The ESO Science Archive offers powerful interfaces through which any user can browse and download its content. The most recent developments [18,19,20,22] consist of the web-based archive science portal and a programmatic interface providing Virtual Observatory (VO) access to the Science Archive. The underlying databases offer a rich set of scientifically characterizing and VO-based metadata to facilitate data discovery [1, 15, and 23 in turn based on 2,5,6,8]. The query results provide access to the identified files together with related ancillary files and information (e.g., previews, weight-maps, data documentation, calibration reference files, etc.). Specific to the programmatic interface, users can explore the structure and content of the archive databases and scientific catalogue tables [4,21], and then write their own queries [3], for an empowered data discovery experience. When downloading the data, users can select the cutout service [16] to retrieve selected spatial and/or spectral subsets instead of the entire datasets. Authentication and authorization allow privileged users to extend their query and download capabilities beyond what is possible to anonymous users. The adoption of Virtual Observatory (VO) standards and technologies has been at the core of the development of the described interfaces. Here below we present the interfaces, and then an analysis of the costs and benefits of utilizing VO technologies in the ESO archive, as well as the lessons learned in the process.
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