Results of the CAMS User
Satisfaction Survey 2018
July 2018
Issued by: Copernicus User Support, ECMWF
Date: 01/10/2018
REF.: CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 report v2.docx
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018
Contents
Executive Summary ............................................................................................ 1
About the survey ................................................................................................ 2
Target audience ............................................................................................... 2
The questionnaire ............................................................................................ 3
Q1: Where are you based? .................................................................................. 5
Results ........................................................................................................... 5
Recommendations ........................................................................................... 5
Q2: Which sector does your organisation belong to? ............................................... 6
Results ........................................................................................................... 6
Recommendations ........................................................................................... 6
Q3: How do you use CAMS? ................................................................................. 7
Results ........................................................................................................... 7
Recommendations ........................................................................................... 7
Q4: Overall, how satisfied are you with CAMS? ....................................................... 8
Results ........................................................................................................... 8
Recommendations ........................................................................................... 8
Q5: How useful are CAMS products and services for you, and how satisfied are you with them? ........................................................................................................ 9
Results ........................................................................................................... 9
Recommendations ......................................................................................... 14
Q6: How useful is, and how satisfied are you with non-data services? ..................... 14
Results ......................................................................................................... 14
Recommendations ......................................................................................... 16
Q7: If you downloaded CAMS global data using the WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the WebAPI? .................................................................................................... 16
Recommendations ......................................................................................... 17
Q8: If you downloaded CAMS regional data using the WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the WebAPI? ............................................................................................. 17
Recommendations ......................................................................................... 17
Q9: What would you like to see in the future from CAMS? ..................................... 18
Results ......................................................................................................... 18
Recommendations ......................................................................................... 18
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018
Q10: Do you have any other suggestions how we can improve the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service for you? .............................................................. 18
Annex: Summary tables and open-ended comments ............................................. 19
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 1
Executive Summary
Users of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) are overall satisfied with the service provided by CAMS and rate the services with an overall satisfaction rating of 3.5 out of 4; this is the same rate as in the previous year’s survey.
61% of CAMS users are based in the European Union. About half of users work in academia/research, with the proportion of business users increasing strongly from the
previous year.
User uptake and satisfaction varies significantly by CAMS products and services: the most popular services are information on global atmospheric composition, solar
radiation, and European air quality. Utility and satisfaction ratings remain largely unchanged across all main products compared to the previous years’ survey.
Users are also mostly satisfied with supporting services, in particular with the available data access mechanisms and with the product documentation. Notably many users are not aware of remote services (e.g. OGC services) and CAMS outreach activities.
Overall the survey participation and the results are remarkably similar to the previous year’s results, give or take only a few percentage points.
The 2017 survey identified four areas for improvement, which all remain valid in 2018: (a) the footprint of CAMS in Eastern Europe (b) the attractiveness of CAMS to public sector users and in particular the utility and awareness of policy support products, (c)
data access tailored to users’ specifications, and (d) more detailed scientific documentation.
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 2
About the survey
Target audience
The purpose of the CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 was to understand how satisfied CAMS users are with services provided, to collect feedback, analyse them and
help improve CAMS services.
The survey targeted all users who, in the 12 months preceding the survey, accessed CAMS data products or who interacted with Copernicus User Support, and for whom
email addresses were available. This demographic comprised 2816 distinct users (with some users registered for multiple services):
• 1615 users of ECMWF-hosted CAMS/MACC data services (Global NRT, Global NRT archive, GFAS, CAMS Reanalysis, MACC Reanalysis, CAMS/MACC GHG inversion, CAMS climate forcing)
• 923 users of CAMS solar data services (CAMS_72) • 521 users of CAMS User Support
• 142 users of the CAMS Regional service (CAMS_50) • 19 users of CAMS Anthropogenic Emissions data services (CAMS_81)
Some CAMS services allow anonymous access (e.g. CAMS_50, CAMS_71); users of
these anonymous services are not included in the survey. Hence the actual number of CAMS users is expected to be higher than the targeted demographic.
The survey was deployed via an online questionnaire, in English, which was open between 26th June and 17th July 2018. CAMS invited all 2816 identified users by email to participate in the survey.
In total 259 users responded (9.2% of addressees; previous year: 254 responses, 7.5% of addressees).
The previous year’s survey had addressed users who ever accessed CAMS data services (3388 users), with 254 responses (7.5% of the demographic).
For further information please contact [email protected].
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 3
The questionnaire
The following questionnaire was used:
Q1: Where are you based? (List of countries and territories)
Q2: Which sector does your organisation belong to? (Public authorities / University and Research / Commercial or private sector / International organisation, NGO /
Other)
Q3: How do you use CAMS? I usually use…
• Parameters : A single parameter or species / A few at a time / Many
• Time: A single date / Multiple dates / Long time series • Vertical levels: Surface only, or a single specific model or pressure level /
Multiple model or pressure levels / All model or pressure levels
Q4: Overall, how satisfied are you with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service? (1 = not satisfied, 4 = very satisfied)
Q5: How useful are the following CAMS products and services for you, and how satisfied are you with them?
