Data centres in the. Virtual Observatory. F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

Transcription

1 Data centres in the Virtual Observatory F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

2 VO status (1) Many national projects Very different contexts/financing agencies A really world-wide, global endeavour Projects work together in the International Virtual Observatory Alliance, formed in 2001 One main task is the definition of Interoperability standards F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

3 VO Interoperability standards VO aims at providing astronomers with seamless access to on-line resources data, services Science driven, taking advantage of new technologies when relevant Interoperable services: standards for registry, query language, data access layer, content description (semantics), data models, Grid&Web services Hard work at IVOA by national project participants - lists, bi-yearly interoperability meetings F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

4 VO status (2) Standards have to be useful and usable The standard definition groups include people from data centres On-going implementation in some places A thin layer above data centre holdings Most essential VO standards are near, at or above V1.0 good progress this week on some critical standards F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

5 VO status (3) The data centre time is coming in the VO! The VO concept emerged by and the first projects began in 2001 Transition from R&D/framework definition to implementation by data centres F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

6 What is a data centre in the VO framework? The VO is a framework for publishing data and resources for community usage A strong incentive to share data and knowledge Avoid the semantic debate about what a data centre is! In the VO context: keywords are service to the community, addedvalue linked to expertise, sustainability, quality F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

7 On-line data and services in the VO Many teams are willing to provide data and services in their domains of expertise classical data centres: observatory archives, disciplinary data centres, data centres such as CDS which provide value-added services and generic tools More and more: scientific teams value-added services and tools in specific domains A census in France produced more than 40 answers! F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

8 Data Centres in the VO (1) Many types of services, including new types of services Observations archives/ science ready data Value-added services and tools compilations, including additional data required for data interpretation (e.g., atomic and molecular lines) Theoretical services on-line modelling services, set on precooked results Data analysis Software suites Specific services to help solving a specific scientific question Ambitious full environments Communities: planets, fundamental astronomy, solar and heliospheric physics, F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

9 Data Centres in the VO (2) For large observatory archives, one can imagine a networking of efforts, e.g. instrument teams or PIs of key projects providing science ready data and data analysis or interpretation tools for one instrument of a large space or ground-based observatory. Cf ESA, ESO Tool interoperability and cooperation provide very nice new tools F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

10 1995 WL4 Service SkyBot of IMCCE + Aladin (CDS) Jungmann + VO standard (VOTable) F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

11 VO access to spectral archives Hyperleda Fuse F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

12 Collaboration initiated at the Pune Interoperability meeting IAP Obs. Paris Obs. Lyon ESAC, Espagne F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

13 Atomic and molecular data, tools F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

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17 An original project Keep expertise of teams specialized in data processing Graphical construction of procedures from modules (Matlab, fortran) Some procedures require access to the GRID A new type of service (project MDA, ACI MD) (OCA, CDS, LSIIT) F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

18 Data centres in the VO (3) Huge diversity (size, context international agencies >> small teams in scientific laboratories) A strong push on large observatories to make their data available to the whole community and to deliver science ready data this is already a very positive effect of the VO F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

19 Data centres in the VO (4) Many teams want to provide data and services to the VO but producing and maintaining a service is not easy Keywords are critical mass (adapted to the aims) medium term sustainability (at least a strong support from the local authorities) not a short term burst of efforts a real national/international scientific niche (otherwise efforts are wasted! and to gain community support) Quality Data Quality, metadata (data curation) F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

20 Data Centres in their national context (1) National contexts are very different, mainly because they rely on local expertise and depend on the demands of the funding agencies Local data, local expertise It is very important to keep science usage in mind very good to have local science programs to use the data and services Support of the user community F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

21 Data Centres in their national context (2) Create a community of VO service providers Help data centres to uptake the VO framework Gather feedback from implementation and take it into account in the VO framework definition A very important role for the national VO projects (in addition to supporting the user community) Increased weight of implementation feedback in IVOA work F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

22 DCA: Data Centre Alliance EC Coordination Action VOTC: Technology Centre VOFC: Facility Centre F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

23 Conclusions (1) Since the advent of the Internet, provision of online services and networking of the resources has been a great success of astronomy e.g., the bibliographic network with ADS, NED, SIMBAD, journals, archives A revolution in the way astronomers work, even if the community does not always realize it, and simply uses the tool The VO is the next step, providing new resources and seamless access to them F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

24 Conclusions (2) In all cases (large projects, medium and small teams), sharing data, creating services means overhead Find a way to get enough money into the data centres and a career path for staff (data scientists) Data centers can be terminated Community support needed when priorities are set new tools are already here and will be provided incrementally F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

25 Conclusions (3) Also expected to influence other fields in contact with astronomy Atomic and molecular physics Geodetics The Solar and heliospheric physics community and the planetary community have their own projects there are contacts already, we have to make sure that information circulates properly F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

26 Conclusions (4) Why join the effort? You will have to care more about data quality and metadata, which means that your service will improve An occasion to increase contacts and collaborations with other teams Your visibility and usage statistics are likely to increase! The most difficult task is likely to provide and maintain the service and to insure quality, not to implement the VO framework F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September

27 An evolution of classical services A plus for the traditional services: facilitates usage by providing seamless access, integration of information coming from different services ( portals for different types of information Strong incentive to produce new services New actors: scientific teams F. Genova, IVOA Small Project meeting, September