next generation of Sky in Google Earth

[Tony Linde]

Might be good to get a position paper out on how the VO works with Google
Sky and, more importantly, the ways in which GS makes the VO effort more
important: enabling a much higher focus to academic astronomy via GS. Could
make a good appendix to funding proposals.

T.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-interop at eso.org [mailto:owner-interop at eso.org] On Behalf Of
> borne at mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov
> Sent: 12 January 2008 03:08
> To: Carol Christian
> Cc: Alberto Conti; Jonathan Fay; Roy Williams; interop at ivoa.net;
> kborne at gmu.edu
> Subject: Re: next generation of Sky in Google Earth
> 
> Hi all.  I had many(!) people ask me at the AAS meeting this week
> if WWT and "GoogleSky" now make the NVO totally obsolete!!
> I had to explain (once again) that the VO is the middleware
> ("It's the middleware, st*pid") that enables the whole thing...
> SIAP, SSAP, TAP, etc. etc. etc.  The VO enables all kinds
> of different interfaces and user interactions with distributed
> astronomy information/data/metadata resources.  While we know
> this, it is obvious that many members of the astro community
> still are not sufficiently informed.  That's a challenge to us!
> 
> - Kirk
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 10, 2008 at 11:47:03AM -0500, Carol Christian wrote:
> > Folks
> >
> > At the last NVO (or VAO) telecon I was on we discussed the meta-tags
> again
> > especially those now put forward by
> > the VAMP group. The Office of Public Outreach and I have been working
> with
> > the VAMP group for years, and as you
> > all know the meta-tag project for data, multimedia, and educational
> > resources originated and was implemented
> > in the 1990s with the NASA  Space Science infrastructure.
> >
> > I would like to see the meta-tag issue get more VAO attention and be
> > embraced by the VAO and the larger IVOA community.
> > We folks involved in education continue to move ahead on this.
> >
> > The ability to put the meta-tags in KML (which is possible) and to
> use them
> > effectively (which has yet to be seen)
> > will certainly help public access, and I am sure, help with the
> "keyword
> > searching" interfaces and standards
> > that the NVO team is working on.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Carol
> >
> > On Jan 10, 2008, at 11:36 AM, Alberto Conti wrote:
> >
> >> Carol and I have been asking Google to make KML modifications in the
> >> direction you propose for a long long time. Now that KML does indeed
> seem
> >> to be an interesting tool and that Microsoft has entered the game, I
> think
> >> we can collectively put pressure on the KML standard to be adapted
> and
> >> modified since we all recognize its potential over votables.
> >>
> >> I will not even mention metadata, which has been and is my "broken
> record"
> >> of choice both with GoogleSky search abilities and the VO. I don't
> have a
> >> WWT beta to be able to make the same comment about it...
> >>
> >> We suggested to the VO a much closer look at KML as soon as we
> started
> >> playing with Google Earth, over 2 years ago. We have suggested many
> many
> >> times that a true registry needs to be a metadata engine.
> >>
> >> It's nice to see I am now not the only one "suggesting" anymore. :)
> >>
> >> -A
> >>
> >> On Jan 10, 2008, at 10:27 AM, Jonathan Fay wrote:
> >>
> >>> While KML is a common denominator, unfortunately astronomy has not
> been
> >>> at the table at all for its definition so far. It needs to be a
> priority
> >>> to move KML to use astronomy friendly standards.
> >>>
> >>> Certainly it needs to move away from equirectangualar projections
> for
> >>> full sky and overlays to more astronomy friendly projections.
> >>>
> >>> Also astronomy coordinates systems and meta data need to be
> supported so
> >>> that KML can be used to support rich astronomy use, rather than
> just HTML
> >>> or text.
> >>>
> >>> I think this will take the VO community, Microsoft Research and the
> >>> Google Sky folks to push this together, otherwise the critical mass
> will
> >>> come from the Earth based GIS folks and astronomy will continue to
> be
> >>> short-changed.
> >>>
> >>> Jonathan Fay
> >>> Principal Research Software Developer
> >>> WorldWide Telescope
> >>> Microsoft Research
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: owner-interop at eso.org [mailto:owner-interop at eso.org] On
> Behalf Of
> >>> Roy Williams
> >>> Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:12 AM
> >>> To: interop at ivoa.net
> >>> Subject: Re: next generation of Sky in Google Earth
> >>>
> >>> Certainly it has been most interesting this week in Austin,
> watching
> >>> Google and Microsoft slug it out at opposite corners of the
> convention
> >>> hall. Each of these rich sky display software suites has its own
> best
> >>> points and will be fabulous vehicles to ignite excitement about
> >>> astronomy. I believe that the IVOA should be careful to engage both
> of
> >>> these fabulous experiences, providing interfaces and bridges from
> all of
> >>> our VO efforts.
> >>>
> >>> The common denominator between the two efforts is the KML language,
> >>> whose definition is now dominated by the geospatial community. If
> KML is
> >>> to become a standard interchange format in astronomy also, it would
> be
> >>> good if the astronomical community had a seat at the table when
> future
> >>> versions are defined.
> >>>
> >>> Roy
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Jan 10, 2008 5:32 AM, Tony Linde < Tony.Linde at leicester.ac.uk
> >>>> <mailto:Tony.Linde at leicester.ac.uk>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>     http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/annc/sky_20080109.html
> >>>>
> >>>>     'This morning at the American Astronomical Society in Austin,
> >>>>     Texas, Google
> >>>>     Engineering Director Andrew Moore announced a new version of
> Sky
> >>>>     in Google
> >>>>     Earth.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>>
> >>> California Institute of Technology
> >>> 626 395 3670
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> Dr Alberto Conti
> >> Community Missions Office
> >> Space Telescope Science Institute
> >> contact | tel: 410-338-4534 | aim: wscience
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Dr. Carol Christian
> > Deputy, Community Missions Office
> > & Education Director, NVO
> > Space Telescope Science Institute
> > contact | Tel: 410-338-4764 | .mac: cac01
> >
> 
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
> Dr. Kirk D. Borne
> NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, SSDOO Program Manager, Perot Systems
> (ex-QSS)
> and George Mason University, Associate Professor, Computational & Data
> Sciences
> <mailto:kirk.borne at gsfc.nasa.gov>  Tel. +1-301-286-0696  Fax: 301-286-
> 1771
> Staff page:      http://rings.gsfc.nasa.gov/
> US Virtual Observatory:  http://www.us-vo.org/
> Large Synoptic Survey Telescope:  http://www.lsst.org/