• European air quality • Global atmospheric composition • Policy support products
• Solar radiation • Greenhouse gas fluxes
• Climate forcing • Anthropogenic emissions • Fire emissions
• Other
Q6: How useful is, and how satisfied are you with ...
• CAMS Website • Product catalogue • Automated data download (WebAPI, FTP, ...)
• Data download portal (apps.ecmwf.int) • Remote services (e.g. WMS, CSW)
• Available data formats • Documentation
• Knowledge base • Validation reports • Helpdesk / Support
• Mailing list • Newsletter
• Other
Q7: If you downloaded CAMS global data using the WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the WebAPI?
• In terms of speed (1 = not satisfied, 4 = very satisfied) • In terms of availability (24/7) (1 = not satisfied, 4 = very satisfied)
Q8: If you downloaded CAMS regional data using the API, how satisfied are you with the WebAPI?
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 4
• In terms of speed (1 = not satisfied, 4 = very satisfied)
• In terms of availability (24/7) (1 = not satisfied, 4 = very satisfied)
Q9: What would you like to see in the future from CAMS?
• Interactive web maps • Subset data to a specific geographical area • Time series at custom locations
• Vertical profiles at custom locations • Epsgrams for custom locations
• Additional parameters and chemical species • More OGC services (WMS, WCS) • More documentation
• Additional data formats • Other
Q10: Do you have any other suggestions how we can improve the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service for you?
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 5
Q1: Where are you based?
Results
Responding CAMS users are mostly based in the European Union (61% of all responses). Outside Europe most responses come from India and the USA (4% each).
Overall and among the EU countries France is leading, followed by Germany (reversing the previous year’s top two
positions), and by Spain and Greece (Figure 1).
Looking only at the Regional Atmospheric Composition Service (CAMS_50), we find the same country distribution.
Overall the regional distribution remains almost identical to the previous years’
survey results.
Recently CAMS targeted specifically the eastern EU countries; however, the user
numbers do not show increased user uptake in the Eastern EU.
Recommendations
The regional distribution shows that
CAMS is primarily used within in the EU, in line with its mandate.
Respondent numbers correlate with
countries’ population; however, the eastern EU countries are still
underrepresented and the efforts to increase the user uptake in Eastern Europe should continue.
Figure 1: Responses by country (where >= 2%)
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 6
Q2: Which sector does your organisation belong to?
Results
In terms of industry sectors, globally most users work in academia and research, followed by commercial entities and public authorities (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Responses by sector, global
Compared to the previous year, the use of CAMS in the commercial sector increased (from 18% to 22%), while in the public sector it decreased (from 18% to 15%).
Responses from EU-based users show a similar distribution (Figure 3), and a similar change over the past year: the use of CAMS in the EU commercial sector increased by
significantly (from 21% to 28%), while it decreased in the public sector (20% to 16%) and in academia/research (54% to 49%).
Figure 3: Responses by sector, EU only
Overall, CAMS is well known and well used in academia and research, and shows signs
of growth in the commercial sector compared to last year’s survey. A word of caution though that firm conclusions can only be made about the types of respondents to the
survey. Conclusions about the type of users are more tentative and may be different if the response rates among the academic and commercial user categories are different
(commercial users may spend less time in responding to survey for instance).
Recommendations
Further user uptake activities should concentrate on the public sector, where CAMS is
relatively underrepresented.
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 7
Q3: How do you use CAMS?
Results
To determine how CAMS should provide data products in an efficient and user friendly way, users were asked what combinations of parameters, time periods and vertical
levels they usually use.
Figure 4: Use by parameters / time periods / levels (all responses)
While users show no clear preference for the number of parameters and chemical
species, a clear majority are interested in time series or multiple dates rather than single dates (Figure 4). For heights, surface data is significantly more popular than
vertically differentiated data. These patterns were already present in the 2017 survey and are even more pronounced in the current survey. These findings apply to the whole demographic as well as EU-based users.
Despite the strong preference for surface level data and time series, the combinations of number of parameters, time periods, and level types required by users remain
diverse.
Recommendations
To respond to the diversity in user requirements, CAMS should provide mechanisms for users to customise data access to their individual preferences.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 8
Q4: Overall, how satisfied are you with CAMS?
Results
Overall satisfaction with CAMS is high, both globally and from EU respondents. The weighted average rating is 3.5 out of 4, both globally and among EU-based service
users.
In the interannual comparison the percentage of ‘very satisfied’ users increased from 57% to 62% (globally) and from 56% to 61% (EU users).
The 2017 survey highlighted relatively low satisfaction among the EU-based public authorities. This situation improved (‘very satisfied’ ratings in this demographic went
from 46% in 2017 to 56% in 2018) and is now in line with the overall satisfaction ratings.
