Design of tools to query simulation data The TVO will require the adaptation of existing tools and the development of tailor-made ones to query the simulation archive in a manner that is independent of the actual data structure in which the simulation data is held and the computer hardware in which the simulation was performed or the query launched. Some of the requisite tools already exist. For example, the hdf5 file format already guarantees (like FITS) that files can be shared across different computer architectures. But this only allows the user to read the files; more sophisticated tools will need to be developed such as a metalanguage to interpret the information contained in the files. If the query is computationally demanding, it should be possible for the query to be performed remotely on a larger authorized computer. The tools should also be able to select the optimal location for archiving the result of a large query and for recognizing repeat queries.
