diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseFilter.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseFilter.java
index 7515fe06a03ba8d21b4fc36a051e20fdadff1657..53eee4a3e4a5679b2d8c46a45fdc4afad1190a76 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseFilter.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseFilter.java
@@ -52,9 +52,15 @@ class FormatResponseWrapper extends HttpServletResponseWrapper
 public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
 {
    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger("FormatResponseFilter");
-   private static final FormatResponseSettings settings = FormatResponseSettings.getInstance("formatresponsefilter.properties");
+   private static final FormatResponseSettings settings = FormatResponseSettings.getInstance(
+         "formatresponsefilter.properties");
 
    final String RESPONSE_ENCODING = "UTF-8";
+   final String DEFAULT_RESPONSEFORMAT = settings.defaults.responseFormat;
+   final String DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM     = settings.defaults.skySystem;
+   final String DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM    = settings.defaults.specSystem;
+   final String DEFAULT_TIME_SYSTEM = "MJD_UTC"; // FIXME take from confif file
+
    protected Subsurvey[] dbSubsurveyArr  = null;
    private String reqQueryString;
 
@@ -101,10 +107,9 @@ public class FormatResponseFilter implements Filter
          // FIXME add invalid param excpetions -> params already parsed in servlet
 
          Coord coord = new Coord();
-         coord.pos  = Pos.parsePos(params);
-         coord.pos.setSystem(Pos.System.ICRS);
-         coord.band = Band.parseBand(params);
-         coord.time = Time.parseTime(params);
+         coord.pos  = Pos.parsePos(params, DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM);
+         coord.band = Band.parseBand(params, DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM);
+         coord.time = Time.parseTime(params, DEFAULT_TIME_SYSTEM);
          coord.pol  = Pol.parsePol(params);
 
          ObsCore[] obsCoreArr = queryObsCore(pubdidArr,
diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseSettings.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseSettings.java
index dcebe2af1ecc626fb97a16f970cc56c01628c464..3c582d88b9f28b65a3a4c5058ae49c58461a68cb 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseSettings.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/FormatResponseSettings.java
@@ -11,6 +11,14 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
 {
    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger("FormatResponseSettings");
 
+   public static class DefaultParamValues
+   {
+      String responseFormat;
+      String skySystem;
+      String specSystem;
+      boolean showDuration;
+   }
+
 /*
    public static class DBConn
    {
@@ -58,6 +66,7 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
 
    public DBConn     dbConn;
    public ServiceUrls serviceUrls;
+   public DefaultParamValues defaults;
 
 
    // will not start without config-file; no reasonable code-defaults can be invented
@@ -74,8 +83,9 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
 
             DBConn      dbConn      = loadDBConn(properties);
             ServiceUrls serviceUrls = loadServiceUrls(properties);
+            DefaultParamValues defaults = loadDefaults(properties);
 
-            return new FormatResponseSettings(dbConn, serviceUrls);
+            return new FormatResponseSettings(dbConn, serviceUrls, defaults);
          }
          else
          {
@@ -92,10 +102,11 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
 
 
 
-   private FormatResponseSettings(DBConn dbConn, ServiceUrls serviceUrls)
+   private FormatResponseSettings(DBConn dbConn, ServiceUrls serviceUrls, DefaultParamValues defaults)
    {
       this.dbConn      = dbConn;
       this.serviceUrls = serviceUrls;
+      this.defaults    = defaults;
    }
 
 
@@ -121,6 +132,15 @@ class FormatResponseSettings
       return serviceUrls;
    }
 
+   private static DefaultParamValues loadDefaults(Properties properties)
+   {
+      DefaultParamValues defaults = new DefaultParamValues();
+      defaults.responseFormat = properties.getProperty("default_response_format", "application/fits").strip();
+      defaults.skySystem      = properties.getProperty("default_sky_system", "ICRS").strip();
+      defaults.specSystem     = properties.getProperty("default_spec_system", "WAVE_Barycentric").strip();
+      defaults.showDuration   = "yes".equals(properties.getProperty("show_duration", "no").strip());
+      return defaults;
+   }
 
