<div dir="ltr">Hi Grid,<br><br>I would like to start a discussion on the feasibility of standardizing the service presented by François-Xavier Pineau at this morning KDD/GWS session.<br><br>For those of you who were not able to attend, FX's slides can be seen here:<br> <a href="http://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpOct2017KDD/201710_IVOA_KDD_fxp.pdf">http://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpOct2017KDD/201710_IVOA_KDD_fxp.pdf</a><br><br>In a nutshell, he presented a prototype of a REST service that automated source classification with probabilistic estimates. The estimates of matching are done though direct database catalogue queries. (Please, correct me if I have anything wrong here.)<br><br>It occurred to me and to others who were in attendance that this is a good candidate for a service that could be offered by the IVOA. It is much like cutouts--a software function that is common and useful enough to be offered as a service, as opposed to requiring users to code such a mechanism themselves.<br><br>But, without any presumptions, here are some questions and possible options:<br><br>(1) Does this sound like a good candidate for standardization?<br><br>(2) If (1), how can it be offered:<br><br> (a) VO can provide or recommend a library that users can use when they upload code to be executed in a data centre.<br><br> (b) It can be offered as an independent REST service, as shown in the prototype, with possible UWS support.<br>
<div><br></div><div> (c) It can be offered as VOSpace standard capability. (If a directory supports the capability, the data nodes in the directory are treated as database tables and the estimation capability could be invoked with the required parameters. -- or something like that.)</div><div><br></div><div> (d) It can be offered as a SODA service</div><div><br></div><div> (e) Others?</div><div><br></div><div>Please, if you have an opinion, respond. My quick thoughts:</div><div><br></div><div>(1) Yes, it is useful and transferrable to different types of problems users face.</div><div>(2)</div><div> (a) Too much effort placed on users</div><div> (b) Not general enough</div><div> (c) A good fit, but a trailblazer for using the VOSpace node capabilities support</div><div> (d) SODA operates on files, not catalogues, so not a good fit.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div>Brian</div></div>