WDPA 2005: World Database on Protected Areas

The WDPA Consortium

2005 World Database on Protected Areas

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Preparation of the database for CD-ROM distribution and metadata details

The World Database on Protected Areas WDPA 2005 has been optimized to fit into a CD-ROM for easy distribution. This optimization included:

In addition, the relational structure of the database was collapsed into just one attribute table per theme. This was done to allow easy access to all attribute data using a tool like ArcExplorer, facilitating the use of this database by the non GIS-expert. As the WDPA 2005 is not intended to be updated by end-users, the fact that the resulting database is not normalized is of reduced importance.

These optimizations did not entail any loss of protected area data.

National protected Areas data have been organized into two layers, one that has all the records with IUCN categories I thru VI, and a second layer for "Other" protected areas, which lacked this designation. This was done for the polygon layer as well as for the point layer.

Data on International Sites have also been organized into two different layers for each point and polygon information. One covers all global conventions and agreements (Biosphere Reserves, World Heritage Sites, RAMSAR Sites) and the other (Regional) covers sites defined under regional agreements or directives.

To facilitate the users' visualization and interaction with the WDPA data, a project was created using a free GIS data viewer. This project includes the protected areas layers, as well as additional base data layers.

In the projects, the colors used to identify IUCN categories were based on a conservation criteria, the greener the area the strictest its use is for conservation. Also, the 'International' polygons were made with a transparent fill pattern because many of these areas overlapped the 'National' protected areas layer.

All the data on the WDPA 2005 correspond to a snapshot of the central database taken on October 11, 2005 by UNEP-WCMC.

Methods to package the WDPA 2005

WDPA Data Layers

The 2005 version of the WDPA on CD-ROM contains a total of 15 map layers of information, of which eight layers focus on Protected Areas information. Six base layers provide context for visualizing the protected area information.

The total list of layers as they appear on the left panel of Arc Explorer is the following:

  1. COUNTRY BOUNDARIES (polygon) - Outline of country boundaries including coastline
  2. MAIN CITIES (point) - Large cities
  3. POPULATED PLACES (point) - All populated places, from large cities to places that might only include a few houses
  4. NATIONAL IUCN PA BOUNDARIES (polygon) - Outline of National Protected Areas of IUCN categories I through VI.
  5. INTERNATIONAL SITES (point) - Sites recognized by global conventions or agreements: Biosphere Reserves, RAMSAR sites, and World Heritage Sites point data
  6. INTERNATIONAL SITES (polygon) - Sites recognized by global conventions or agreements: Biosphere Reserves, RAMSAR sites, and World Heritage Sites polygon data.
  7. REGIONAL SITES (point) - Sites recognized by regional agreements or directives. Includes European Biogenetic Reserves, Bird Directive and Habitat Directive Sites, and Barcelona and Helsinki Conventions Sites.
  8. REGIONAL SITES (polygon) - Sites recognized by regional agreements or directives. Includes European Biogenetic Reserves, Bird Directive and Habitat Directive Sites, and Barcelona and Helsinki Conventions Sites polygon data (NOT INCLUDED)
  9. NATIONAL_OTHER AREAS (point) - Other protected Areas or reserves being recognized at the national level. This layer also includes proposed areas and areas with incomplete information
  10. NATIONAL_OTHER AREAS (polygon) - Other Protected Areas or reserves being recognized at the national level. This layer also includes proposed areas and areas with incomplete information.
  11. NATIONAL_IUCN PAS (point) - Established Protected Areas of IUCN categories I through VI
  12. NATIONAL_IUCN_PAS (polygon) - Established Protected Areas of IUCN categories I through VI
  13. ELEVATION AND RIVERS (Image) - Image layer showing topographic variations every 500 meters and main rivers
  14. ROADS (Image) - Image layer showing roads classified into main roads and other
  15. LAND AREA (polygon) - Land area of the Earth

National and "Other" PAs IUCN category

The fields were optimized which means that a script was written and ran which found the length of the maximum entry in each column, then a new field of that width was made, and copied the data over, making each column the minimum width it needed to store all the records in that column.

Process to break down the pa's into 4 layers:

In each layer with all the areas, a field called 'statkeep,' was created. If the status did not meet the 'statkeep' criteria, this column got a "N". This includes status of degazetted, proposed, in preparation, recommended, unknown, unset), the rest got a "Y".

Then in each layer with all the areas, a field called 'iucnkeep' was created, if IUCN cat was not I-VI, this column got a "N" (Unset, Unknown, blank), the rest got a "Y".

Then, for each layer, the records with BOTH 'keep' fields as "Y" were copied to the '..iucn1to6..' subset layer, the rest were copied to the '...other areas..' subset layer. This was done for both points and polygons.

In this way, the iucn1to6 layer was not only meeting the criteria for the IUCN code, but the status designation as well. The 'other areas' layers contained everything else.

International Protected Areas

The International parks were converted to shapefiles, one for points and one for polygons.

The 'attribute' table was joined to both of these layers, then the 'source' table was joined to the polygons (only polygons need the 'source' table). The 'URL' table was not joined.

Fields sizes were optimized, negative site codes were deleted, duplicate columns removed.

Base layers

A Tiff image was made that combined elevation and major rivers, called 'elevatio_and_rivers.tif'. This was done because the raw datasets were too large to fit on the CD.

The rivers data used for the Tiff is from ESRI's 'ArcWorld' dataset. The ArcWorld license was checked, it stated that data itself cannot be distributed but hard copies made from the data can be distributed. It was decided that that burning a tiff of the data would count as a 'hard copy' to be able to include these data as rasters. For the image, the 'perennial' rivers and lakes from the ArcWorld dataset were used/taken, rasterized it to the same 1km resolution as the elev. data and burnt it in. The dataset also included intermittent rivers, reservoirs, salt pans, etc. However it was decided to leave these out to make it simpler and the file smaller.

The data agreement still stated that we need to acknowledge the source for a hard copy, therefore anything that included this map would have to give a citation to ESRI.

To convert the global elevation grid data, it was kept into a single tiff, permanently saved using a 500m interval color scheme, i.e. the color changes every 500m change in elevation. This is much smaller than using the grid data itself (29MB as tiff vs. 405MB as grid). Doing this process it lost the ability to have the user query the grid, and displaying a legend. But with the colors as they are gives a sense of the terrain and major features. The tiff is accompanied by a world file (same name, with '.tfw' extension) this file is needed to georeference the image. The elevation data source is the GLOBE elevation data project, 1km resolution.

The final product of the project contains the base data, PA data, ArcExplorer setup file, and projects for:

The projects are named after the type of software it needs. All projects were created with relative paths, so they could be moved anywhere, just by making sure to copy the whole folder, and avoid moving the folders around. As long as the 'data' folder is beneath each project in the directory structure, it should open.

It was found that the AE4 java version .axl (9) does not allow the user to double-click the project shortcut to start the program, therefore to open the project users will have to open AE4, then navigate to the project.

The remaining base data is data from NIMA's VMAP0 1:1,000,000 product. Layers included are:

The roads data in vector format was too big to fit on the CD, so a Tiff image was made of these data instead.

Metadata details for the WDPA 2005 protected areas data layers