 }
 
diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchServlet.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchServlet.java
index 8bda8da1d27022a176125dc9ed998bceae7f2c26..50b95224115b27f03e56ba27e4db2e87de6978ed 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchServlet.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchServlet.java
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ public class SearchServlet extends javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
    private static final Logger         LOGGER   = Logger.getLogger("PSearch");
    private static final SearchSettings settings = SearchSettings.getInstance("search.properties");
 
+   final String RESPONSE_ENCODING = "utf-8";
+   final String DEFAULT_RESPONSEFORMAT = settings.defaults.responseFormat;
+   final String DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM     = settings.defaults.skySystem;
+   final String DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM    = settings.defaults.specSystem;
+   final String DEFAULT_TIME_SYSTEM = "MJD_UTC"; // FIXME take from config file
+
 
    public void init() throws ServletException
    {
@@ -66,9 +72,9 @@ public class SearchServlet extends javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
 
          // new based on vlkb-volib
          Coord coord = new Coord();
-         coord.pos  = Pos.parsePos(params);
-         coord.band = Band.parseBand(params);
-         coord.time = Time.parseTime(params);
+         coord.pos  = Pos.parsePos(params, DEFAULT_SKY_SYSTEM);
+         coord.band = Band.parseBand(params, DEFAULT_SPEC_SYSTEM);
+         coord.time = Time.parseTime(params, DEFAULT_TIME_SYSTEM);
          coord.pol  = Pol.parsePol(params);
 
          /* query Obscore table */
diff --git a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchSettings.java b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchSettings.java
index 0a08c5eb83bb4bdecf4eef27e6ca0427f4387c17..bf8c0ea3f26799415779a6dc85c296cffaacb65f 100644
--- a/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchSettings.java
+++ b/data-discovery/src/main/java/vlkb/webapi/SearchSettings.java
@@ -11,6 +11,15 @@ class SearchSettings
 {
    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger("SearchSettings");
 
+   public static class DefaultParamValues
+   {
+      String responseFormat;
+      String skySystem;
+      String specSystem;
+      boolean showDuration;
+   }
+
+
 /*
    public static class DBConn
    {
@@ -30,8 +39,8 @@ class SearchSettings
       }
    }
 */
-   public DBConn     dbConn;
-
+    public DBConn     dbConn;
+    public DefaultParamValues defaults;
 
    // will not start without config-file; no reasonable code-defaults can be invented
    public static SearchSettings getInstance(String settingsFileName)
@@ -46,8 +55,9 @@ class SearchSettings
             properties.load(ins);
 
             DBConn      dbConn      = loadDBConn(properties);
+            DefaultParamValues defaults = loadDefaults(properties);
 
-            return new SearchSettings(dbConn);
+            return new SearchSettings(dbConn, defaults);
          }
          else
          {
@@ -64,9 +74,10 @@ class SearchSettings
 
 
 
-   private SearchSettings(DBConn dbConn)
+   private SearchSettings(DBConn dbConn,  DefaultParamValues defaults)
    {
       this.dbConn      = dbConn;
+      this.defaults  = defaults;
    }
 
 
@@ -81,5 +92,15 @@ class SearchSettings
       return dbConn;
    }
 
+   private static DefaultParamValues loadDefaults(Properties properties)
+   {
+      DefaultParamValues defaults = new DefaultParamValues();
+      defaults.responseFormat = properties.getProperty("default_response_format", "application/fits").strip();
+      defaults.skySystem      = properties.getProperty("default_sky_system", "ICRS").strip();
+      defaults.specSystem     = properties.getProperty("default_spec_system", "WAVE_Barycentric").strip();
+      defaults.showDuration   = "yes".equals(properties.getProperty("show_duration", "no").strip());
+      return defaults;
+   }
+
 }
 
diff --git a/java-libs/lib/vlkb-volib-0.9-SNAPSHOT.jar b/java-libs/lib/vlkb-volib-0.9-SNAPSHOT.jar
index 94a329a806bb4c43df0d25c3d36896d6b28ccce4..9ba5160584a847c38f4cae9a2732f69845e30032 100644
Binary files a/java-libs/lib/vlkb-volib-0.9-SNAPSHOT.jar and b/java-libs/lib/vlkb-volib-0.9-SNAPSHOT.jar differ