Talk at the presentation workshop for the Chilean Virtual Observatory (ChiVO; http://www.chivo.cl/workshop-program), on lessons that can be learned from the development of the Spanish Virtual Observatory, and how ChiVO has already applied most of them.

1. BUILDING A NATIONAL
VIRTUAL OBSERVATORY
THE CASE OF THE SPANISH VIRTUAL OBSERVATORY
JUAN DE DIOS SANTANDER VELA (IAA-CSIC)
VIA-SKA PROJECT MANAGER,
AMIGA GROUP “ASTROINFORMATICIAN”

2. Talk Outline
If you want it, build it…
But then you need to work a lot!
e!
at
er
op
er
nt
I
…with a little help from my friends
The Virtual Observatory is a community of people
Build on your strengths
Do what you are most comfortable with
Know thee, and thy neighbour
Do what you can, and what they want

3. If you want it, build it…
But then you need to work a lot!

4. Creating the IVOA
All initial IVOA members motivated by the
possibility of making new science
And the prospective that science will eventually
be impossible without it!
Worked to create IVOA (mirroring W3C organisation)
Seeked funding for (inter)national VO projects and
IVOA itself
oach
appr ty
m-up muni
otto
b
com
the
from

5. Getting into the IVOA
IVOA established in 2002
Enrique Solano goes officially to his first IVOA
meeting in 2002
Creates Spanish VO interest network with
funding from MEC
Several projects funded (CONSOLIDER,
Network)

8. Getting into the IVOA
IVOA established in 2002
Enrique Solano goes officially to his first IVOA
meeting in 2002
Creates Spanish VO interest network with
funding from MEC
Several projects funded (CONSOLIDER,
Network)

9. Getting data & tools in the VO

10. A detour: AMIGA & the VO
Analysis of the interstellar Medium of Isolated GAlaxies
Multi-wavelength, multi-object study on isolated galaxies
with strict isolation criteria
Careful curation of data
Very careful processing of new parameters from
Group’s own observation programs and data reduction
Literature table scanning
Virtual Observatory table harvesting and parsing
Emphasis on marrying astronomy and computer science,
and buy-in of the VO
CIEN
E-S
C
SERS
EU

11. A detour: AMIGA & the VO
Analysis of the interstellar Medium of Isolated GAlaxies
Multi-wavelength, multi-object study on isolated galaxies
with strict isolation criteria
Careful curation of data
Very careful processing of new parameters from
Group’s own observation programs and data reduction
Literature table scanning
Virtual Observatory table harvesting and parsing
Emphasis on marrying astronomy and computer science,
and buy-in of the VO
ERS!
P
E
ENCE
-SCI
VELO
DE

12. A detour: AMIGA & the VO
Project goal: providing a baseline for galaxy
properties to compare with other environments
Interaction-free sample, ideal for tracing HI infall:
we can use CIG galaxies to detect the cosmic web
Need for very sensitive telescopes able to resolve
faint HI ➡ Square Kilometre Array & pathfinders
WE NEED TOOLS FOR OUR OWN SCIENCE ANALYSIS
PARTICIPATING IN SKA.TEL.SDP CONSORTIUM
⤷

13. A detour: AMIGA & the VO
We built our own VO data-repository (now defunct,
sorry!)
for
We helped building the DSS-63 and TAPAS t wait e
n’
do gs to b
archives
hin shed
t
fini
We developed the RADAMS data model in
between
Collaborating in the ImageDM (José E. Ruiz)

14. If you want it, build it…
✓

15. …with a little help from my friends
The Virtual Observatory is a community of people
(apart from federated data and computation resources, of course!)

16. The VO helps you
n’t
do it
you uild
but to b
n!
d
nee our ow
ny
o
Astronomer: lots of interoperable data, easy way
to query them
Astro-Informatician: you can build the tool you
want with Astronomers and Developers
Developer: lots of interoperable (sometimes
interchangeable) tools, toolkits, libraries…

17. The VO helps you
See the example of the ALMA Science Archive:
Query core built by CADC, improved by ESO for
the Catalog Facility
Use of open source libraries for data
transformation (voview, JavaScript, jQuery,
Spring MVC…)

18. Who helped create the SVO?
Those that wanted and could help:
LAEFF: IUE Archive as the starting point
Spanish thematic network
Centres which were further ahead in the VO
teaching those wishing to learn about the VO

19. …with a little help from my friends
?

