Using Felis to Represent the Semantics and Metadata of Astronomical Data Catalogs

TL;DR

Felis is a new data description language and toolset that uses a rich Pydantic model and YAML format to define, validate, and manage the semantics and metadata of astronomical data catalogs, facilitating integration with TAP services.

Contribution

This paper introduces Felis, a novel language and toolset for describing and validating astronomical catalog metadata, enhancing data interoperability and management.

Findings

Felis effectively describes and validates catalog metadata.

Felis integrates with TAP_SCHEMA tables for IVOA TAP services.

The toolset is used by the Rubin Observatory's Data Management team.

Abstract

The Data Management team of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has developed a data description language and toolset, Felis, for defining the semantics and metadata of its public-facing data catalogs. Felis uses a rich Pydantic data model for describing and validating catalog metadata, expressed as a human-readable and editable YAML format. Felis also provides a Python library and command line interface for working with these data models. The metadata is used to populate the TAP_SCHEMA tables for the IVOA TAP services utilized by the Rubin Science Platform (RSP). Felis's current capabilities will be discussed along with some future plans.