Loading Star Lists Instead of FITS images

Jim Roe posted to the AAVSO-Photometry discussion group about his problem with poor bandwidth and data usage quotas from his new dark sky site. I have heard this from other members and think it will be a growing issue. As CCD images get larger and bandwidth becomes restricted, it will be harder for some people to use VPhot.

He proposed two options. One is to turn VPhot into a standalone application. The other is to allow it to load star lists. I replied that the first option is likely not feasible but the second makes some sense.

Can VPhot be coded to accept a list of sources in some standard format? It can plot a field with the sources (similar to VSP?) and then the user can do their normal photometry with it. The first question is how much additional effort would it take Geir? The second is what should that format be?

Aaron