQL
>>                    geometry functions (because they lack pgSphere).
>>
>>                 In my opinion it should look like this:
>>
>>                     1 = XMATCH(lon1, lat1, lon2, lat2, radius)
>>
>>                 The alternative would presumably be
>>
>>                     1 = XMATCH(POINT(coordsys, lon1, lat1),
>>             POINT(coordsys, lon2,
>>                 lat2), radius)
>>
>>                 which from the point of view of usability is not much
>>             better than
>>                 the status quo.  Although I believe the annoying and
>>             disingenuous
>>                 coordsys argument to the geometry functions is
>>             scheduled for removal
>>                 from ADQL, my understanding is that it's not intended
>>             for this
>>                 (minor) revision.  Even without the coordsys arg, I
>>             think the
>>                 POINTless form looks less intimidating for users.
>>
>>                 I would have thought that from the point of view of
>>             implementability
>>                 as well the POINTless form presents fewer constraints.
>>                 However, I'm not a database implementation person, so
>>             I might be
>>                 wrong about that.
>>
>>                 Mark
>>
>>                 On Tue, 9 Feb 2016, Marco Molinaro wrote:
>>
>>                 > Dear DAL members and ADQL fans,
>>                 > to go on with the ADQL-2.1 working draft
>>                 > one issue is left, from Sydney interop,
>>                 > to be discussed.
>>                 >
>>                 > In the DAL splinter at the interop
>>                 > it was agreed to add an XMATCH function
>>                 > of binary type and definition
>>                 >
>>                 > 1 = XMATCH(a,b,radius)
>>                 >
>>                 > However no agreement was reached about
>>                 > the 'a' and 'b' parameters, whether they
>>                 > should be points (ADQL:POINT) or RA&Dec
>>                 > couples (floating point values).
>>                 >
>>                 > Both choices have advantages and disadvantages.
>>                 > Points are more into the logic
>>                 > of a sky cross-match but require geometric
>>                 > types to be directly available to the DB.
>>                 > Coordinates couples are directly available
>>                 > in whatever DB and would also let the XMATCH
>>                 > function work for non-orthodox coordinates
>>                 > matching, but of course loosing the sky matching
>>                 > logic.
>>                 >
>>                 > As I said (also due to time constraints) no
>>                 > agreement was found in Sydney.
>>                 >
>>                 > What's your opinion on this, and why?
>>                 >
>>                 > Cheers,
>>                 >     Marco
>>                 >
>>
>>                 --
>>                 Mark Taylor   Astronomical Programmer   Physics, Bristol
>>                 University, UK
>>             m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk <mailto:m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk>
>>             <mailto:m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk <mailto:m.b.taylor at bris.ac.uk>>
>>             +44-117-9288776 <tel:%2B44-117-9288776>
>>             <tel:%2B44-117-9288776>
>>             http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/
>>             <http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/%7Embt/>
>>             <http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/%7Embt/>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>     -- 
>     François-Xavier Pineau
>     CDS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg
>     11, rue de l'Université
>     F - 67000 Strasbourg
>
>


-- 
François-Xavier Pineau
CDS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg
11, rue de l'Université
F - 67000 Strasbourg

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/dal/attachments/20160210/bb834c02/attachment-0001.html>


More information about the dal mailing list