Figure 5: Overall satisfaction, all respondents
Figure 6: Overall satisfaction, EU respondents
Recommendations
Overall user satisfaction with CAMS is high and does not indicate a need for radical
change to the CAMS strategy and portfolio.
Some free text comments:
“Powerful open data for innovation”
“The provided OGC services allows us
work with the data in a standard way.”
“Being not a data scientist, it was very
hard to extract data for web applications”
“For the non-technical user, the interface
is cumbersome to use.”
Users’ free text comments emphasise the utility of the service, but also barriers in accessing the services.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 9
Q5: How useful are CAMS products and services for you, and how satisfied are you with them?
Results
Utility and satisfaction ratings remain largely unchanged compared to the previous years’ survey:
Utility is still ranked highest for solar products and global atmospheric products.
(Figure 7), for the global user base as well as the EU user base. Notably, users became more aware of the European air quality service.
Satisfaction is still raked highest for the Solar radiation service and the Global atmospheric service, and increased significantly for the Climate forcing, Anthropogenic emissions, and Fire emissions services.
Policy support products continue to stand out as being relatively unknown (49% of EU-based users are not aware of CAMS policy support products) and are ranked least
satisfactory.
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 10
Figure 7: Utility and user satisfaction with data products and services, all respondents (166 responses)
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 11
Stratified by sector, commercial users find the CAMS services for global atmospheric
composition, European air quality, and solar radiation most useful, and GHG and policy products least useful. Most commercial users are ‘very satisfied’ or ‘extremely’ satisfied
with all main services (Figure 8).
Compared to the previous year, awareness of the CAMS portfolio decreased, indicating that users access specific products rather than information about the overall portfolio.
Figure 8: Utility and user satisfaction with data products and services, Commercial and private sector
(41 responses)
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In academia and research, the global atmospheric composition and solar radiation
services are considered most useful. Users in this sector are generally very satisfied with the CAMS services. (Figure 9)
Compared to the previous year, awareness increased slightly, as did satisfaction.
Figure 9: Utility and user satisfaction with data products and services, Academia and Research (90 responses)
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 13
In the public sector, global atmospheric composition data is considered most useful,
followed by data on European air quality and fire emissions. Satisfaction with all products is very high (Figure 10). Only policy support products stand out as being
known little and are even less known in the public sector than in other sectors.
Compared to the previous year, awareness of the product portfolio improved significantly, as did satisfaction. User numbers remain low though.
Figure 10: Utility and user satisfaction with data products and services, public sector (24 responses)
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 14
Recommendations
CAMS users find data products and services generally useful and are increasingly satisfied with them, indicating that CAMS has impact and is fulfilling its mandate. Policy
support products are known little and consideration should be given to promoting them more.
Q6: How useful is, and how satisfied are you with non-data services?
Results
This question covers various supporting services, like data provision mechanisms, documentation, and user interaction.
Overall, users consider these services useful, with services related to data access
ranked most useful. Notably the remote services (WMS, CSW) and CAMS communications (mailing lists and newsletter) are relatively unknown (Figure 11).
All non-data services receive high satisfaction ratings; remote data services (OGC services), documentation and validation reports lag somewhat behind.
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 15
Figure 11: Utility and user satisfaction with non-data services, all respondents (158 responses)
“Overall a good communication
for the few times we needed
support”
“The automatic way of
downloading to too complicated
to learn.”
“Data formats: grib, netcdf
formats not standard or usable
in common GIS desktop
clients.”
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 16
The most useful supporting services are the CAMS website and its product catalogue,
automated data access, the data web portals, the available data formats, and documentation (Figure 11). Remote services (OGC services) and information services
(mailing list, newsletter, helpdesk, knowledge base) are not well known and considered not very relevant. These results are similar to the previous year’s findings; the only notable difference is a much higher ranking of the utility of the CAMS product
catalogue.
Satisfaction with supporting services is high throughout (in most services fewer than
5% of users are not satisfied), only remote services (OGC services) and stand out as less satisfying.
In the previous year many users were dissatisfied with the CAMS product catalogue;
since then the catalogue did undergo redesign and satisfaction improved significantly.
EU-based users and non-EU users show almost identical response patterns.
Recommendations
Consideration should be given to improving primarily remote data services and
documentation.
Q7: If you downloaded CAMS global data using the WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the WebAPI?
Questions Q7 and Q8 were added for the 2018 survey, triggered by anecdotal evidence
of availability and usability issues with the WebAPI (the ECMWF data delivery platform for CAMS global products).
The results show that some users are indeed dissatisfied, primarily with the speed of data delivery, but also indicate that the WebAPI meets or exceeds the expectations of a clear majority of users (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Satisfaction with the WebAPI for CAMS global data (109 responses)
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 17
Recommendations
Contrary to anecdotal evidence, only a small number of users are dissatisfied with the CAMS global data API. Given that the data will eventually move to a different platform,
the numbers are too small to justify mitigation beyond case-by-case assistance.
