Section 1 of 8
Xarray User Survey
Welcome to the 2024 Xarray User Survey!
In an effort to better understand the Xarray user community, we (the Xarray developer team) have created this short survey. We think it will take you about 5 minutes to complete. We will use the results from this survey to inform development activities and priorities. The survey has the option to remain anonymous and, except for any personally identifying information, will be made publicly available.
In an effort to better understand the Xarray user community, we (the Xarray developer team) have created this short survey. We think it will take you about 5 minutes to complete. We will use the results from this survey to inform development activities and priorities. The survey has the option to remain anonymous and, except for any personally identifying information, will be made publicly available.
Section 2 of 8
Background
First some information to understand your background.
What is the job title that best describes your role when using Xarray?
What is the job title that best describes your role when using Xarray?
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Educator
Domain scientist / researcher
Data scientist
Software engineer / developer
System administrator
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What field do you work in?
What field do you work in?
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Bioimaging
Neuroscience
Other bioscience
Astrophysics
Statistics & Machine Learning
Thermodynamics
Finance
Energy
Atmospheric Sciences
Ocean Sciences
Hydrological Sciences
Other Geoscience
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How did you hear about this survey?
How did you hear about this survey?
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(This helps us know how to get in touch with people like you)
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Section 3 of 8
How do you use Xarray?
In this section, we ask a few questions about you and how you use Xarray.
How often do you use Xarray?
How often do you use Xarray?
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How many years have you been using Xarray?
How many years have you been using Xarray?
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How do you rate your level of Xarray proficiency?
How do you rate your level of Xarray proficiency?
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Novice
Expert
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For your applications that use Xarray, how critical is Xarray?
For your applications that use Xarray, how critical is Xarray?
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Non-critical - nice to have but could go without
Critical - couldn't work without it
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Is Xarray stable enough for you?
Is Xarray stable enough for you?
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Yes
Yes (and I wouldn't mind a little less stability if it meant the project developed faster)
No
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Is it easy to find answers to your questions regarding working with Xarray?
Is it easy to find answers to your questions regarding working with Xarray?
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Where do you use Xarray?
Where do you use Xarray?
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Personal laptop
Large workstation
On prem/HPC cluster
Commercial cloud
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Interactive or batch?
Interactive or batch?
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Interactive: I use Xarray with Jupyter or IPython when playing with data
Batch: I use Xarray in scripts that run in the future
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Batch: I use Xarray in scripts that run in the future
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Xarray includes support for reading and writing a number of multi-dimensional data storage formats. Which do you use?
Xarray includes support for reading and writing a number of multi-dimensional data storage formats. Which do you use?
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*denotes existing support within Xarray
Never
Occasionally (~monthly)
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NetCDF 3*
NetCDF 4*
OpenDAP or THREDDS
OGC API
Zarr*
OME-Zarr
GRIB*
GeoTIFF*
Python Pickle*
HDF 4
HDF 5
Other Image format (PNG, JPG, TIFF, etc.)
Video (e.g. MP4)
Database (e.g. MongoDB)
Tensors (e.g. PyTorch, Tensorflow, NumPy)
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NetCDF 4*
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OpenDAP or THREDDS
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Zarr*
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GRIB*
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GeoTIFF*
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Python Pickle*
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HDF 4
11.
HDF 5
12.
Other Image format (PNG, JPG, TIFF, etc.)
13.
Video (e.g. MP4)
14.
Database (e.g. MongoDB)
15.
Tensors (e.g. PyTorch, Tensorflow, NumPy)
16.
Other
17.
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If you answered "Other" above, please list any additional formats:
If you answered "Other" above, please list any additional formats:
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How do you scale xarray?
How do you scale xarray?
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Batch Job Scheduler (Airflow, etc.)
Multithreading
Apache Beam
Dask
Joblib
Spark
Xarray-Beam (https://xarray-beam.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
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How easy is it for you to upgrade to newer versions of Python libraries (not just Xarray)?
How easy is it for you to upgrade to newer versions of Python libraries (not just Xarray)?
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What are some other libraries that you often use with Xarray? (e.g. "dask, pandas, scikit-learn")
What are some other libraries that you often use with Xarray? (e.g. "dask, pandas, scikit-learn")
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What would make Xarray even more useful for your work?
What would make Xarray even more useful for your work?
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Section 4 of 8
Xarray Support
We would like to understand how you get support for questions that arise while working with Xarray
What support resources would you prefer to see expanded?
