IVOA Roadmap for 2023B

This outlines the roadmap for development activities by the various IVOA working and interest groups between the Nov 2023 and May 2024 Interops.

Applications WG

Standards and Related:

• Get VOTable 1.5 to RFC
• Evolution of MOC adding frequency axis to MOC
• Follow integration of VO-Standards and comon applications into science platform
• Migrate HiPS and SAMP documents to Github
• Clean up applications WG wiki pages.

Python

• Support open development in PyVO (release 1.5)
• Support for MIVOT integration in PyVO
• Maintenance, new features? Organize meetings with developers, mainteners, users
• Maintain votable parsing in Astropy core (add support for VOTable 1.5)

Data Access Layer WG

Primary:

ADQL

• 2.2 - PEG, INTERVAL support, MOC support, Array support, string functions, OFFSET

• PRec by Sydney

• User managed persistent tables
• Experiment with Open API spec for these changes

• RESPONSEFORMAT, MAXREC
• Allow services to reject unknown parameters
• Modernize required UCDs (UCD 1.0-> UCD 1+)
• WD by Sydney (PR pending validators and implementations)

• Proceed with renaming, expansion of supported data product types
• Miscellaneous changes
• WD by Sydney

• return extended metadata
• New transformation types
• WD by Sydney

LineTAP

• Client and server implementations progressing
• Raise PRec once implementations ready

• Work restarting
• New WD and perhaps PRec by Sydney

• Issue errata for minor issues already noted in github

• Can functions be reconciled between GAVO and OAJ?

Data Model WG

Primary:

Spectrum 1.2 RFE:

• With exec approval
  • Update abstract with statement of model update scope
  • create/update issues for future enhancements ( vocabularies, VOUnit, invalid UCD sweep)
  • correct typo: PARAMs with no datatype
• Find/update spec lib implementation

• implement python workflow scripts as jupyter notebooks
• proceed to RFC

• DM review of WD; organize resolution of any open questions.

Secondary:

Mango 1.0:

• continue refinement of content and implementations
• detail stop of V1.0 of document
• goal: concrete WD for next interop

• revise model per discussion in Bologna interop
• define and execute appropriate implementations (in context of TimeSeries, Cube, Mango)
• goal: concrete WD for next interop

• Refine Note in support of HEIG creation
• continue informal discussions of the 'club'
• goal: formation of HE Interest group

• finalize Note, see if this can become a WD
  • as 'view of Provenance' similar to ObsCore

Other:

VODML Toolkit

• integrate toolkit usage into model repositories
• utilize to generate code package of vo-dml compliant models.

• work on Dataset, and High Energy should define additional workflow threads which exercise this model in other contexts.
• goal: implement any defined workflow cases

• VO-DML compliant version of Characterisation model
• goal: WD by Spring 2024

• formalizing model basis for Aladin FoV format used by STScI and others
• goal: no stated goals this semester

• continue discussions with CADC about how this model fits into the IVOA ecosystem

Grid and Web Services WG

https://github.com/ivoa-std/ExecutionPlanner

Two prototype implementations ongoing to check the consistency of the WD

- Dave Morris and Sara Bertocco

- ASTRON one in the context of SRCNet

• Working Group new Name

Some names proposed at:

https://yopad.eu/p/New_name_for_GWS_group

Converging to "Distributed Services and Protocols" - proposed by Dave Morris

Registry WG

• Continue developing, maintaining and testing the new PyVO Registry search API
  • Follow up discussion in Tucson’s Registry thematic session about “Python as a registry client for the end users”: https://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpNov2023Registry/interop_202311_pyvo.pdf and https://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpNov2023Registry/InterOpNov2023Registry_Notes-365days.pdf
  • Investigate resource ranking in results
• Facilitate discovery of data collections by product type (eg “time series”)
  • cf work on VODataService-1.3 (see standards section below)
• Curation and validation of the Registry
  • Coordinate with Ops IG to continue ongoing validation and curation efforts among registry maintainers, resource curators, validators and standards authors
  • Explore feasibility of a VOResource linter using XSD (vs schematron?) or/and checks with in Python (xpath & libxml2) to handle constraints (eg author names syntax)
• Continue WG + EDU IG collaboration to help/train data publishers register their services
  • Follow-up of online brainstorming mtg of 2023-10-03, cf report http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/registry/2023-October/005545.html and notes http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/registry/attachments/20231014/414c4998/attachment-0003.pdf
• Continue involvement with DCP IG, esp. on the note “Data Origin and the VO” https://www.ivoa.net/documents/DataOrigin/
• Continue discussing whether/how does cloud information belong in the registry and how to register information about multiple locations for finding data e.g., on-prem or on S3...
• Follow-up on deprecation of the Registry Interface 1.0 old client search functionality on clients and servers
  • discussed in Bologna cf notes https://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpMay2023Registry/InterOpMay2023Registry-Notes.pdf
• Standards currently worked on (in order of priority):
  • RegTAP-1.2 (editor: MD) https://github.com/ivoa-std/RegTAP
    • storing coverage information (described in VOResource-1.2)
    • WD published https://ivoa.net/documents/RegTAP/20220519/
    • WD announced http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/registry/2022-May/005495.html
    • Goal: PR then RFC in 2024
  • VOResource-1.2 (editor: MD) https://github.com/ivoa-std/VOResource
    • UAT-in-the-VO adoption
    • licenses: use SPDX URIs for rightURIs
    • generalizing altIdentifiers:
      • doi is now a recognized identifier scheme (along with orcid and bibcode)
      • altIdentifier is now an attribute of vr:ResourceName => data providers can use DOIs when declaring relationships.
    • WD published https://ivoa.net/documents/VOResource/20230105/index.html
  • VODataService-1.3 (editor: MD) https://github.com/ivoa-std/VODataService
    • Introducing productTypeServed: cf http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/registry/2024-January/005550.html
  • StandardsRegExt-1.1 (editor: RS) https://github.com/ivoa-std/StandardsRegExt
    • Summary and issues corrected: https://wiki.ivoa.net/internal/IVOA/InterOpMay2023Registry/InterOpMay2023Reg_StandardsRegExt-1.1.pdf
    • WD published https://ivoa.net/documents/StandardsRegExt/20230921/index.html
    • WD announced http://mail.ivoa.net/pipermail/registry/2023-October/005547.html
  • DocRegExt-1.0 (editor: MD) https://github.com/ivoa-std/DocRegExt

