Galactic dynamics in the times of Gaia

Abstract

We present a brief description of the Gaia astrometric mission and its current status. We discuss the importance of creating realistic ``mock catalogues'' to compare models and data in the space of Gaia observables, rather than mapping observables into spaces of theoretical parameters. We talk about some important lessons we have learnt in the process and end up describing some projects of interest for the dynamics and structure of our Galaxy that we have studied in the space of Gaia observables.