General FAQs
1. What is Carbon Arc?
Carbon Arc is a decision intelligence platform that provides actionable, consumption-based insights to decision-makers across a wide range of industries via a platform that allows for companies and funds to pay for the data they need to drive lift in their decisions. We work with some of the largest banks, consulting firms, hedge funds, and companies. We deliver transaction data that informs how people spend their time and money, balance sheet, and how companies interact with one another - think credit card, app, trade claims, ticket data, healthcare claims - and the data is used to power multiple use cases like driving alpha, model building, inventory management, ticket pricing, supply chain management to name a few.
2. What types of data does Carbon Arc provide?
Carbon Arc focuses on sourcing the most interesting data assets that help answer current and future questions for our customers. The evaluation process considers data that informs how people spend their time and money, balance sheet, and how companies interact with one another. We source data from first- and third-party data providers and follow a detailed process that includes FISD-based due diligence questionnaires and virtual meetings as necessary to review data rights and privacy.
3. Is Carbon Arc's data real time or historical?
Carbon Arc's data is both historical and with frequent updates. While most data is not real-time, many data assets are refreshed daily, weekly, or monthly to provide timely insight into trends and performance.
4. Where and how does Carbon Arc source its data from?
Carbon Arc uses FISD DDQ as a baseline for conducting DD on third party data vendors.
5. Do I need a data science or engineering team to use Carbon Arc?
No, you can use the Platform UI and we have dashboards available that let you explore the data interactively without needing to query it directly.
Platform
6. What is a "framework"?
Frameworks are Carbon Arc's foundational units for building, accessing, and interpreting data. Each Framework pairs a core entity—like a brand, company, location, or person—with a curated insight such as Credit Card Spend, or Website Traffic, designed to answer a real business question.
7. How do I explore or purchase data on the platform?
You can explore and purchase data on the Carbon Arc platform by browsing through the Library, where data assets are organized by topic. Each listing includes stats, metadata, and pricing details. To purchase, select the fields or panels you need in Builder, add them to your cart, and complete the checkout via the Platform UI.
8. Can I save filters when I'm building a framework?
Yes, you can save filters when building a framework. The platform allows you to save and reapply custom filter sets, so you can easily revisit or modify your framework without starting from scratch. This is especially useful for recurring analyses or team collaboration.
9. Can I combine multiple frameworks?
Yes, you can combine multiple frameworks on the Carbon Arc platform. Frameworks are designed to be modular, allowing you to layer data assets across different topics or entities—such as companies, locations, or industries—to build richer, more tailored insights.
10. What is data refresh vs. reinstatement?
Data refresh: a data refresh adds new information to a data asset, such as the latest week of transactions, through scheduled updates from the data provider.
Data reinstatement: a data reinstatement involves updates that modify historical data or panel structures. This typically occurs with the release of a new Carbon Arc Ontology version, but it may also result from restatements or corrections made by the data provider
Note: Clients must purchase refreshed or reinstated data to keep their frameworks up to date. A data reinstatement resets access.
11. How do I translate queries from the platform into my programmatic build?
To translate queries from the platform into a programmatic build, use Entity IDs and Insight IDs as reference handles:
Entity IDs represent real-world concepts like brands, companies, or geographies. These are standardized across all data assets to ensure consistent joins and comparisons.
Insight IDs refer to specific metrics or calculated fields (e.g., card spend, visits, job starts).
Each query in the platform UI maps to these IDs behind the scenes. When building programmatically (via API or SDK), use the same IDs to pull identical data or replicate UI-based insights. The Builder or Network tab can help identify the corresponding IDs for your use case.
12. How often is data updated?
Varies by data asset. Please reference the Library for exact details.
13. In what format can I export data?
You can export data from Carbon Arc in multiple formats, including CSV via the Platform UI. For programmatic access, data can also be delivered through API in larger volumes, depending on your preferences.