Semantics WG

• ObsFacility: propose draft vocabulary + publish IVOA note(s) see 2022 presentation
• EPNcore: Prepare lists of terms in vocabularies (directly RDF/XML). See EPNTAP REC and EPNTAPV20RFC
• IHDEA: Coordination on helio reference frames and work on VEP.
• UCDList RFM 1.6 : simplify process + UCD as a IVOA vocabulary
• Linked-data exploration : onto-portal prototype (UAT, DCAT, RDF Graph on small subset of Registry/epncore/datalink resources)
• Product-type vocabulary: still some work to do before we converge…

Data Curation Preservation IG

• Good practices to provide Data in the VO -
• Provide a DOI reference note - (to improve Data citation)
• Promote Data Origin (see http://ivoa.net/documents/DataOrigin/) to working Group (DALI?) in order to have a basic Provenance in the VO
• Investigate standards use in Open Science and their potential usage in the VO (eg: DCAT)

Education IG

Knowledge Discovery IG

• ML-proofing existing and future science platforms:
  
  • Are existing astronomy science platforms compatible with ML methods?
  • Investigate whether science platforms can access tabular and non-tabular data through VO interfaces.
  • Building libraries of well-established pre-trained models and integrating them in science platforms.
  • Designing a questionnaire to collect user requirements for science platforms to support ML methods and see how it fits into the plan of science platform from the developers' and relevant service providers' side.
• Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models in the VO
  • Coordinating an IVOA, inter-group "tiger team" that will scope the current and future potential impact of AI on VO.
  • Collecting use cases and requirements for the integration of commercial and/or ad hoc LLMs models in IVOA-relevant topics.
  • Investigating best practices to integrate LLMs with VO tools for a fusion of domain knowledge and data.

Operations IG

• Monitor VO health
  • Coordinate "weather reports" (service compliance)
• Address non-compliancy:
  • Identify common/persistent errors
  • Support/encourage service operators to improve service compliance
  • Work with WGs on standards-related issues
• Validation:
  • Ensure validators are available (IvoaValidatorsSummary)
  • Encourage use of validators
    • on deployed services
    • during standard development
• Communication
  • Provide forum for discussion of operational issues
  • Host/invite "site reports"

• Work with DAL on standards issues:
  • ConeSearch: UCD1+
  • DALI: Sexagesimal markup standards
  • SSA: A couple of Errata suggested
• Push for service metadata improvements:
  • VOUnits, UCDs
• Upcoming themes:
  • Operations in the cloud
  • Authentication as an operational necessity

Radio IG

• Complete and implement (2 implementation) the radio Obscore Extension under the resonsability of DM WG
• Improve Pulsar Radio data Note in collaboration with TDIG
• Start version 2 of Implementation review note

Solar System IG

• Continue development on Observatory Facility Codes
• Vocabulary Development:
  • Reference Frames
  • Data Product Types
  • Planetary Object Types

Theory IG

Time Domain IG

Priority in 2023B is to continue the discussions and review of the VOEvent standard, and align it with current practices for transient alert reporting, Expertise from ZTF, and broker alerts for Vera Rubin will be reviewed and hopefully incorporated into a new version of the standard.

• VOEvent 2.1 working draft: new version coordinated by DAL, but the TD IG should follow and read the draft to provide feedback. The current, stable version of VOEvent is at https://www.ivoa.net/documents/VOEvent/20110711/

• Pick up discussion on Time Series Cube Data Model (2019), to get status, establish if it leads to a recommendation, etc. Does the datacube only have a time dimension, or also a spectral dimension? Of relevance for upcoming spectral time domain surveys. We need to ensue that it also fits high energy data (i.e. event files) => https://www.ivoa.net/documents/Notes/CubeDM/20190318/index.html

• Time search postponed in the Cone Search standard to the next major release
• Evaluate synergies with HAPI protocol for heliophysics time domain data (https://vires.services/hapi/)
• Form Galluzzi's talk at interop: radio time/frequency datasets. Similar to GW transients. Are there standards for this?

• Status of (S)TMOC => Space and Time coverage => Does this require updates? Is it currently being used? https://www.ivoa.net/documents/MOC/20220727/index.html

• Cone search service that allows for time constraints

• Other, dormant documents: <a href="https://wiki.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/edit/IVOA/VOEventRegExt?topicparent=IVOA.2023ARoadmap;nowysiwyg=0" rel="nofollow" title="VOEventRegExt (this topic does not yet exist; you can create it)"> VOEventRegExt </a> => Extension of the VO registry to describe a service providing VOEvents (dormant still 2014 ); STC-S => Space Time coordinate linear definitions (dormant still 2013)

Standard and Processes

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