# BenMAP help forum? **URL:** \ **Category:** BENMAP\ **Created:** [April 4, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841 "2024-04-04T15:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![skunwar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@skunwar](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/skunwar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/1 "2024-04-04T15:52:55Z")
What are some suggestions for seeking help with BenMAP ([Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program - Community Edition (BenMAP-CE) | US EPA](https://www.epa.gov/benmap)) ? I see reference to [Health and Air Quality Community Forum](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/health-and-air-quality-community-forum/4152) but it does not look like it has BenMAP content? Also, I did not see any results when I searched BenMAP in this forum itself! I would appreciate any tips! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![foley.kristen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@foley.kristen](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/foley.kristen)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2024, 6:27pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/2 "2024-04-04T18:27:00Z")
Have you tried submitting something through the ‘Contact Us’ page on the BenMAP website ([https://www.epa.gov/benmap/forms/contact-us-about-benmap](https://www.epa.gov/benmap/forms/contact-us-about-benmap))? I believe someone should be monitoring those emails and will hopefully be able to point you to technical support. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 4:13am UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/3 "2024-04-05T04:13:18Z")
As a person who has been using BenMAP for more than 5 years, I can share a few info based on my side. 1. Firstly, BenMAP does have tutorial material covering a few domains (including the US, China, and Mexico) which you can grab and get good training (The training material is very clear and points to step-by-step use of BenMAP). However, if you are trying to create BenMAP inputs for your custom domain, I would say it would be challenging as you have to figure out the population dataset and create the shpfile (it does require the shpfile has ROW and COL). 2. Secondly, I heard from Neal Fann that the EPA is in the midst of transitioning BenMAP to be a cloud-based tool (You can check back later this year I guess). 3. Lastly, while BenMAP is not officially supported here (please correct me if I am wrong), I think there are folks who actively use it in research who are also CMAS Forum community members. Thus, simply post your question and kindly wait for the response from folks (again, note that it is not supported here, so it generally may take a while to get a response). ---
**Author:** ![skunwar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@skunwar](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/skunwar)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/4 "2024-04-08T15:48:43Z")
Thanks @foley.kristen and @Ryan for your excellent ideas! I have sent a message on ‘Contact Us’ page of BenMAP’s site, emailed **benmap at epa dot gov** and I am also going to post questions on a new thread in this forum. Thanks again! ---
**Author:** ![Blanca.Rios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Blanca.Rios](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Blanca.Rios)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 11:19am UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/5 "2024-05-22T11:19:08Z")
Hi Ryan, I was reading that you have experience using BenMAP and I’m writing to you because I haven’t found a help forum. I sent an email to the technical support email and they only responded that: “read the manual.” However, I have read the manual several times and cannot solve my problem. I am working with WRF-Chem to perform simulations of near-surface ozone concentrations; I already converted the model outputs to the format that BenMAP requested for the model inputs. I also built my shapefile to put the model results. First, I built a database where the concentrations are hourly and, from what I understand, I would not apply any seasonal or annual metrics because I assumed BenMAP would be able to calculate the metric. Still, when I entered the data, BenMAP didn’t send me any errors. However, the stoplight did not turn green. Later, I tried entering just one value, the 24-hour average metric and the yearly average metric; It worked when I did this exercise. Do you know if I have to perform any subsequent steps for BenMAP to calculate the metrics or if I can’t enter multiple data at the same time? Sorry for this long post; I hope you can help me. Greetings ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/6 "2024-05-23T23:13:01Z")
> [@Blanca.Rios](#): > > Still, when I entered the data, BenMAP didn’t send me any errors. However, the stoplight did not turn green This is because BenMAP does not read the file format. You should go to BenMAP benchmark to check the data format (csv files) formatted by hour then convert it to file. > [@Blanca.Rios](#): > > Later, I tried entering just one value, the 24-hour average metric and the yearly average metric; It worked when I did this exercise. Do you know if I have to perform any subsequent steps for BenMAP to calculate the metrics or if I can’t enter multiple data at the same time? I don’t understand what you mean here. Do you mean that you only have 2 values in your csv? I am confused. ---
