TOPCAT and SAMP: developing the leading astronomical catalogue software
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
TOPCAT, with its associated libraries, is the leading astronomical catalogue software, and has been adopted by many large-scale projects. Its development to this stage of national and international acceptance, by Dr. Mark Taylor, was funded until recently by the AstroGrid grant, and has been continued under an urgency grant. STFC support is due to run out in late 2010, when this exceptionally useful software will begin to become obsolete in the face of the increasing requirements from existing projects using front-rank facilities and combining multi-wavelength catalogues. It must continue to adapt to cope with the changing standards of the Virtual Observatory and the changing requirements of its chief users. In particular, it is intended to add a Python interface, to improve useability and aid integration into large-scale catalogue-handling pipelines of the type that are increasingly being used for major astronomical (and other) projects. This proposal requests funding for 24 months to provide the improvements to TOPCAT most requested by its current users and to keep it fully compliant with the developing Virtual Observatory protocols. The funding will also support work on the Simple Astronomical Messaging Protocol, SAMP, which covers data exchange between different tools running on a user's computer, so that TOPCAT can work with many other tools, including the Microsoft World-Wide Telescope and the Herschel Interactive Processing Environment. SAMP was defined by Taylor et al. (2009), and Mark Taylor's implementations of the protocol are now embedded in TOPCAT and other standard astronomical tools.
Publications
Allen Alice
(2013)
The Astrophysics Source Code Library: Where do we go from here?
in ArXiv e-prints
Berry D. S.
(2012)
NDG -- Routines for Accessing Groups of NDFs
in Starlink User Note
Demleitner M
(2012)
TAPRegExt: a VOResource schema extension for describing TAP services
Dowler P
(2013)
DALI: Data Access Layer Interface, version 1.0
Draper
(2012)
GAIA -- Graphical Astronomy and Image Analysis Tool
in Starlink User Note
Draper Peter W.
(2013)
SPLAT-VO -- A VO-enabled Spectral Analysis Tool
in Starlink User Note
DuPrie Kimberly
(2013)
Astrophysics Source Code Library: Incite to Cite!
in arXiv e-prints
Fitzpatrick M.
(2013)
Application Interoperability with SAMP
in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXII
Lodieu N
(2021)
Exploring the planetary-mass population in the Upper Scorpius association
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Taylor M. B.
(2012)
SAMP: Application Messaging for Desktop and Web Applications
in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXI
Taylor Mark
(2013)
STIL - Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library
in Starlink User Note
Taylor Mark
(2013)
STILTS -- Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library Tool Set
in Starlink User Note
Taylor Mark
(2013)
TOPCAT -- Tool for OPerations on Catalogues And Tables
in Starlink User Note
Description | The software developed has been widely disseminated, and is used internationally for distributed data access via the Astrophysics Source Code Library and GitHub. |
Exploitation Route | The software is well documented and suitable for multiple uses. It has many hundreds of active users world-wide. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education |
Description | The software involved has been used for educational purposes at school level, and forms a part of the Microsoft World-Wide Telescope, as well as being an essential component of the archive access used for the ESA Gaia project. |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Education |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Ad hoc funding |
Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Microsoft Research |
Department | Microsoft Research Cambridge |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2012 |
End | 12/2012 |
Description | Ad hoc funding |
Amount | € 20,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | Heidelberg University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Germany |
Start | 01/2011 |
End | 12/2011 |
Title | STILTS |
Description | Starlink Tables Infrastructure Library Tool Set: software for handling tabular data in many formats, including methods compliant with Virtual Observatory protocols. |
Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Used in many astronomical databases; potential uses for other complicated databases. |
Title | TOPCAT |
Description | Tool for operations on catalogues and tables: general catalogue comparison/selection tool, much used by astronomers world-wide. |
Type Of Material | Data handling & control |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Extensible to many table-based datasets where matching of entries is required. Has been used on experimental basis for medical work, for example. |
Description | AMiBA collaboration |
Organisation | Academia Sinica |
Department | Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics |
Country | Taiwan, Province of China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Diagnosis of issues in the design of AMiBA, suggestions for solutions, close collaboration on data analysis, co-authorship of papers (including much revision of English), design of some observing campaigns. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to AMiBA, access to Subaru, travel and subsistence expenses in Hilo and Taipei. |
Impact | Multiple publications; large number of PhD students in Taipei trained on project. |
Description | XMM-LSS collaboration |
Organisation | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre |
Department | Service d'Astrophysique |
Country | France |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Co-authored multiple papers and proposals; performed first SZ observations of sample clusters. |
Collaborator Contribution | Access to XMM-LSS datasets, pipeline analysis of datasets that allowed sekection of high-redshift clusters for follow-up research. |
Impact | Multiple publications on cosmology and astrophysics; development of concept for future surveys. |
Title | JSAMP |
Description | Message-passing software used for interaction between distinct desktop software components used by astronomers (e.g., to relate catalogue data to images). Methodology of general application, and used in commercial products. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used worldwide, including in Microsoft World-Wide Telescope. v1.1 release in 2010. v1,2, v1.3, v1.3-1, v1.3-2 releases in 2011 v1.3-3 release in 2012 v1.3-4 release in 2013 |
URL | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/jsamp/ |
Title | STIL |
Description | Library underlying TOPCAT and STILTS, used for complex pipeline catalogue manipulations. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Worldwide use. 2010 release v3.0 2011 release v3.0-1, v3.0-2, v3.0-3 2012 release v3.0-4 2013 release v3.0-5 2014 release v3.0-6, v3.0-7 |
URL | http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stil/ |
Title | STILTS |
Description | Set of command-line tools that can be used for powerful astronomical catalogue interrogation, manipulation, and plotting. 2010 releases v2.1-2, v2.2, v2.2-1 2011 releases v2.3, v2.3-1, v2.4 2013 releases v2.5, v2.5-1, v2.5-2 2014 releases v2.5-3, v3.0 |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Heavily used in catalogue manipulation, world-wide. |
URL | http://www.starlink.ac.uk/stilts/ |
Title | TOPCAT |
Description | Astronomical data-handling software |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2010 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Used internationally for interaction with large distributed databases. 2010 releases v3.5-2, v3.6, v3.7 2011 releases v3.8, v3.9 2013 releases v4.0b, v4.0-1 2014 releases v4.1, v4.2 |
URL | http://www.starlink.ac.uk/topcat/ |