This guide is intended to introduce you to the Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server
interface by carrying out a simple and hopefully typical research
task using the Eurostat New Cronos.
 |
Visualise and download air pollutant figures for a number of Eurostat
member countries from 1990 to present day. |
It is divided into three stages:
-
Finding and selecting the data
-
Visualising the data
- Downloading the data
Approx. time to complete: 20 minutes. If you wish to print this worksheet, please use the printer friendly option at the top right of the screen and if you need any help, please contact the ESDS
International team.
Stage i) Finding and selecting
the data
Choose Eurostat New Cronos from the 'Direct Links to data' drop down
list on the ESDS International website, or via the following url - http://esds.mcc.ac.uk/wds_eurostat to access the Eurostat
New Cronos data.

Input UK HE/FE institutional username and password in the login window.. If you do not have a UK HE/FE institutional id, please visit the login
help pages within the Access and Preservation section of ESDS.
If you have not already registered with the ESDS you will then be automatically
redirected to complete an online registration after which you will need to
agree to the Eurostat New Cronos special conditions prior to being able to
access the data using only your using only your UK HE/FE institutional username and password.
On entering the Beyond 20/20 Web Data Server site for the Eurostat New Cronos
you should see a folder labeled New Cronos database. Within this folder you will find three folders labeled:
- Database by Themes: contains the full range of public data available at Eurostat. They are presented in multi-dimensional tables with multiple selection features and export formats.
- Tables by Themes: offers a selection of the most important Eurostat data in a user-friendly way. All data are presented in simple two- or three-dimensional tables.
- Tables on EU Policy: provides various sets of data which track EU policies. The indicators presented are relatively stable and can be used to assess progress towards the policy goals.

Click on the Tables by Themes folder and you will see a folder for each of the nine
statistical themes of the New Cronos: General and Regional Statistics, Economy and Finance, Population and Social Conditions, Industry, Trade and Services, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, External Trade, Transport, Environment and Energy, Science and Technology.
Expand 'Theme 7: Environment and Energy' folder to display it's contents
and choose Environment (t_env) > Greenhouse Gases-Air Pollution (t_env_air) >Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions (source: EEA) (ten00072).
A table should appear with two dimensions Time (displaying the years data available) and Geo (displaying the countries). You are currently in the Table view and can see two other tabs for Reports View and Chart View:
- Reports: returns to list Eurostat datasets.
- Table: displays the tabular view of the selected data (current view).
- Chart: displays the diagrammatic view of the selected data.
Use the 'Select items to View' tool
in order to refine your search by selecting items from each of the available dimensions.

<<top
Click on 'Select Items to View' and choose the first dimension option 'geo'.
On the left hand side of the screen you will see the available dimensions under Columns, Rows and Other headings. The current dimension is highlighted in grey, for example in the next screen shot the 'geo' dimension is highlighted and a list of the countries available for selection within that dimension are shown on the right hand side of the page. The dimensions in Eurostat New Cronos Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions (source: EEA) (ten00072) table are as follows:
Columns: Time, (Years).
Rows: Geo (Countries/Geopolitical entities).
Others: none.
Use the 'Clear all' tool
to deselect all of the selected tick boxes against each country and choose the following ten countries by placing a tick next to each: Belgium, Switzerland, Spain France, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Sweden, Turkey.
Move onto next dimension 'Time' by either by clicking on the 'Select items to View' icon then selecting 'time' or by clicking directly on the dimension’s name under the ‘Columns’ heading.
All years will already be selected giving you annual data from 1997 onwards.
Note: In some tables in Eurostat New Cronos the period of time is represented as follows: a = annual, s = biannual, q= quarterly, m= monthly, d= daily, c= cumulated from January. For example, 1985a00 = Annual data from 1985, 1970q01 = First quarter data from 1970 and 1990m08 = Monthly data from August 1990.
<<top
Note: There is a new profile function in Beyond 20/20. Profiles enable you to save your selections from each dimension (for example, country or series) of the database. When you return to the database you can re-activate your previously saved profiles. Selections in each dimension are saved individually so you can save selections in as many or few dimensions are you want.
For example, say you wish to select data for a number of countries. Once you have selected your countries you can then save this selection as a named profile by clicking on the profile icon
then choosing 'Save current selections as a profile' option: Beyond 20/20 will then remember the countries you have selected and store this selection as a named profile for you to use in future sessions. The procedure can be repeated for any other dimension of the database.
Each time you log on, Beyond 20/20 will recognize who you are and can retrieve your previously saved selections for that database. This means that the next time you wish to run the same query you can click on the profile icon then select 'Activate profile' to reopen your saved selections. The profiles will be saved until you choose to delete them.
You have now completed the Finding and Selecting data stage and can move
on to visualising your data.
<<top
Stage ii) Visualising
the data
There are two ways of visualising data in Beyond 20/20 WDS - in chart or
table format.
View the report in table format by using the 'Show Table'
button at the top of the screen (see previous screen shot) or by using the 'Table' tab.

In the default view of the table which appears, you will see the years (time) displayed in columns and the countries (geo) displayed in rows. If there were any other dimensions they would be listed at the top of the screen under 'other'.
If you wish to re-arrange the format of the table you can do so by dragging and dropping the dimension
headings - to swap geo and time dimensions. To do this, hover your mouse over the 'geo' dimension
heading until your cursor changes into a four pointed arrow, left click and
drag the heading over the 'time' dimension - drop when in desired position.

Or, use the 'Set Dimension Order'
tool to reorganise the table.
<<top
View the report in chart format by selecting the 'Chart'
tab at the top of the screen.
In the example screen shot below, the chart shows the selected Eurostat
New Cronos data and chart types.
Use the 'Chart Types' icon to change chart type and the 'View printable version' icon
to print the chart.
To save the chart image, use Alt + Print Screen and paste
into a paint program as right clicking to 'Save picture as' only saves the
chart itself and not the chart key or heading.
<<top
Stage iii) Downloading
the data
Return to the 'Table' tab to download the data
to your pc. Manipulate the table into desired format using the dimension headers
as the table layout and contents are downloaded exactly as they appear on
screen.
Use the 'Download' icon
and select
your desired download format.

The rest of the process is the same as downloading any file from the web.
Once you have downloaded the data, you can see information on how to cite the data towards the top of the file.
Congratulations you have successfully completed the Eurostat New Cronos
worked example - now you are ready to do some serious work with your downloaded
data!
Please see the Eurostat
New Cronos dataset user guide on the ESDS International site for further
information on the contents of the database.
If you would like to move to another database you can select the 'Quick links to macro data' drop down box at the top of the page then select the database you require.
Tested on Netscape 7 and Internet Explorer 7
Note: All Beyond 20/20 images used on this
page are Copyright © Beyond 20/20 Inc. All rights reserved.
<<top