Interoperability of Australian Astronomical Data

This project will deliver a much-needed roadmap to drive data standardisation and interoperability across the Australian All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO), the primary location for Australian astronomical data of national significance. It will determine the path forward to make the ASVO nodes compliant with the FAIR principles and will incorporate International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA) interoperability standards and protocols.

Start date 3 June 2019

Expected completion date 8 October 2019

Investment by ARDC $50,000

Co-investment partners

Astronomy Australia Limited

Australian Astronomical Optics

Macquarie University

Australian National University

CSIRO

Curtin University

Swinburne University of Technology

Lead node

1 Roadmap

Roadmap to drive data standardisation and interoperability across the Australian All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO)

2 Completion of project

Project outcomes will be presented at the ARDC Data & Services Summit in October 2019.

Core features

Creating a Virtual Observatory

Creating a Virtual Observatory (VO) compatible collection will allow researchers (even outside of the astronomy domain) to interrogate multiple data centers in a seamless and transparent way, provides new powerful analysis and visualization capability, and gives data centres a standard framework to publish and reuse astronomy data.

Facilitate a national approach

This roadmap will facilitate a truly national approach to data access through the interoperability of the 5 ASVO portals, allowing for a single multi-wavelength collection.

Who is this project for?

Australian astronomy community.

AAL will lead this project with support from the ASVO coordinator and collaborate with five key Australian astronomy research institutes:

Swinburne University of Technology for ASVO TAO node;
Australian National University for ASVO SkyMapper Node;
Macquarie University for ASVO Data Central Node;
Curtin University for ASVO MWA Node; and
CSIRO for ASVO CASDA Node.

What does this project enable?

The roadmap will determine the path forward to make the ASVO nodes compliant with the FAIR principles and will enable better data interoperability across both national (ASVO) and international astronomy data centers.