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Paper: Query Performance in the SDSS Early Data Release
Volume: 281, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XI
Page: 112
Authors: Thakar, Aniruddha R.; Kunszt, Peter Z.; Szalay, Alexander S.; Stoughton, Christopher; Gray, James; Vandenberg, Jan V.
Abstract: The Early Data Release (EDR) is the first public data distribution from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Formally released in June 2001 and available through the STScI MAST website, the EDR was designed to support several different levels of users, from the general public to astronomers using the data as a primary source for their research. We discuss experiences from the first few months of the EDR in the context of the usability and performance of the available user interfaces and query engines. In particular, we focus on comparisons between the skyServer, an SQL Server (RDBMS) based query engine, and the Catalog Archive Server, an Objectivity (OODBMS) based query engine. The former is geared toward the casual user seeking a few objects at a time with simple SQL queries, while the latter is meant for advanced queries formulated with the SDSS Query Tool (sdssQT). We also briefly describe the interfaces for other data products available with the EDR.
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