VO App for iPhone/iPod Touch

        For those of you who got an iPhone or iPod Touch for Christmas, a new web app called "iPortal" is available for browsing the Registry and Data services using only the native Safari browser. For the anxious, point your iPhone/iPod to

                http://iraf-nvo.noao.edu/iportal

A web page description with a test interface and screenshots is available at

                http://iraf-nvo.noao.edu/iportal-test

This test interface is only an approximation of what you'd see on the actual device, and please note that non-Safari browsers may not work at all.

        iPortal is a one-box Google-like interface styled to fit the screen of an iPhone/iPod. Its features include:

• Display an image of any part of the sky (color if in the SDSS DR6 footprint, B&W from DSS otherwise).
• Full keyword search of the Registry. Categorized resources found may be browsed by type, or user can drill down to view full description, including a 'Try It' feature
• Object name resolution: an image of the object is displayed along with the resolved coords
• Arbitrary coordinate input: Sexagesimal (whitespace or colon-delimited) or decimal values allowed, and image of those coords is displayed.
• Cone search capability for Cone services, results table displayed on the interface
• SIAP capability for image services. Results containing a Graphics JPEG/GIF have links to the image displayed on the interface
• Full access to Vizier tables displayed locally.
• Zero download for user, all done on server-side (w/ VOClient) and web pages

Example inputs might be things like

        x-ray binaries                  Keyword search
        ngc4258  or  M51                Object Names
        13:29:55.72  +47:13:53.4        Coordinates

Qualifiers may be put on the input to constrain the search to a particular type (see the Help button). Coordinates may be decimal or sexagesimal (colon or whitespace-delimited)

        Further development (e.g. a Dashboard Widget version) and similar apps are planned, please feel free to send me your comments, bug report or suggestions.

Thanks,
-Mike Received on 2007-12-28Z20:35:19