IVOA Virtual Observatory Query Language (VOQL) Working Group

Contents

Introduction

_Definition: The IVOA Query Language group will be in charge of defining a universal Query Language to be used by applications accessing distributed data within the Virtual Observatory framework.

Group members and how to join.

Anyone can belong to the IVOA VOQL Working Group. You can Subscribe to the VOQL mailing list and participate in the discussions held in that list.

VOQL Technical Experts Group (VOQL-TEG)

The VOQL Technical Experts group (VOQL-TEG) was created in Sep 2006 with the aim of defining the technical specification of the standards, making sure that the proposed solutions both fulfil the user community needs and are technically feasible. There is a mailing list for this group (voql-teg@ivoa.net). Only members of the VOQL-TEG can send mails to this list. However, anyone can look at the archived mails for information (See forum list.

The VOQL-TEG holds a monthly meeting where details on the standards, specifications, etc. are discussed. The Minutes of these meetings can be seen in the aforementioned mailing list.

New planned structure for the VOQL group and deliverables.

According to recent discussions, the VOQL standards structure has been refurbished to clearly show a separation of Language, Protocol and Service. The new structure and the items the VOQL group will be dealing with are therefore:

1.- The Language.

This will be a refurbishing of the current ADQL able to accomodate different communities' needs. A document only dealing with the Language specification will be produced.

2.- The Protocol.

This will deal with how to access data using the ADQL language. A new document will be produced for this so called Table Access Protocol (TAP). The chair of the Data Access Layer group is a permanent member of the VOQL-TEG to co-author the initial creation of this protocol

3.- The Service.

This will deal with the important issue of Cross-match. A new document will be produced for a type of services dealing directly with cross-matching of sources (of whichever type). This work will be initiated within the VOQL-TEG and evolved in conjunction with other IVOA groups.

Expected deliveries:

1.- Refurbished ADQL doc in quite a mature state by China 2007 interop.

2.- First draft of the Table Access Protocol (TAP) doc by China 2007 interop.

Further discussions are needed to estimate possible due dates for crossmatch service specification.