The NOAO Data Laboratory: a conceptual overview

The NOAO Data Lab will allow users to efficiently utilize catalogs of billions of objects, augment traditional telescope imaging and spectral data with external archive holdings, publish high level data products of their research, share custom results with collaborators and experiment with analysis toolkits. The goal of the Data Lab is to provide a common framework and workspace for science collaborations and individuals to use and disseminate data from large surveys. In this paper we describe the motivations behind the NOAO Data Lab and present a conceptual overview of the activities we plan to support. Specific science cases will be used to develop a prototype framework and tools, allowing us to work directly with scientists from survey teams to ensure development will remain focused on scientifically productive tasks. This will additionally develop a pool of both scientific and technical experts who can provide ongoing advice and support for community users as the scope and capabilities of the Data Lab expand.