GeminiFocus January 2016 | Page 14

“I’ve tried using the new archive for some PI data and I just wanted to let you know how impressed I am with how it works. The interface is easy to use and intuitive.” — Tom Matheson, US NGO Mixing this with Cloud computing gives us a huge range of scalability options; for example, if a new (or existing) Gemini partner country or institution found that their internet connection to the current archive server isn’t so great, we could deploy an extra server, either within the Amazon Cloud at a data center located closer to them, or even potentially on a server located within an astronomical institution. Keeping It Simple In developing the GOA archive web interface, we wanted to keep things as simple, yet as powerful, as possible. There is only one search form for the archive; it provides a single and clear starting point for any archive search — whether it’s a Principal Investigator (PI) looking for data from his or her own observing program or someone interested in searching for public data on an object. Searches by a variety of parameters (such as instrument, observing date, and observing modes) are provided, along with instrumentspecific details and, of course, target names and sky positions. GOA was by definition a lean project; the driver was cost savings, and this meant limited functionality. While we deliberately decided to make it a simpler system than the previous Gemini Science Archive, we would also maintain the functionality that had proved most beneficial over the years. The only example of lost functionality that users have commented on is that the archive no longer provides details of proposal abstracts in the database, and searching by PI name is not possible. We’re keeping a list of ideas and feature requests to consider for future upgrades. 12 GeminiFocus Bookmarkable Searches Another particularly useful feature of GOA is its ability to bookmark searches. When you enter a field in the search form and click “search,” your browser is directed to a URL that represents that search. This allows you to bookmark the page, copy and paste the URL from your browser, save the URL in your notes, email it to a Co-Investigator, or whatever you like. And if you visit that URL in the future, that search is preserved and will find all the data from that program; if any new data has been added since you saved the URL, you’ll see the new results too. Low Latency Some time ago, we started “remote eavesdropping,” whereby PIs could connect to the Gemini control room while their observations were being made. This allows users to interact with the queue observing team and provide feedback on the data as it comes in. With Base Facility Operations already happening at Gemini North, we might look to a future that also includes Remote Observations — GOA is already prepared for this, as we designed the new archive to make data available promptly. Data typically are available to download within a minute or so of completing a readout. At the moment, Gemini North data are slightly quicker (often as fast as 20 seconds) due to the better Internet connection to Maunakea. However, as the Large Synoptic Survey Te