The challenge raised by Gaia

Gaia will perform an unprecedented high quality survey of the Milky Way. Distances, 3D kinematics, ages and abundances will be obtained, giving access to the overall mass distribution and to the Galactic potential. Gaia data analysis will involve a high level of complexity requiring new and efficient multivariate data analysis methods, improved modelling of the stellar populations and dynamical approaches to the interpretation of the data in terms of the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Galaxy.