The survey also shows that users value speedy data access; this should be considered
in the upcoming migration of CAMS data to a new platform.
Q8: If you downloaded CAMS regional data using the
WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the WebAPI?
Satisfaction with the API for regional (European) data is high throughout and almost
identical to satisfaction with the global data API (Figure 13). This is not surprising, as both platforms offer similar capabilities (NRT data with instant access, an offline
archive, programmatic access).
Figure 13: Satisfaction with the WebAPI for CAMS regional data (103 responses)
Recommendations
The access mechanisms to regional data are well established and users are mostly satisfied. If anything, speedier access could potentially improve satisfaction further.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 18
Q9: What would you like to see in the future from CAMS?
This question aims to identify user-driven improvements to CAMS.
Results
As in the previous year, the most requested features are the ability to customize data
retrieval for specific geographical areas, time series, and vertical profiles (Figure 14Figure 14).
Figure 14: The CAMS user wish list (157 responses)
Compared to the 2017 survey, the only significant change is a reduced demand for
additional documentation. It is not clear if this reflects additional documentation becoming available, or users familiarising themselves more with the data.
Recommendations
CAMS should consider implementing tools for customised data access, in particular easy access to time series for global atmospheric composition data.
Q10: Do you have any other suggestions how we can improve the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service for you?
This is an open question. Responses mostly reiterate points already highlighted in other questions, hence no further analysis is undertaken and no additional
recommendations are identified. See the annex for full responses.
“Enabling the extraction of
time series for the surface
wind speed and air
temperature along the solar
radiation.”
“It would be important to
have access to the
meteorological fields used
to run Air Quality
simulations”
“For an external data user it
is not obvious where to find
what data.”
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 19
Annex: Summary tables and open-ended comments
Q1. Where are you based?
Territories with <3 responses are excluded for anonymity
Answer Choices Percentage Responses
France 12.36% 32
Germany 9.27% 24
Spain 8.49% 22
Greece 6.56% 17
India 4.25% 11
Italy 4.25% 11
United Kingdom 3.86% 10
United States of America 3.86% 10
Portugal 3.09% 8
China 2.70% 7
Japan 1.93% 5
Netherlands 1.93% 5
Russian Federation 1.93% 5
Sweden 1.93% 5
Switzerland 1.93% 5
Austria 1.54% 4
Brazil 1.54% 4
Colombia 1.54% 4
Poland 1.54% 4
Other 25.59% 66
Answered: 259, Skipped: 0
Q2. Which sector does your organisation belong to?
Answer Choices % of total Responses
Public authorities (European,
National or local)
15.06% 39
University and Research 53.67% 139
Commercial or private sector 22.01% 57
International organisation, NGO 2.70% 7
Other (please specify) 6.56% 17
Answered: 259, Skipped: 0
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 20
Q3. How do you use CAMS?
Parameters:
I usually use ...
A single parameter /
species
A few at a time Many Total
% of total Responses % of total Responses % of total Responses
26.88% 68 47.83% 121 25.30% 64 253
Dates:
I usually use ...
A single date Multiple dates Long time series Total
% of total Responses % of total Responses % of total Responses
8.10% 20 42.11% 104 49.80% 123 247
Height levels:
I usually use ...
Surface only, or a single
specific model or
pressure level
Multiple model or
pressure levels
All model or pressure
levels
Total
% of total Responses % of total Responses % of total Responses
55.97% 136 23.05% 56 20.99% 51 243
Answered: 254, Skipped: 5
Q4. Overall, how satisfied are you with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service?
Rating,
1 to 4,
higher is
better
1 2 3 4 Total Weighted
Average
Responses % of
total
Responses % of
total
Responses % of
total
Responses % of
total
Responses % of
total
Responses
2.29% 4 5.71% 10 30.29% 53 61.71% 108 175 3.51
Answered: 175, Skipped: 84
Comments:
1. being not a data scientist, it was very hard to extract data for web applications
2. being not a data scientist, it was very hard to extract data for web applications
3. Excelent
4. neat configuration
5. It works really nice.
6. we are satisfied because more parameters have been introduced in Copernicus and are very interesting in our
work research
7. They recently changed the web-based service to only download one month at a time. The command-based
download is a little more complicated, and I had to learn a new way of downloading after I already thought I
knew how to get the data.
8. I really appreciate that the cams service is free of charge.
9. It's really great initiative from Copernicus
10. Due to our fire wall policies i have not received any data yet ... Therefore I can't provide any further comment.
11. I think the website is a bit confusing. It is not so easy to find what you want and the information related. For
instance, the project Deliverables should have an easily accessible abstract and title. Currently you have to
download and open every document to find what it is about.
12. Products animation is not fluent.
13. good
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CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 21
14. We are quite satisfied but if was possible Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provide data with higher
time resolution could be great.
