In the context of PrimeWater, the role of BSB is to elicit user attitudes towards EO-based services and help understand and model individual, social and institutional determinants of the decision-making process regarding adoption decisions. In order to meet this goal, a survey by questionnaire has been built.

The preliminary results are based on a sample of 35 responses, collected so far. Half of them was already familiar with satellite-derived water quality products (SDWQP) because they use or have already tested them. The other half was not aware of these products.

The first analysis of possible behavioral barriers in the adoption of these products highlights a positive attitude and trust towards this technology, as well as a high-performance expectancy. Performance and effort expectancy, together with attitudes, social influence, and facilitating conditions have a positive role in building up trust in SDWQP. Anxiety about adopting these technologies plays a negative role. Self-efficacy, namely users’ perception of their own ability to use such data, results in low or no trust at all.

The results collected so far highlight that the main barriers to adopting monitoring earth observation technologies are either of technical nature (like lack of information during cloudy days, inadequate resolution, or the limited number of parameters monitored), or concern institutions and knowledge. The latter also results to be one of the main barriers to adopting forecasting EO services, together with organizational and institutional factors.

When analyzing hypothetical choices of monitoring services by end-users, the specific parameters monitored and the resolution drive their choices and are much more important than the representation offered, the frequency, and the price. When analyzing hypothetical choices of forecasting services by end-users, the forecast horizon and the specific parameter forecasted drive the choice, and they are much more important than the temporal and spatial resolution and the price of the service.

The PrimeWater survey ‘User preferences for Earth Observation services’ is still open and you can contribute to this research by taking this survey here

You can also visit our YouTube channel to watch an explanatory video about the survey.