spectroscopic data model

[Markus Demleitner]

Vandana,

On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 04:30:07PM -0700, Vandana Desai wrote:
> I have a question about IVOA spectroscopic data model.
> 
> We at IRSA are starting a project that will require coding to a spectral
> data model, and I was hoping for some clarification on the stability of the
> latest SpectralDM.
> 
> I see this:
> http://www.ivoa.net/documents/latest/SpectrumDM.html
> 
> which is V1.03 from 2007.

This is an oversight.  It should be pointing to 1.1, and we'll fix
this.

> But this is listed as the most stable version:
> http://www.ivoa.net/documents/SpectrumDM/20111120/index.html

This is the current recommendation.

> I also see this:
> http://www.ivoa.net/documents/SpectralDM/
> 
> which is V2.0 from 2016, but is listed as a "Proposed Recommendation".

This was an effort to update the Spectrum DM to cover a few more
cases, but it was eventually abandoned because (I'm simplifying a bit
here) it wasn't quite in line with what the Cube DM would work out to
be, and it was felt that efforts are better spent on the more
general case which will eventually encompass what Spectrum DM 2 would
have described.

That the link beneath the document title in the document repo points
to the abandoned V2.0 again is an editorial oversight, which we will
fix.

So, in short: Please implement against V1.1, and if you find
shortcomings, by all means report them here. They will certainly
inform work on the Cube and Dataset DMs.

Thanks for reporting this,

         Markus