AstroScope Development

Current Assessment of existing capabilities

1. NVO DataScope
   • Good Help page, some tooltips
   • Select by position/SIMBAD name and waveband
   • Images and other data
   • Catalogues including Vizier
   • Returns list of checkboxes for available data
     • Per-resource link to limited metadata (mostly Curation)
     • Per-resource link to preview page - image.gif, catalogue exerpts etc. plus links to VOPlot and to individual FITS or VOTable URLs
     • Images
       • • May provide URLs for individual FITS files
       • May offer additional selection page if multiple images from one resource
       • May offer VOTable list e.g. observing log.
       • If images directly available, can start Aladin (quite an old one) or Oasis (another image manipulator)
   • Direct downloads only as tar files of all data selected.
   • What is demanded from participating data providers?
2. Euro-VO AVO-Aladin tool and CDS services (most now linked into AVO tool)
   • See euro-vo demo page!
   • Link to AstroGrid MySpace (limited)
   • Query different sorts of data (images, spectra, catalogues) via separate buttons
   • Can directly perform far more data manipulations and handle spectra
   • More information about spatial coverage, footprints for some resources
   • Individual data files can be downloaded

Both provide access to a vast range of resources but neither are comprehensive (e.g. neither give full access to public Spitzer data)

Neither give a convenient single list of resource URLs.

Neither give adequate resource metadata to enable selection for download or use by another tool if you don't already know the instrument well, apart from by using multiple clicks to drill into information for each resource.

Enhancement Suggestions

see AstroScopeEnhancementSuggestions

-- NicholasWalton - 04 Feb 2005