Vol. 578
In section 13. Astronomical instrumentation

Hierarchical progressive surveys. Multi-resolution HEALPix data structures for astronomical images, catalogues, and 3-dimensional data cubes

This paper describes the Hierarchical Progressive Survey (HiPS) scheme for the representation of astronomical data sets observed on the celestial sphere, including images, catalogs, and 3D data cubes. The HiPS scheme builds on the HEALPix tessellation of the sphere (Gorski et al. 2005) and the multi-order coverage (MOC) map system for multiresolution representations of sky regions. The HiPS scheme enables interoperability and visualization of large heterogenous astronomical data sets and will be increasingly important in the approaching era of "big data" with the many large data sets anticipated from upcoming experiments such as Gaia, Euclid, LSST, and the SKA.