20. Build on your strengths
Do what you are most comfortable with

21. Build on your strengths
Don’t do what you are not comfortable with

24. TAPAS - Telescope Archive for Public Access System
IRAM 30m Archive
Login
Password
ok
Home
Search
Results
News
Policy
Help
About
Home
Welcome to the home page of the header archive of the IRAM-30m telescope. The Telescope Access for Public
Archive System (TAPAS) provides a complete, homogeneous, and searchable database of the header
information of all astronomical observations conducted at the IRAM 30m telescope. TAPAS was built in a
collaborative effort between IRAM and IAA/CSIC. It is designed to be Virtual Observatory compliant.
TAPAS contains more than 200 header variables for each observational scan, encompassing
+
+
+
+
information on the observing setup (source, frequency, observing mode, etc.),
information on the project (PI, Title, etc.),
the status of the system at the time of the observations (telescope, receiver, backend, weather, etc.),
and also the results of calibrations, of pointing and focus scans.
At present, it contains header data taken between end of September 2009 and now. The data base will
eventually be filled with earlier data.
If you have used TAPAS facilities for your research, please include the following acknowledgment:
"This research used the TAPAS header archive of the IRAM-30m telescope, which was created in collaboration
with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - CSIC, partially supported by Spanish MICINN DGI grant AYA200507516-C02."
IRAM - IAA - CSIC

25. PROJECT INFO
USER SOFTWARE
SERVICE SOFTWARE
RELATED SOFTWARE
PROJECT RESOURCES
Welcome to AstroGrid
AstroGrid was the UK's Virtual Observatory developement project from 2001-2010. The AstroGrid project began
in 2001 as part of the UK's government e-Science initiative, and proceeded in three phases. Following a short
exploratory phase (late 2001), the original AstroGrid project (2002-4) centred on research and prototyping; the
follow-on project (AstroGrid-2 : 2005-7) was the engineering and construction phase. The third phase (AstroGrid-3
: 2008-9) was an operations project. We launched working services and user software in April 2008. AstroGrid
software and services are still used by astronomers all over the world on a daily basis.
These static web pages reflect AstroGrid and its software at the time of its completion so be aware that some of
what you find will not be current. To get up to date VO software try starting with the EuroVO or IVOA web pages.
General Information
The AstroGrid project involved four inter-related strands of work.
Work with colleagues world-wide to construct agreed international standards and protocols.
Constructing technical infrastructure software, for data centres and developers to deploy.
Establishing and running working services, such the AstroGrid Registry, and various VOSpace fileservers.
Constructing astronomical user software, and providing user support.
The core AstroGrid work was funded by PPARC and by STFC. This core was enhanced by European Commission
funding, as part of the AVO, VOTECH, DCA, and AIDA projects. The total funding over eight years totaled
approximately £14M.
AstroGrid website is hosted at the Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh - last updated: 15-Aug-2012

26. SVO strengths
Archive services
Theoretical services
Data mining
VO-enabling scientific workflows
Reaching the community

27. ChiVO strengths
y
m
e!
ak
t
Science network (REUNA)
Growing astronomical community
Growing software-enabled projects: ALMA, LSST
Astronomical software developers

28. ChiVO weaknesses
Most of the facilities are not Chilean
Their organisations can have their own agendas
They might not even willing to share!
ght
mi !
hey ced
t t vin
bu on
ec
b

29. Build on your strengths
✓

30. Know thee, and thy neighbour
Do what you can, and what they want

31. SVO community
Most of the Spanish community works under the
old paradigm:
get raw data > reduce it > analyze it > publish
Need to get to the community to
know the VO
use the VO
Science with VO Workshops
Build tools for emerging science
Ph.D. courses on VO

32. Know thee, and thy neighbour
?

33. Conclusions
There is no “right way”/single way to build a
National Virtual Observatory
What’s right is sharing with the community…
consider astronomers, developers, and specially
mixed profiles…
consider what benefits them, and what they can
contribute

34. Conclusions
A National Virtual Observatory is never finished…
Even if you can’t get direct funding for it…
ChiVO is already doing many things well
Go interoperate!
✓

35. Thank you!
¿Questions?
jdsant@iaa.es