TOPCAT

What is TOPCAT?

TOPCAT is an interactive graphical viewer and editor for tabular data in the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics. It offers a variety of ways to view and analyse tables, including a browser for the cell data themselves, viewers for information about table and column metadata, and facilities for sophisticated interactive 1-, 2-, 3- and higher-dimensional visualisation, calculating statistics and joining tables using flexible matching algorithms. Using a powerful and extensible Java-based expression language new columns can be defined and row subsets selected for separate analysis. Table data and metadata can be edited and the resulting modified table can be written out in a wide range of output formats. It is a stand-alone application which works quite happily with no network connection. However, because it uses Virtual Observatory (VO) standards, it can cooperate smoothly with other tools, services and datasets in the VO world and beyond. The program is written in pure Java and available under the GNU General Public Licence, though some of the library code is LGPL. It has been developed mostly in the UK within various UK and Euro-VO projects (Starlink, AstroGrid, VOTech, AIDA, GAVO, GENIUS, DPAC) and under PPARC and STFC grants. Its underlying table processing facilities are provided by the related packages STIL and STILTS

Highlights

• Interactive graphical viewer and editor for tabular data in Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Supports 1-, 2-, 3- and higher-dimensional data visualization
• Provides tools for statistical analysis and table joining using flexible matching algorithms
• Allows defining new columns and selecting row subsets using a Java-based expression language
• Supports editing table data and metadata, and exporting to a wide range of output formats
• Works as a stand-alone application while supporting integration with Virtual Observatory standards and tools