15. I would wish to access more image formats via WMS
16. Perfect and powerful open data for innovation
17. From Colombia I could not obtain information about PM10, PM2.5, OC. I only could obtain information about
Black Carbon AOD550nm
18. Easy and fast to use and well documented.
19. Copernicus gets the maximum number of stars. excellent general coverage showing dust / PM1, PM2.5. Much
better general data than I get from the local Canadian / provincial services in British Columbia near Vancouver
and Kamloops. Copernicus general ground level particulates track private PM levels as reported in my cell
phone apps. Canadian government and provincial dust reports generally report far less dust than I see from
Copernicus and from private sensors reporting on apps. Local government reports are an order of magnitude
more optimistic than PM levels shown by Copernicus. Last month Copernicus showed me where there was a
fire or other large PM generator north of Pitt Lake, lasted for days and increased local PM1 levels to over
30ug/m3. Government data reported PM2.5 under 5ug/m3.
20. seems to be the only source of global co2 information
21. I did not like the change of colour coding, it transformed a bad reading (red, purples) into something that
seems to be ok (green) . The visual message is not lost on me, let's not alarm the masses .
22. The staffs working there is very helpful!
23. awesome!!!!really appreciated. Especially the air quality services.
24. You are doing a great job making all of these amazing data available to the community. Go on !
25. Very good services
26. reliable service
27. An excellent source of data for climate analysis and building simulations
28. For the non-technical user, the interface is cumbersome to use. For the European air quality monitoring
(http://www.regional.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/?category=data_access) it is irritating and time-consuming
that the latest files (for the current year) have to be downloaded as individual days rather than one netCDF for
the whole year so far.
29. Difficulty to access the CO2 analysis product. The aerosol products suffers large defects: only 5 wavelengths
amongst 20 for AOT, precision not very good. Difficult to download a large amount of data. Difficult to
understand how analysis are computed.
30. a longer data history is needed.
31. I'm so grateful for having found this database. It has allowed me to complete my End-of-Degree Project, so
thank you so much for your work.
32. Very useful and free!
33. The provided OGC services allows us work with the data in a standard way. Additional options like for example
temporal / vertical slices should be useful.
34. No guidelines/code on how to use raw data.
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Q5. How useful are the following CAMS products and services for you, and how satisfied are you
with them?
How useful
Am not aware of
it
Irrelevant Somewhat useful Very useful Essential Total
% of
total
Respo
nses
% of
total
Respo
nses
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
Respon
ses
European air
quality
20.93
%
27 15.50
%
20 14.73
%
19 24.81
%
32 24.03
%
31 129
Global
atmospheric
composition
14.07
%
19 4.44
%
6 14.07
%
19 42.96
%
58 24.44
%
33 135
Policy support
products
47.11
%
57 16.53
%
20 14.05
%
17 17.36
%
21 4.96% 6 121
Solar radiation 16.20
%
23 9.86
%
14 9.86% 14 38.03
%
54 26.06
%
37 142
Greenhouse
gas fluxes
25.78
%
33 15.63
%
20 18.75
%
24 21.88
%
28 17.97
%
23 128
Climate
forcing
29.27
%
36 17.89
%
22 16.26
%
20 22.76
%
28 13.82
%
17 123
Anthropogenic
emissions
27.42
%
34 11.29
%
14 14.52
%
18 30.65
%
38 16.13
%
20 124
Fire emissions 28.57
%
36 11.90
%
15 16.67
%
21 28.57
%
36 14.29
%
18 126
Answered: 166, Skipped: 93
How satisfied
Not satisfied at
all
Somewhat
satisfied
Very satisfied Extremely
satisfied
Total
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
Responses
European air quality 5.81
%
5 24.42
%
21 45.35
%
39 24.42
%
21 86
Global atmospheric composition 1.94
%
2 16.50
%
17 61.17
%
63 20.39
%
21 103
Policy support products 11.32
%
6 32.08
%
17 45.28
%
24 11.32
%
6 53
Solar radiation 6.00
%
6 15.00
%
15 58.00
%
58 21.00
%
21 100
Greenhouse gas fluxes 5.56
%
4 20.83
%
15 54.17
%
39 19.44
%
14 72
Climate forcing 6.45
%
4 17.74
%
11 56.45
%
35 19.35
%
12 62
Anthropogenic emissions 5.56
%
4 20.83
%
15 51.39
%
37 22.22
%
16 72
Fire emissions 4.05
%
3 22.97
%
17 56.76
%
42 16.22
%
12 74
Answered: 166, Skipped: 93
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Comments:
1. Would be convenient if data file format descriptions are made available to the users. There are reports on the
data prepared but they do not mention the specific formats of the data files. For example, I recently used CH4
flux data and a bit confused with the use of coefficients and offset values for converting integers on the file to
true values; even a short explanation/description would be a big help in saving time for data unpacking.
2. accuracy of aerosols to be improved
3. I just used the globe fire emission data. So I have no idea about the other datasets, but in the near future, I
think the globe Greenhouse gas fluxes and Anthropogenic emissions dataset is very useful.
