Installing the WDPA

The WDPA is provided as a series of Geographic Information System (GIS) layers with related attribute information. View a description of these layers.

Note: In order to access and manipulate the data you must first install a compatible GIS software.

You can explore the database using any GIS system that can read a "shapefile" format, in particular, any of the products of ESRI including ArcExplorer™, ArcView™, or ArcMap™. This CD contains project files for ArcExplorer™ version 2 which is compatible with MS Windows-based systems. If you are running a different Operating System, you might want to download and install ArcExplorer™ 4 (Java version).

The instructions and tutorial in this CD are based on the use of ArcExplorer™ version 2.

Installing ArcExplorer™ 2

To install ArcExplorer™ 2, you must run the file 'ae2setup.exe' found in the CD-ROM's '\GIS_Viewers\ArcExplorer2.0setup' directory. Just go to this directory on the CD-ROM, double click on the 'ae2setup.exe' file and follow instructions. The software will be permanently installed on your hard drive so you need to do this process only once, on your first use of the database. You will need approximately 20 megabytes (MB) of free space to install ArcExplorer™ 2. See ESRI copyright notice.

Once installed, you can run the database from the CD-ROM. Given the large amount of data involved, please be prepared to have a sluggish response depending on the speed of your system and of your CD-ROM reader. If the response is too slow, consider copying the whole database to your hard drive (See the following instructions).

Moving the database to your hard drive

This option will greatly improve performance but you will need around 640 MB of free space on your hard drive and up to and 1,000 MB (1 GB) depending on what additional compressed files you want to install.

In order to move the database, create a directory on your hard drive with any convenient name, for example "WDPA04", and copy all contents of the CD-ROM under that directory. You cannot change the names of the subdirectories of the CD-ROM or separate them into different places in your hard drive. Once you have copied the data, create a shortcut to the project file that corresponds to the system you will be using. If you are using ArcExplorer™ 2, you need to run the file 'arcexplorer_v2project.aep' found in the CD-ROM's '\GIS' directory.

Installing a compressed layer

Because of space limitations on the CD-ROM, some of the layers have been provided in compressed format as "zip" (.zip) files. In order to view this data you will need to expand and copy these files on your hard drive and incorporate them to your project file. To install a compressed layer, follow these steps:

Data layers provided in compressed format

National_otherareas_point.zip and National_otherareas_polygon.zip
These files contain point and polygon data for protected areas that either do not have a known IUCN category, or that are not considered within these categories. These files contain among others, indigenous reserves and private reserves which in many countries are not considered to fall within one of the IUCN categories.
Regional_point.zip and Regional_polygon.zip
These files contain point and polygon data for protected areas under a regional agreement. In this version, this layer includes European Biogenetic Reserves, Bird Directive and Habitat Directive Sites, and Barcelona and Helsinki Conventions Sites.

Installing a data layer

Open the WDPA ArcExplorer™ project file (\GIS\ arcview_v32project.apr)
Select Add Theme (Menu Theme\Add Theme, or button with "+" sign, or Ctrl-A) and point to the zip file on the CD-ROM you want to install. Click OK.
Select a directory on your hard drive where the expanded files will be stored and click OK. This operation will expand the compressed files, stored them in the directory you defined and will add this data layer to the Theme window of ArcExplorer™. You can now use the data as normal.
Save the project file at the end of the session to a location in your hard drive. Use the menu File/Save As... to accomplish this. As the original file is in the CD-ROM, you will not be able to save it to it. If you want to install an additional data layer, remember to open this saved project file instead of the original one.