9 Integration of SIMBAD into the CDS hub

While the CDS databases have followed different development paths, the need to build a transparent access to the whole set of CDS services has become more and more obvious with the easy navigation permitted by hypertext tools (Genova et al. [2000]). ALADIN has become the prototype of such a development, by giving comprehensive simultaneous access to SIMBAD, the VIZIER Catalogue service, and to external databases such as NED, using a client/server approach and, when possible, standardized query syntax and formats.

In order to be able to go further, the CDS has built a general data exchange model, taking into account all types of information available at the Data Center, known under the acronym of GLU for Générateur de Liens Uniformes - Uniform Link Generator (Fernique et al. [1998]).

In the current stage of development, the WWW interface to SIMBAD provides access to ALADIN previewer (reference image around one object), and to the ALADIN interactive Java program (see Bonnarel et al. [2000]). There are also links between SIMBAD and the bibliographic services developed or mirrored at CDS, and more generally to the ADS and the electronic journals.

While this article is written stronger links between SIMBAD and VIZIER are just being created allowing even easier transfers of data and information between both services. This will also make easier to build new links pointing to distributed data archives, beyond those already existing (currently: IUE/INES and HEASARC).