  The Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) is a large wide-field spectroscopic
stellar survey of the Milky Way. Over the period 2003-2013, 574,630 spectra for
483,330 stars have been amassed at a resolution of R=7500 in the Ca-triplet
region of 8410-8795\AA. Wavelength coverage and resolution are thus comparable
to that anticipated from the Gaia RVS. Derived data products of RAVE include
radial velocities, stellar parameters, chemicals abundances for Mg, Al, Si, Ca,
Ti, Fe, and Ni, and absorption measures based on the diffuse interstellar bands
(DIB) at 8620\AA. Since more than 290000 RAVE targets are drawn from the
Tycho-2 catalogue, RAVE will be an interesting prototype for the anticipated
full Gaia data releases, in particular when combined with the early Gaia data
releases, which contain astrometry but not yet stellar parameters and
abundances.
