roadmap

[Alberto Micol]

>
>
>And if all we use the registry for is to list datasets and their
>web address then we might as well just list them all on a web page. The
>metadata associated with datasets, tools etc must be rich enough to allow
>*applications* to do real work with them. 
>

>Has the NVO project (or anyone else) built or prototyped any way in which
>users can submit a registry query (in whatever form) and have the resultant
>services (even if only data services) automatically invoked?
>
Before getting to the most sophisticated registry, which can
automatically bind to and invoke services, I would claim that it would 
be nice
and useful to be able to query the registry just to know which 
services/datasets/instrumets
exist that can be useful to me as an end-user.

 >"Listing them all on a web page"
This is not what the registry does, the registry knows much more in 
terms of metadata and can
already answer sophisticated queries like,
which instrument can I use to photometrically measure  globular stars in 
nearby galaxies ?

That implies knowledge on the field of view of the instrument and on the 
resolution:
FOV big enough to embrace the entire galaxy,
and pixel scale small enough to resolve the globular clusters.
Furthermore the distance of the nearby galaxy is important to determine 
adaptively such parameters,
hence a service that knows about distances of nearby galaxy is also to 
be found by the registry.

After all, if the registry cannot do this, then it won't be able to do 
the most complex thing either.
(as if the example I gave is not complex enough ...:-)

Why to wait for the full implementation when a pragmatic step-by-step 
approach will help
everybody (users, data provider, and even registry developers)?

>I know that this seems like a long time but the fact is that standards which
>are widely agreed and which have been proved to work do take many years to
>develop.
>
On the other hand, if you allow me the joke, the fact that it will take 
long time does not prove that
it will work :-))) A pragmatic approach will remove such risk.

Alberto