[TASS] Some more on XML/RTML etc

[Peter Mount <peter@RETEP.ORG.UK>]

While looking into XML, I've come across these two items that may be of
interest:

From: http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/xml.html

Astronomical Markup Language

[CR: 19990127]

"We are currently defining a new XML language called AML, 'Astronomical
Markup Language', aimed at being a standard exchange format for metadata
in astronomy. AML now supports the
following objects (in the object-oriented sense): astronomical object,
article, table, set of tables, image, person. This means that all these
objects can be described with the same language,
allowing easier establishing of links between them, and the creation of
programs handling all these objects with the same user interface. The
following databases can already be queried in AML:
Simbad, NED, ADS, and the Benn&Martin people database. A java AML browser
can be used to retrieve AML documents and browse them with a common user
interface. The creation of this
language is a prerequisite for further work on information retrieval in
astronomy, and it will allow the use of the same information by both
humans and intelligent agents: the intelligent agents can
use AML with an XML parser, while a browser for AML documents will be used
to create an associated user interface."

See also the related "Astronomical Instrument Markup Language" - "a first
implementation of the more general Instrument Markup Language (IML). Both
AIML and IML are vocabularies based
on the W3C standard, the Extensible Markup Language (XML)."

-------------

PS: This entry is a fair way down the document (which is horrendously
long), and includes some links.

One of which points to: http://pioneer.gsfc.nasa.gov/public/aiml/ which
describes AIML (Astronomical Instrument Markup Language).

Peter

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