Oureach VO-AIDA
===============

ALADIN:
------

Positive aspects are many. Here we skip those, although
congratulations for the nice work are due.

We concentrate on some difficulties that Giulia and I 
ecountered in several intense days of "practice". The fact that 
we did not find the solution of these problems having the user guide 
at hand means that a beginner will really have a hard time on these
issues. 

Note that we used Aladin 5 and the user guide which is for v.3.


 1) need for an associated navigation tool (e.g. stellarium in VirGO).
    ***telecon: such a tool is being developed. Discussion
    on whether to link it to Aladin is open***

 2) reduce options of image sources from Aladin image server
    (11 plates just for POSS is too many for basic 
    activities) 

 3) simplify search options to fewer catalogs (e.g. Google sky)
    Outreach need for FUSE, EXOSAT, INTEGRAL,... is negligible.
    Advanced outreach users cam always use the full version of 
    Aladin if they need to access all available images)

 4) selection of objects by class (e.g. SN or supernovae,
    of course not "all" the known supernovae but an
    intelligent anthology)

 5) simplify selection of "new" image of an object selected 
    within an initial image. Recenter new DSS image on 
    selected object (see point 8) -- need scaling to
    thumbnail size and/or transparency. In some cases
    a new window may be a good idea. 

 6) Aladin and lite version likely need different buttons 

 7) allow text fontsize selection
 
 8) associate pretty pictures to special objects from known repositories.
    (e.g. Sky-Map and Google-Sky)

 9) there may be a need for higher level commands 
    (i.e. predetermined and named combinations of 
    commands and options/input parameters) - here
    interaction with people working on semantics
    may be imporant

10) is it possible to develop site for exchanging/contributing 
    scripts ecc ecc. forum? (e.g. stellarium, SDSS/sky-map, celestia)

11) develop primer with several examples and interesting scripts


STELLARIUM
----------

Stellarium is an exciting navigation tool. We used it without
any problems (Giulia already used it before entering the
project). 

Some minor points (*** telecon: that are being already
addressed in the new version(s)***) we encountered:  

 1) should show sideral time, fundamental for astronomical
    observations. 

 2) should provide a "print" option with an inversion of the 
    intensity scale light/dark to dark/light for saving time/ink

 3) limited export options (only jpeg, no eps, ecc. as in Aladin)

 4) change of text/graphics color from configuration file impractical,
    should be done from GUI and script.

 5) Command dictionary complete but too complex
    for some important targets of outreach AIDA 
    (see point 9 in Aladin). 

 6) user should be able to add text on the map.

 7) NOTE: Stellarium works off-line!


VIRGO
-----
Tool similar to Aladin (less complete but still in development
phase), it has the main advantage 
of using Stellarium for the sky maps but several
weaknesses too. In particular, VirGO documentation. 

 1) The user interface is complicated, not for beginners/outreach. 

 2) Export/print??

***telecon: nobody really spoke for VirGO, so at the
moment I do not consider it an option for our project****)


GOOGLE SKY
----------
Tool oriented toward education. One of the main advantages
is the information about the target available via 
links to web pages with descriptions, theories, animations.

Users can post their comments on the object and other people 
can read them, establishing a discussion (as Sky-Map)

It is easy to load (and overlay) images from many 
instruments in different wavelengths. 

There is a print command with some options but 
you cannot have white background.


SKY-MAP
-------
Simple navigation and GUI, ok for education and outreach.
Very nice to use.

"Real" sky maps

Forum and chat, users can discuss

Users can add and edit information about objects

Links to articles related to the object -> interesting
also for advanced users and astronomers