AstroGrid Project Meeting #14:

30 Jun - 01 Jul 2008, IfA, ROE, University of Edinburgh

Meeting Theme

The main aim of this meeting is to review the transition of AstroGrid from a development project to a Virtual Observatory service, take stock of the current rollout of the v1.0 service, plan for support of the increasing user base, agree the short term plan through to end 2008, and prepare for the next stage of AstroGrid as a service. An additional focus will be on AstroGrid's contribution to the continuing development of the European Virtual Observatory.

The strange combination of the strong support given to the VO by Astronet, contrasted with the low ranking given by PPAN, means that AstroGrid probably has to change significantly. We do not expect that VO work in the UK will cease, but do expect that we have to rapidly re-think how it is cast. A final aim of this consortium meeting will be to brainstorm these changes.

Agenda and Presentations

All speakers - please upload your presentations directly to this page, or email to naw@ast.cam.ac.uk

Logistics

Location

The meeting is at the ROE site, which most of you will know. Here are some notes for context. Edinburgh AstroGrid staff are part of the Institute for Astronomy (IfA), which in turn is part of the School of Physics of the University of Edinburgh. The IfA shares the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE) site with the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC), situated on Blackford Hill in the southern suburbs of Edinburgh. (The main University Science campus (King's Buildings) is just at the bottom of Blackford Hill.)

Link to Google Maps for the conference

Wireless Internet Access

Wireless access will be available in the Lecture Theatre. The access code will be provided on the day.

Travel

Directions to ROE are given at this link. Here are some key points :

Edinburgh airport is to the Northwest of the city and has regular flights from many places. A taxi from the airport to ROE takes 30 mins and costs about £20, and to the centre of town costs about £16. Alternatively there is a frequent bus to the centre of town which costs £3.50 and takes about twenty five minutes. It arrives close to Waverley train station, just next to Princes Street.

From London to Edinburgh by train takes about four and a half hours, and of course you arrive already in the middle of town. Waverley train station is close to Princes Street.

Edinburgh has licensed black cabs. The main companies are Central Radio Taxis (0131 229 2468), City Cabs (0131 228 1211), and Computer Cab (0131 272 8000)

Travel from hotels to meeting. When we see who is booked in where, we will take a decision whether to organise some pick-ups, or just leave people to self-organise. Watch this space.

Accommodation

Unfortunately we have not been able to make block bookings - please make your own booking using the links below. There are plenty of hotels, but June is a busy time in Edinburgh - please book very soon !

A standard ROE list of hotels and guest houses is given at this link.

The top three (various Apex hotels) are reasonably smart hotels in the centre of town. The next three are guest houses in South Edinburgh, which are reasonably walkable from ROE. (But don't forget ROE is at the top of a steep hill !). The last one (Braid Hills) is a nice hotel further out to the South.

NeSC also have a hotel list at http://www.nesc.ac.uk/nesc/acomo.html

There are lots more hotels at http://www.edinburgh.org/

One that AstroGrid folk have often used before is the Ibis Hotel in Hunter Square

Meals

Sandwich lunch will be provided on June 30th and July 1st. Dinner on the 30th will be at Howies at 7:30 p.m. This is on Waterloo Place, which is an eastern extension of Princes Street.

Registration

Please edit yourself into the table below if you intend to attend the meeting, and indicate whether you wish to attend the meeting dinner, and where you are staying. (Unfortunately, we do not have a block booking of hotel rooms - please book your own accomodation using the links above, and state where you have booked, to help co-ordination of taxis and so on).

Apologies

TonyLinde

GaryGilchrist

SilviaDalla

DuganWitherick

-- NicholasWalton - 11 May 2008