**Author:** ![Blanca.Rios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Blanca.Rios](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Blanca.Rios)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 4:30pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/7 "2024-05-24T16:30:35Z")
Sorry for the confusion. My files are in csv format. What I meant is that when I have a single value in the values column, which corresponds to the annual average, BenMAP works very well. However, when in each cell of the values column I have multiple values (the average daily values of a year), BenMAP cannot read the files. Do I need to do anything else after loading the data? Or BenMAP can’t read a set of values? ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex027/uploads/cmas/original/2X/d/d2e4bd5d3fe32939ee6e3f09e75f5c87ac68c0c6.png) ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/8 "2024-05-24T19:50:23Z")
Can you upload a file for me to review the format? It would be much quick for trouble-shooting. ---
**Author:** ![Blanca.Rios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Blanca.Rios](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Blanca.Rios)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/9 "2024-05-25T20:13:08Z")
Thanks for the quick reply, but this forum doesn’t let me attach files because I am a new user greetings ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/10 "2024-05-25T22:19:23Z")
Feel free to send the file through email to me (wuk15@uci.edu). ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2024, 10:28pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/11 "2024-06-02T22:28:54Z")
Hi. I did receive your email about the data. I will reply back next Tuesday due to large volume of work. ---
**Author:** ![Blanca.Rios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Blanca.Rios](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Blanca.Rios)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2024, 11:43pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/12 "2024-06-02T23:43:37Z")
Hello, no problem! Thank you! El El dom, 2 de jun de 2024 a la(s) 4:38 p.m., Ryan Wu via CMAS CENTER FORUM \<[notifications@cmas.discoursemail.com](mailto:notifications@cmas.discoursemail.com)\> escribió: ---
**Author:** ![Andressa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@Andressa](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Andressa)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/13 "2025-08-06T15:08:18Z")
Hi, Ryan. I read that you have experience using BenMAP, and I’m reaching out because I’m a new user and haven’t been able to find a help forum. I’ve read the manual several times but haven’t been able to resolve my issue. I’m working with CMAQ data to simulate NO₂ concentrations and have also created a shapefile to perform a health impact assessment. Due to the large size of the concentration .csv file, I’ve been using only a small portion of it to test and understand how BenMAP handles modeling data. I noticed that when each line of the .csv file contains 8,760 values (i.e., hourly values for an entire year), BenMAP successfully validates the data import, generates the .aqgx files (baseline and control), and the stoplight turns green. However, when each line contains 744 values (hourly values for one month) or 24 values (hourly values for one day), BenMAP still validates the data import but does not generate the .aqgx files. In these cases, I receive the message: _“Importing observations requires hourly data.”_ I would like to run BenMAP for just one month using hourly data, but I’m stuck and honestly have no idea how to fix this. Do you have any suggestions for how to address this issue? I would appreciate any tips or advice you could share. Greetings ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/14 "2025-08-07T00:42:32Z")
Hi, Thanks for reaching out. It is actually straightforward to address your issue as you only need to place the hourly data for the single month into your 8760 values (which means that you will have 8760 values, while a lot of them would be zero). BenMAP does have a time window for calculating the metrics for you and further used for health impact analysis. Please try it and let me know how it goes. Also, feel free to email me through wuk15@uci.edu if you didn’t get my reply as expected. Best, Ryan ---
**Author:** ![Andressa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@Andressa](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Andressa)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/15 "2025-08-11T13:44:45Z")
Ryan, Thank you for your quick and precise response. I followed your advice, and it worked very well. After setting up the population dataset, I’m now moving on to the next steps to determine which HIFs will adequately represent the selected pollutant, population, and incidence. Really appreciate your help! Best, Andressa ---
**Author:** ![Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Ryan](https://forum.cmascenter.org/u/Ryan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2025, 8:28pm UTC](https://forum.cmascenter.org/t/benmap-help-forum/4841/16 "2025-08-11T20:28:38Z")
Hi Andressa, Good to hear that works well. Feel free to ask here or reach out in case you have any additional questions. Best, Ryan