ATNF Astronomy Web Services
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RVS Web Service FAQ

1. What is the RVS web wervice

The RVS Server, as the name suggests, is the server side of the system. It is distributed server that accepts user commands via a web service, and uses the different components on the server to fulfill the requests.

2. Where was the web service developed?

The RVS was developed at the Australia Telescope National Facility (a division of CSIRO).

3. Can anyone use the RVS web service to view any FITS files on the internet?

That depends on the environment in which the server is set up. In some cases the RVS Server may be set up as a visualisation interface to a particular data archive. The administrators may set this up so only the data from their archive can be visualised.

Another type of setup may be to allow anyone to connect and view any web-accessable image.

4. Can anyone deploy the RVS web service to visualise their data?

Yes. The source/binary releases of the server as well as accompanying documentation will be made available for download in the near future.

5. What platforms can the web service be executed on?

Being a distributed system, different components may be executed on different nodes in a network. Most components are in Java, making them platform independent but one is written for linux based systems.

6. What web servers can be used to host the RVS web service?

The web service is written in Java, so any web server with Java (servlet/JSP) support can host the web service. Apache Tomcat and IBM WebSphere are two examples of such servers.

7. What does the server use for image processing?

The AIPS++ Display Library is used for all astronomy image processing. This gives the user access to the host of options available in the library.

8. What types of images can be visualised using the service?

Any valid FITS image is supported. These images may be displayed as rasters, contours or vectors. There are plans to extend functionality to include support for:

  • visualisation of visibilities
  • profiling of cubes
  • overlaying of catalogue data

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