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| Paper: |
ViaLactea Knowledge Base: Status and Perspectives |
| Volume: |
541, ADASS XXXIII |
| Page: |
442 |
| Authors: |
Marco Molinaro; Robert Butora; Giuseppe Tudisco; Fabio Vitello; Milena Benedettini; Sergio Molinari |
| DOI: |
10.26624/ICDS5975 |
| Abstract: |
The ViaLactea Knowledge Base (VLKB) was set up as the main database
for the ViaLactea project, dealing with galaxy astrophysics of the Milky Way. The
ViaLactea project started at the end of 2013 and the VLKB, as a set of data resources
and services customised to the benefit of the project, was ready and used by the end of
2015. The custom interfaces were defined keeping in mind the discovery and access
scenario that is continuously developed in the Virtual Observatory (VO) ecosystem. Interoperability was slowly brought inside the VLKB afterwards, depending on the limited resources available after the end of the ViaLactea project. Nonetheless, the VLKB
resources continued to be used in galactic astrophysics projects, and as a comprehensive resource of data and services in demonstrator projects. This helped the full system
to be kept alive and updated (even if occasionally rather than continuously). Currently,
among the standards that are in use within the VLKB, an ObsCore table keeps the
metadata for the observational datasets catalogue, a TAP service exposes the general
underlying metadata content for all its data resources (catalogues, images, radial velocity cubes and morphologically complex objects, ...), a custom implementation of the
SODA standard is set up to enable dataset cutouts, and UWS is used to manage asynchronous cutout and merge requests. Furthermore, OAuth/OIDC AAI solutions have
been tested on top of the cutout access service, and a multi-cutout solution has been
presented at an IVOA meeting as a feedback to DataLink evolution. Other features, like
management of complex morphology (tessellation, cross match, ...), of simulated data,
proper registration of the VLKB resources in a VO Registry, and more, are still missing
or incomplete. A dedicated client application to consume the VLKB, the ViaLactea
Visual Analytics (VLVA), exists; the usage of standards is meant both to let the client
be more general and easier to maintain and to enable generic client applications to connect to the VLKB resources. For a smoother user experience and maintenance of the
full VLKB system (e.g. to the benefit of the ECOGAL project and the contribution to
the SKA-RC activities), the resources and services will however need to continue to
mature and improve. This contribution reports the status of the actual technologies and
standards in use in the VLKB, and the future perspectives for the VLKB resources and
services. |
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