What support resources would you prefer to see expanded?
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Xarray Documentation (https://docs.xarray.dev/)
Xarray Tutorial (https://tutorial.xarray.dev/)
Xarray Office Hours (https://github.com/pydata/xarray/discussions/categories/office-hours)
Github Discussions (https://github.com/pydata/xarray/discussions/)
Pangeo Discussion Forum (https://discourse.pangeo.io/)
Project Pythia (https://foundations.projectpythia.org/landing-page.html)
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What Xarray resources have you used for support in the last six months?
What Xarray resources have you used for support in the last six months?
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Xarray Documentation (https://docs.xarray.dev/)
Xarray Tutorial (https://tutorial.xarray.dev/)
Xarray Office Hours (https://github.com/pydata/xarray/discussions/categories/office-hours)
GitHub issue trackers (raising a new issue)
GitHub issue trackers (reading past issues)
Github Discussions (https://github.com/pydata/xarray/discussions/)
Pangeo Discussion Forum (https://discourse.pangeo.io/)
Project Pythia (https://foundations.projectpythia.org/landing-page.html)
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Do you have suggestions for how to improve Xarray's documentation?
Do you have suggestions for how to improve Xarray's documentation?
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What new support resources you would like to see?
What new support resources you would like to see?
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Section 5 of 8
The future of Xarray
We want to know what sort of development activities and features are most important to you. Some of these questions are generic and some are targeting specific decisions the Xarray team needs to make.
Currently work is underway to add a hierarchical tree-like data structure to Xarray. How useful would this data structure be to your work?
Currently work is underway to add a hierarchical tree-like data structure to Xarray. How useful would this data structure be to your work?
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Xarray is also making progress toward breaking out a new simpler data structure called NamedArray. This structure would feature only named dimensions and attributes, but no coordinate variables or indexes. How useful would this data structure be to your work?
Xarray is also making progress toward breaking out a new simpler data structure called NamedArray. This structure would feature only named dimensions and attributes, but no coordinate variables or indexes. How useful would this data structure be to your work?
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Xarray supports multiple array types (e.g. NumPy and Dask). Please rank your interest non-NumPy array support:
Xarray supports multiple array types (e.g. NumPy and Dask). Please rank your interest non-NumPy array support:
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Note that there already full support for Dask arrays and experimental support for CuPy, Sparse, and Pint arrays.
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CuPy (GPU) arrays
Sparse arrays
Dask arrays
Pint (unit-aware) arrays
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If you answered "Other" above, list any additional array types:
If you answered "Other" above, list any additional array types:
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Section 6 of 8
Contributing to Xarray
In this section, we would like to understand what barriers you face to contributing.
Have you contributed to the Xarray project or ecosystem in any way?
Have you contributed to the Xarray project or ecosystem in any way?
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Opened an issue in Xarray
Opened a pull request to Xarray
Opened a pull request to xarray-tutorial (https://tutorial.xarray.dev)
Built new package for Xarray users
Created an Xarray engine or extension
Run or contributed to a tutorial on Xarray (e.g. at your local Python group, at your institution, etc.)
Contributed to documentation/tutorial material hosted elsewhere (e.g. Project Pythia, various HackWeeks, Software Carpentry etc.)
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Please describe any barriers you encountered in contributing to Xarray, or any that have kept you from contributing.
Please describe any barriers you encountered in contributing to Xarray, or any that have kept you from contributing.
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What are your suggestions for reducing these barriers?
What are your suggestions for reducing these barriers?
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Section 7 of 8
Wrapping up
A few quick questions to wrap up.
Unlike the rest of the survey, the answers to these questions will NOT be made public.
Thank you for completing the survey!!!
Unlike the rest of the survey, the answers to these questions will NOT be made public.
Thank you for completing the survey!!!
Xarray's future (and the developer team) is listening... is there anything else you want to say?
Xarray's future (and the developer team) is listening... is there anything else you want to say?
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If you would like to be added to the Xarray project listserve and receive the results of this survey, include your email below:
If you would like to be added to the Xarray project listserve and receive the results of this survey, include your email below:
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The Xarray development team may have further questions for you. Are you interested in sharing your information for further contact?
The Xarray development team may have further questions for you. Are you interested in sharing your information for further contact?
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Yes
Continue to next section
No
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Section 8 of 8
Additional Contact Information
This section is fully optional, and any information provided will not be revealed in the public report.
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Full Name
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