4. We calculate the PV power generation based on direct and diffuse radiation. The regionally and temporally
dissolved data for all European NUTS3 regions is part of our energy system model.
5. The question is, are we getting the actual readings from the sat? Sometimes the graphs don't have the same
readings as NASA has, especially when it comes to Methane emissions
6. At present, I am using solar radiation data only, so I did not comment others CAMS products
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 24
Q6. How useful is, and how satisfied are you with ...
How useful
Am not aware of
it
Irrelevant Somewhat useful Very useful Essential Total
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respo
nses
% of
total
Respons
es
% of
total
Respons
es
% of
total
Respons
es
Respo
nses
CAMS website 0.67
%
1 1.33
%
2 13.33
%
20 64.00
%
96 20.67
%
31 150
Product catalogue 7.52
%
10 2.26
%
3 17.29
%
23 57.14
%
76 15.79
%
21 133
Automated data
download
(WebAPI, FTP, ...)
6.52
%
9 5.07
%
7 11.59
%
16 34.06
%
47 42.75
%
59 138
Data download
portal
(apps.ecmwf.int)
9.38
%
12 4.69
%
6 16.41
%
21 42.97
%
55 26.56
%
34 128
Remote services
(e.g. WMS, CSW)
38.39
%
43 8.04
%
9 19.64
%
22 25.89
%
29 8.04
%
9 112
Available data
formats
5.26
%
7 0.00
%
0 12.03
%
16 60.15
%
80 22.56
%
30 133
Documentation 5.47
%
7 0.78
%
1 18.75
%
24 52.34
%
67 22.66
%
29 128
Knowledge base 22.61
%
26 3.48
%
4 17.39
%
20 41.74
%
48 14.78
%
17 115
Validation reports 20.54
%
23 0.89
%
1 24.11
%
27 35.71
%
40 18.75
%
21 112
Helpdesk /
Support
23.93
%
28 4.27
%
5 14.53
%
17 37.61
%
44 19.66
%
23 117
Mailing list 30.56
%
33 7.41
%
8 28.70
%
31 25.93
%
28 7.41
%
8 108
Newsletter 36.79
%
39 8.49
%
9 22.64
%
24 27.36
%
29 4.72
%
5 106
Answered: 158, Skipped: 101
How satisfied
Not satisfied at all Somewhat satisfied Very satisfied Extremely satisfied Total
% of
total
Response
s
% of
total
Response
s
% of
total
Response
s
% of total Respon
ses
Respo
nses
CAMS website 3.03% 4 22.73% 30 54.55% 72 19.70% 26 132
Product catalogue 1.79% 2 22.32% 25 59.82% 67 16.07% 18 112
Automated data
download (WebAPI,
FTP, ...)
5.36% 6 21.43% 24 44.64% 50 28.57% 32 112
Data download
portal
(apps.ecmwf.int)
3.85% 4 25.00% 26 50.00% 52 21.15% 22 104
Remote services
(e.g. WMS, CSW)
13.79
%
8 31.03% 18 46.55% 27 8.62% 5 58
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 25
Available data
formats
0.91% 1 19.09% 21 57.27% 63 22.73% 25 110
Documentation 3.77% 4 35.85% 38 47.17% 50 13.21% 14 106
Knowledge base 0.00% 0 28.99% 20 53.62% 37 17.39% 12 69
Validation reports 2.56% 2 33.33% 26 50.00% 39 14.10% 11 78
Helpdesk / Support 1.27% 1 17.72% 14 54.43% 43 26.58% 21 79
Mailing list 1.69% 1 27.12% 16 52.54% 31 18.64% 11 59
Newsletter 5.45% 3 27.27% 15 56.36% 31 10.91% 6 55
Answered: 158, Skipped:101
Comments:
1. I recently looked-for Albedo data, but found no information on the spectral range of the data.
2. Still some difficulties downloading the data.
3. Overall a good communication for the few times we needed support
4. Data formats: grib, netcdf formats not standard or usable in common GIS desktop clients (ArcGIS, ArcGIS
PRO, QGIS..). OGC WMS: query/identify not supported, no external Spatial reference system supported i.e
EPSG:3857). OGC WCS: version (2.0) not supported by common GIS desktop clients. downloads see data
format
5. Thanks to the remote support by email when i meet problems.
6. We use it to follow the gases who contribute to climate change and we always hope the readings are accurate.
Case in point: any emissions over 2000 for CH4 are lumped together at the very end, so there is no way to tell
what was the MAX for a given day.... although it will eventually come from another source saying it was 2500
to 3000ppb or higher as it has been for ch4. So the question is, why hide the truth?
7. I think some more publications referring to a certain dataset are needed for a better understanding of the
dataset, also helpful for new publications
8. The output data format is a source of problems. In the industry EXCEL is the relevant format, everything may
be fun to play with for scientist but in the commercial sector a direct data download in Excel format (ideally
adapting automatically to country settings in Excel) would be a bliss.
