ASPCS
 
Back to Volume
Paper: Chapter 41: An Overview of the Registry Framework
Volume: 382, The National Virtual Observatory: Tools and Techniques for Astronomical Research
Page: 445
Authors: Plante, R.L.; Greene, G.
Abstract: As we saw in its introduction in Chapter 7, a registry plays a key role in the discovery of data and services in the VO. Users can visit a registry portal, enter keywords or advanced query constraints to find and ultimately access a variety of data and services. Thus, we see that a registry is a kind of yellow pages for the VO that can even dial the number for you. In this chapter, we take a step back to understand exactly what a registry is, what it contains, and how it forms the basis for resource discovery.

Despite its importance to the VO, a registry‛s destiny is to go largely unnoticed by most users, providing its services to other applications behind the scenes. Consequently, most who come to the VO as consumers do not need to understand most of the concepts presented in this chapter. Users that wish to employ advanced discovery techniques will benefit from a deeper understanding of the registry metadata model. Publishers — those who make data or services available to others through the VO — will also benefit from this closer look; not only will they see the role of registries in the publication process, they will better understand the importance of providing good descriptions of their assets so that users can make the most of them.

Back to Volume