Improved data search capability at the PDS rings node, They want beta testers Options

[elakdawalla]

Hi all,

Here are two photos of a poster presented by the PDS Rings Node at DPS; the abstract is below. At the end of the poster text (bottom right of the second image), they say: "Where are we now? This is a Beta release! We need feedback on problems..." and so forth. I thought I'd point this community to the new site and suggest you have at it!

http://pds-rings.seti.org/catalog/

--Emily

Improved Data Search Capability At The PDS Rings Node
Mitchell K. Gordon1, L. Ballard1, M. R. Showalter1, N. Heather1
1Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute.
Presentation Number: 26.10
As the number and complexity of NASA's data sets grow, users legitimately face the "needle-in-a-haystack" problem of zeroing in on the finite set of data products most relevant to a particular scientific question. They expect to be able to query the archive using a rich set of reliable metadata, without necessarily knowing in advance which data set(s) might hold the answers, or even whether an answer can be found within the archive's holdings.
The Rings Node is developing a web-based search engine that is capable of meeting many of these challenges. The user can start a query at a very high level (e.g., images of Saturn) and "drill down" through all the available holdings to reach the desired data products (e.g., infrared images of Saturn's F ring at low phase angle and resolution finer than 5 km per pixel). The interface responds quickly to each new constraint entered by the user, removing irrelevant options and adding new ones as appropriate. For example, if it is determined that only Cassini images fit the constraints entered so far, then a page of Cassini-related constraints becomes available but options for occultation profiles and Hubble data are hidden. At each step, the engine displays a live tally of how many available products match the user's constraints. Using Ajax technology, caching of previous results, and a highly optimized database, the system is quick and responsive in spite of the millions of database records that must be searched.
The proto-type was unveiled for the COSPAR Capacity Building Workshop on Planetary Science, held in Montevideo, Uruguay earlier this year. The new search engine can be accessed at
http://pds-rings.seti.org/catalog/.