OR/13/042 Appendix 1 - Data obtained from on-line questionnaire

Hughes, A G, Harpham, Q K, Riddick, A T, Royse, K R, and Singh, A. 2013. Meta-model: ensuring the widespread access to metadata and data for environmental models - scoping report. British Geological Survey External Report, OR/13/042.

Section One — Background information country, science discipline etc

Country affiliation

Country	Number of respondents
Australia	1
Czech Republic	1
Denmark	1
France	2
Germany	4
Greece	3
Ireland	1
Italy	5
Netherlands	7
Portugal	2
Romania	1
Serbia and Montenegro	1
Spain	4
Switzerland	2
United Kingdom	63
United States	9
Uzbekistan	1
TOTAL	108

Science discipline

Discipline	Number of respondents	% of respondents
Climate change research	10	9.26
Earth system modelling	12	11.11
Groundwater modelling	9	8.33
Land use modelling	6	5.56
Modelling of the marine environment	12	11.11
Modelling other parts of the water cycle	16	14.81
Other	43	39.81
TOTAL	108	100

Primary activity

Primary activity	Number of respondents	% of respondents
Data supplier	9	8.33
End user	2	29.63
Model developer	37	34.26
Modeller	30	27.78
TOTAL	108	100.00

Section Two — Metadata for data

Question 2.1: For people searching for datasets which information is most important to identify and locate the data they need? Please rank the options below in relative importance (High, Moderate or Low).

	Number of responses
	High	Moderate	Low	TOTAL
Parameters or phenomena represented	76	10	3	89
Descriptive information	71	13	4	88
Spatial extent	67	22	1	90
Units of measurement	53	20	17	90
Quality assessments	46	36	8	90
Ownership	36	43	11	90
Use licence	35	38	16	89
Reference dates	33	42	15	90
Spatial reference system	32	39	19	90
Provenance	30	49	11	90
Original purpose of the dataset	12	45	33	90

Question 2.2: Which of the following metadata standards does your data comply with?

	% of respondents	Number of respondents
Dublin core specification	10.59	9
ISO19110	7.06	6
ISO19115	11.76	10
ISO19119	3.53	3
INSPIRE data specifications	29.41	25
PREMIS	0.00	0
Other standards	37.65	32
TOTAL	100	85

Question 2.3: Do you think that there is sufficient metadata and other supporting information made available to help people find and locate the datasets you use or supply?

	Number of respondents	% of respondents
No	48	54.55
Unsure	23	26.14
Yes	17	19.32
TOTAL	88	100

Question 2.4: Which of the following mechanisms do you use most often to locate and identify the data you use?

	Number of respondents	% of respondents
Approaching recognised suppliers of specific datasets directly	17	19.77
Other mechanisms	14	16.28
Searching via a catalogue facility (web based or otherwise)	24	27.91
Through organisations you already collaborate with	31	36.05
TOTAL	86	100

Question 2.5: When working with environmental datasets what metadata or other supporting information is most important to enable you to make effective use of the data? Please rank the options in relative importance (High, Moderate or Low).

	Number of responses
	High	Moderate	Low	TOTAL
Parameters or phenomena represented	72	15	0	87
Units of measurement	67	14	6	87
Spatial extent — spatial reference system	61	22	4	87
Quality assessments	56	22	9	87
File formats available	47	32	8	87
Descriptive information (title, abstract etc)	46	27	14	87
Data formats used to store the data	42	37	8	87
Reference dates	35	36	16	87
Provenance	33	35	19	87
The software used to create the dataset	11	37	39	87
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	8	27	49	84

Question 2.6: Do you think that there is sufficient metadata and other supporting information made available to help people make effective use of the datasets you use or supply?

	Number of respondents	% of respondents
No	45	51.72
Yes	20	22.99
Unsure	22	25.29
TOTAL	87	100

Question 2.7: In terms of being able to both locate and use the datasets you need — if there was one thing you could improve in this process, what would it be? (64 free text responses).

Section Three — Metadata for models

Question 3.1: For people searching for models which information is most important to identify and locate the model(s) they need. Please rank the options below in relative importance (High, Moderate or Low).

	Number of responses
	High	Moderate	Low	TOTAL
Descriptive information	64	10	2	76
Parameters or phenomena represented	61	14	1	76
Spatial extent	51	21	4	76
Quality assessments	41	27	8	76
Use licence	35	31	10	76
Ownership	33	31	12	76
Deterministic/probabilistic/other	33	31	12	76
Technical platform	32	29	15	76
Provenance	31	32	13	76
Original purpose of the model	27	37	12	76
Spatial reference system	26	38	12	76
Reference dates	18	47	11	76
Originating discipline	18	41	17	76
Programming languages used	16	36	24	76
Typical runtime	13	43	20	76

Question 3.2: Do you assign metadata to models according to a formal standard? If so, which standard? (43 free text responses).

Question 3.3: Do you think that there is sufficient metadata and other supporting information made available to help people make use of the models you use or supply — what could be improved?

	Number of respondents	% of respondents
No	40	53.33
Unsure	27	36.00
Yes	8	10.67
TOTAL	75	100

Question 3.4: When working with environmental models what metadata or other supporting information is most important to enable you to make effective use of the models?

	Number of responses
	High	Moderate	Low	TOTAL
The datasets used as inputs	63	13	2	78
Parameters or phenomena represented	62	14	2	78
Assumptions made in building the model	61	17	0	78
The models used as inputs	59	13	4	76
Descriptive information	51	17	10	78
The details of the software or model code	35	28	14	77
Provenance	27	34	16	77
File formats available for input datasets	24	41	13	78
File formats available for output datasets	23	43	11	77
Compatible model coupling technologies	22	36	19	77
Additional toolkits (e.g. for visualising results)	13	50	15	78

Question 3.5: Considering information which would be useful in making effective use of environmental model, do you find this information easy to access? (47 free text responses).

Question 3.6: Do you find it easy to find models produced within other environmental disciplines?

	Number of respondents	% of respondents
No	43	55.13
Unsure	22	28.21
Yes	13	16.67
TOTAL	78	100

Question 3.7: What are the barriers to the wider availability of models?

	Number of responses
	High	Medium	Low	TOTAL
Lack of searchable catalogues	42	30	5	77
Lack of common ways to describe models	39	33	5	77
IPR considerations	35	31	11	77
Technical issues	23	36	17	76

Question 3.8: What criteria would you use to assess the quality of a model, and its fitness for purpose? (51 free text responses).

Section Four — Additional questions

Question 4.1: If you supply metadata (or other supporting information) for your datasets and/or models what is your primary reason for doing this?

	Number of respondents	% of respondents
Scientific objectives	18	28.13
To assist others using the dataset/model	25	39.06
To comply with organisational or other guidelines	10	15.63
To meet longer term data preservation objectives	2	3.13
To promote access to the dataset/model	9	14.06
TOTAL	64	100

Question 4.2: If you currently provide or make use of metadata in environmental modelling, do you use a particular software tool to create or access the metadata? (39 free text responses).