9. The automatic way of downloading to too complicated to learn. Examples are the only way to use them.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 26
Q7. If you downloaded CAMS global data using the WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the
WebAPI?
How satisfied
Not satisfied Somewhat satisfied Mostly satisfied Very satisfied Total
% of
total
Response
s
% of
total
Response
s
% of
total
Response
s
% of total Respon
ses
Respo
nses
In terms of speed 4.59% 5 18.35% 20 46.79% 51 30.28% 33 109
In terms of
availability (24/7)
0.94% 1 13.21% 14 45.28% 48 40.57% 43 106
Answered: 109, Skipped: 150
Comments:
1. speed is very different from download to download
2. For gases (O3, NO2, CO) I would like to download lighter NetCDF files, I am forced to download bigger file
even if I use only a model or a pressure band
3. We use PythonAPI. Download used to be much faster in the past
4. not an active user
5. Speed is somewhat slow when downloading from the US, but this is understandable.
6. Not using that format
7. Stale data. Cumbersome methods to access.
Q8. If you downloaded CAMS regional data using the WebAPI, how satisfied are you with the
WebAPI?
How satisfied
Not satisfied Somewhat satisfied Mostly satisfied Very satisfied Total
% of
total
Response
s
% of
total
Response
s
% of
total
Response
s
% of total Respon
ses
Respo
nses
In terms of speed 2.91% 3 18.45% 19 39.81% 41 38.83% 40 103
In terms of
availability (24/7)
1.00% 1 12.00% 12 40.00% 40 47.00% 47 100
Answered: 103, Skipped: 156
Comments:
1. I am not using regional data.
2. Map access via WMS tiles is sometimes slow
3. not an active user
4. i don't know how to use the product
5. Gave up.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 27
Q9. What would you like to see in the future from CAMS?
Not important Nice-to-have Important Very important Total Weig
hted
Avera
ge
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
% of
total
Respon
ses
Resp
onses
Interactive web maps 9.40
%
14 36.24
%
54 30.20
%
45 24.16
%
36 149 2.69
Subset data to a specific
geographical area
6.00
%
9 19.33
%
29 37.33
%
56 37.33
%
56 150 3.06
Time series at custom
locations
3.27
%
5 20.26
%
31 32.03
%
49 44.44
%
68 153 3.18
Vertical profiles at
custom locations
10.74
%
16 28.19
%
42 28.86
%
43 32.21
%
48 149 2.83
Epsgrams for custom
locations
21.21
%
28 40.15
%
53 24.24
%
32 14.39
%
19 132 2.32
Additional parameters
and chemical
species(Please provide
details in box below)
29.84
%
37 33.06
%
41 16.13
%
20 20.97
%
26 124 2.28
More OGC services
(WMS, WCS)
25.00
%
31 40.32
%
50 21.77
%
27 12.90
%
16 124 2.23
More documentation
(Please provide details in
box below)
17.05
%
22 34.11
%
44 27.13
%
35 21.71
%
28 129 2.53
Additional data
formats(Please provide
details in box below)
36.51
%
46 26.19
%
33 24.60
%
31 12.70
%
16 126 2.13
Answered: 157, Skipped: 102
Other or further details:
1. It would be important to have access to the meteorological fields used to run Air Quality simulations
2. Data availability in NetCDF formats.
3. more documentation about errors
4. Enabling the extraction of time series for the surface wind speed and air temperature along the solar radiation.
5. "Fire emissions essential: HCN, acetonitrile. Fire emissions that would be nice: ethyne, monoterpenes, formic
acid, acetic acid"
6. Would be nice to have a better idea of which species combine to impact health and/or vis from wildfires
(realizing that this is several different species).
7. chemical compounds of aerosol (sea salt, dust, organic matter, elemental carbon, etc), some biogenic and
anthropogenic volatile compounds
8. perhaps some overview documentation on cams would nice (cams for beginners)
9. More greenhouse and ozone depleting gas species, e.g. N2O. The documentation isn't necessarily poor but it
often difficult to locate.
10. For an external data user it is not obvious where to find what data. if you click on ""select data set"", there is
a long list of abbreviations or acronyms. This might be a bit more structured, this structure should be reflected
in the help. Sometimes the data are stored at non intuitive links, eg, in the near real time data I found the
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 28
"logarithm of the surface pressure" neither in the pressure levels nor in the surface data only in the model
levels, why not at all places.
11. More aerosol optical parameters, e.g: extinction coefficient, aerosol index (similar with MODIS product)
12. I would like to have some information about particulate nitrate. Maybe there is no need for more information,
but the information available should be easier to find.
