Did we decide about keeping a VOTable option in search tools?

[raddick]

Hey @thakar and @mikear69 , I remember we were talking a bit ago about whether we would keep the option of returning search results as VOTable format. IIRC* we decided to keep web service support but remove the option from the tools. Do I remember correctly? Either way is OK with me, I just want to make sure we arrive at a definite decision.

Labeling this as a question for the moment; let's discuss here. If we decide to remove the VOTable radio button, I'll file a separate issue saying to do so.

*IIRC = If I remember correctly

[thakar]

Remind me what was the rationale for removing it from the interactive tools?

 Ani

Aniruddha R. Thakar, Principal Research Scientist Center for Astrophysical Sciences and Institute for Data Intensive Engineering & Science (IDIES), JHU 3701 San Martin Drive, Baltimore MD 21218-2695 410-516-4850, thakar@jhu.edu, www.sdss.jhu.edu/~thakar

http://www.sdss.jhu.edu/%7Ethakar

Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child. [Ron Wild]

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 11:24 AM, Jordan Raddick notifications@github.com wrote:

Hey @thakar https://github.com/thakar and @mikear69 https://github.com/mikear69 , I remember we were talking a bit ago about whether we would keep the option of returning search results as VOTable format. IIRC* we decided to keep web service support but remove the option from the tools. Do I remember correctly? Either way is OK with me, I just want to make sure we arrive at a definite decision.

Labeling this as a question for the moment; let's discuss here. If we decide to remove the VOTable radio button, I'll file a separate issue saying to do so.

*IIRC = If I remember correctly

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/idies/SkyServer/issues/155.

[raddick]

Our sense was that VOTables were no longer used by astronomers outside of the IVOA tool developers community. We wanted to keep the back-end functionality for VOTable available as API(s) so that those IVOA-member-developed tools won't break. But we decided(?) to remove the VOTable radio button as unnecessary for end users running queries - particularly since we now offer results as JSON, which does the same thing and is much more utilized in the community.

[thakar]

For some reason I have no recollection of this. Maybe we should check with someone like Tom McGlynn before we remove it?

   Ani

Aniruddha R. Thakar, Principal Research Scientist Center for Astrophysical Sciences and Institute for Data Intensive Engineering & Science (IDIES), JHU 3701 San Martin Drive, Baltimore MD 21218-2695 410-516-4850, thakar@jhu.edu, www.sdss.jhu.edu/~thakar

http://www.sdss.jhu.edu/%7Ethakar

The freedoms that we exercise but do not acknowledge are easily taken away. [Barbara Ehrenreich]

On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 12:22 PM, Jordan Raddick notifications@github.com wrote:

Our sense was that VOTables were no longer used by astronomers outside of the IVOA tool developers community. We wanted to keep the back-end functionality for VOTable available as API(s) so that those IVOA-member-developed tools won't break. But we decided(?) to remove the VOTable radio button as unnecessary for end users running queries - particularly since we now offer results as JSON, which does the same thing and is much more utilized in the community.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/idies/SkyServer/issues/155#issuecomment-149621569.

[raddick]

It may be that I am misremembering. @mikear69 , do you remember if we made a decision about dropping VOTable as an output option from SkyServer?