13. for formats: Esri format
14. Perhaps other species indicated by CAFE Directive, aerosols for example: sulphates, nitrates, BC. More
methodology papers
15. Could be great if CAMS provide Mercury and other persistent pollutants
16. It would be nice to have a documentation about CAMS data format and how some specifications about altitude
levels
17. More data formats: image/jpg for the WMS service
18. It would be great to have more documents (reference to papers for example) for each product.
19. JSON or something easily consumable
20. OGC web services & Netcdf in standard formats
21. Improved forecasts of aerosol AOT
22. A service like earth.nullschool.net, with PM1 surface verification in or around major cities in British Columbia. 'd
like to see anthropogenic emissions in a similar format to nullschool,
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/particulates/surface/level/overlay=pm1/orthographic=-
121.26,51.98,3000/loc=-122.051,49.283
23. more pollen species (even though this is very difficult)
24. Now I can only download monthly datasets. It would be great to allow us select the data for user defined time
period.
25. Concerning the format the grib format, even historical, is not very convenient. Fortunately netcdf is available
for download. I would suggest to keep netcdf / hdf5 or other ready to read with python.
26. EXCEL data format PLEASE!!! Who needs txt or csv?
27. Additional parameters. Instantaneous solar irradiance at step forecast. Aerodynamic surface roughness. Better
documentation on the differences in models and parameters with other ECMWF products (e.g. ERA5, Interim,
operational forecast, ...)
28. Excel
29. CO2! And all data in netCDF format please. "
30. Should you decide to add interactive map using an external contractor, we would be keen to participate in the
tender.
31. Parameters: vertical profiles of AOT at different wavelengths. Documentation: be more explicit on how the
analysis are produced, when they are available, what is their time step."
32. geoJson output format should be useful
33. .csv; .xlsx; .json
34. Other pollen types.
35. More pollen types
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 29
Q10. Do you have any other suggestions how we can improve the Copernicus Atmosphere
Monitoring Service for you?
Answered: 38, Skipped: 221
1. No at this moment
2. having more tools to request webAPI to have just basic datas for regions
3. If it is possible, it would be very useful provide the validation reports for more sites.
4. How can I link up local available services with the CAMS outputs? I see that this has been completed for Riga,
where a local model coupled with the CAMS regional information is yielding something very useful. I would like
to explore that possibility within our own national context.
5. It would like to have contact with you as a group of person /non having status as a NGO or similiar/ with
relevant experience in this field, noone from Serbia contact you so far, when I realized that I have to organize
some kind of NVO I gave up
6. It would be nice to enlarge the API calls limit to 250-300 per email account.
7. No
8. not yet
9. Increased length of forecasts would be of value - extending from 5 days to, say, 7 or 10.
10. Sometimes the download of data is unavailable, please send us a notice of what happens, the reasons of the
interrupted service.
11. Possibility to download observations as in The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service. Possibility to
compare as time series measurements and models.
12. NetCDF data format is required for spatial analysis software like ArcGIS
13. I'm very satisfied with the CAMS for now, and I have no ideas that could improve the service as is it now
14. I would be interested in temperature and precipitation data from the regional CAMS models.
15. Not being an atmospheric modeller, it would be useful to have more documentation on the product parameters
16. Nothing else. Thank you for your interest in improving!
17. you are doing a very good job
18. If available, I would like to have the a priori flux data sets used for the optimization of CH4 and CO2 fluxes.
19. Bring the grib library to more platforms
20. not at this time.
21. I find a problem about the dataset of GFAS. the monthly statistical value of emission does not agree with each
other when I use daily data and monthly data.
22. No, you are doing an amazing job. Please keep up the excellent work.
23. Have longer pre-notice of implementation of new versions. We tend to discover them when they are
implemented. Maybe, do we not follow the appropriate communication channel.
24. Some people from Portland Oregon to Vancouver Canada report serious allergy type symptoms due to
particulates blown over the Pacific Ocean from China. The symptoms happen from time to time of course
depend on the weather, jet stream etc. It would be nice if Copernicus could track the transport of particulates
(PM1 maybe) from centres of heavy industry and show where the particulates go and where they fall to earth.
Tracking the bloom of heavy industry instead of forest fires.
25. Yes, expand the colour scheme to go all the way to max readings. Example ch4 again, over 3000ppb soon over
4000 ....thanks
26. it will be helpful to have more data assimilation with satellite products
27. higher resolution for CAMSGLOBAL!
28. I don't know if it is possible but I would suggest to try to reach a better spatial resolution (1km) in particular
for air quality.
29. No. very satisfied
30. reanalysis before 2003
31. Extend the area of all sky solar radiation data
32. Continue to help researchers by providing technical supports
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
CAMS User Satisfaction Survey 2018 30
33. Please ease the scripts, by giving examples. The choice of the grid (ex gaussian) is not obvious when selecting
data, and how to select it by script. THe definition of grids is not clear.
34. FTP delivery times could be improved. Sometimes files are ready at 4 a.m. other times at 9:30 a.m., as an
example
35. please change the color legend for "pollens" on your Maps : they are incorrect :)
36. No
37. github repository to make access easier for non-scientists.
Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
atmosphere.copernicus.eu copernicus.eu ecmwf.int
ECMWF Shinfield Park Reading RG2 9AX UK
Contact: [email protected]