Release Data Imports

January 23, 2026 · View on GitHub

This document describes all the data types that are imported during a Protected Planet release. The release process imports data from the Data Management Portal into Protected Planet's database.

Overview

During a release, data flows through a staging process:

  1. Staging tables are created as copies of live tables
  2. Data is imported into staging tables from portal materialized views
  3. Validation occurs on staging data
  4. Atomic swap moves staging data to live tables (with backups)

Core Data Imports

1. Protected Areas

Source: Portal materialized views (portal_standard_polygons, portal_standard_points)

Tables:

  • protected_areas - Main protected area records (one per site, with first parcel as representative)
  • protected_area_parcels - All parcels for protected areas (including first parcel)

What's imported:

  • Protected area attributes (name, designation, IUCN category, status, etc.)
  • Geometry data (polygons and points)
  • Site relationships and metadata
  • Parcel information for sites with multiple parcels

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::ProtectedArea

  • Attributes: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::ProtectedArea::Attribute
  • Geometry: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::ProtectedArea::Geometry

File locations:

See also: Protected Area Parcels Documentation

2. Sources

Source: Portal materialized view (portal_standard_sources)

Table: sources

What's imported:

  • Data source information for protected areas
  • Source metadata and attribution

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::ProtectedAreaSource

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/portal/importers/source.rb

3. Protected Area Sources (Junction Table)

Source: Derived from protected areas and sources relationships

Table: protected_areas_sources (junction table)

What's imported:

  • Many-to-many relationships between protected areas and their data sources

Importer: Wdpa::Shared::Importer::ProtectedAreasRelatedSource

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/shared/importer/protected_areas_related_source.rb

Statistics Data

4. Country Statistics

Source: CSV files (country_statistics_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv)

Table: country_statistics

What's imported:

  • Country-level protected area coverage statistics
  • Land and marine area percentages
  • EEZ and Territorial Seas coverage
  • Protected area counts (polygons and points)
  • OECM statistics

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::CountryStatistics

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/portal/importers/country_statistics.rb

Note: Statistics are now provided by the Protected Areas Programme team via CSV files, not calculated dynamically. See Statistics Documentation for historical calculation methods.

5. Country Protected Area Geometry Statistics

Source: Portal materialized views (calculated from protected area geometries)

Table: country_statistics (geometry count fields)

What's imported:

  • Protected area polygon count per country
  • Protected area point count per country
  • OECM polygon count per country
  • OECM point count per country

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::CountriesProtectedAreaGeometryStatistics

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/portal/importers/countries_protected_area_geometry_statistics.rb

6. Global Statistics

Source: CSV files (global_statistics_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv)

Table: global_statistics

What's imported:

  • Global-level protected area coverage statistics
  • Worldwide percentages and totals

Importer: Wdpa::Shared::Importer::GlobalStats

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/shared/importer/global_stats.rb

PAME (Protected Area Management Effectiveness) Data

7. PAME Evaluations

Source: CSV files (pame_data_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv)

Table: pame_evaluations

What's imported:

  • Management effectiveness evaluations
  • Assessment metadata and dates
  • Evaluation results and scores

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::Pame

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/portal/importers/pame.rb

8. PAME Sources

Source: Derived from PAME data

Table: pame_sources

What's imported:

  • Source information for PAME evaluations

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::Pame

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/portal/importers/pame.rb

9. PAME Statistics

Source: CSV files (pame_country_statistics_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv)

Table: pame_statistics

What's imported:

  • Country-level PAME statistics
  • Assessment counts per country
  • Assessed protected area counts

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::CountryStatistics (PAME component)

Green List Data

10. Green List Status

Source: CSV files (green_list_sites_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv)

Table: green_list_statuses

What's imported:

  • Green List certification status
  • Certification dates
  • Green List URLs
  • Status information for protected areas

Importer: Wdpa::Portal::Importers::GreenList

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/portal/importers/green_list.rb

See also: Green List Documentation

Additional Data

11. Story Map Links

Source: CSV files or configuration

Table: story_map_links

What's imported:

  • Links to story maps for protected areas
  • Story map metadata

Importer: Wdpa::Shared::Importer::StoryMapLinkList

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/shared/importer/story_map_link_list.rb

Live Table Updates (Non-Staging)

These tables are updated directly in live tables (not through staging):

12. Country Overseas Territories

Table: countries (overseas territories fields)

What's updated:

  • Overseas territory relationships
  • Territory metadata

Importer: Wdpa::Shared::Importer::CountryOverseasTerritories.update_live_table

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/shared/importer/country_overseas_territories.rb

13. BIOPAMA Countries

Table: countries (BIOPAMA fields)

What's updated:

  • BIOPAMA country flags and metadata

Importer: Wdpa::Shared::Importer::BiopamaCountries.update_live_table

File location: lib/modules/wdpa/shared/importer/biopama_countries.rb

Note: As of 05Sep2025, this may not be actively used.

14. Aichi 11 Target

Table: aichi11_targets

What's updated:

  • Aichi Target 11 global statistics
  • Target achievement metrics

Importer: Aichi11Target.update_live_table

File location: app/models/aichi11_target.rb

Note: As of 05Sep2025, this may not be actively used.

Import Order

The importers run in a specific order to respect dependencies:

  1. Sources - Independent, no dependencies
  2. Protected Areas (attributes and geometry) - Core data
  3. Protected Area Sources - Depends on protected areas and sources
  4. Global Statistics - Depends on protected areas
  5. Green List - Depends on protected areas
  6. PAME - Depends on protected areas
  7. Story Map Links - Depends on protected areas
  8. Country Statistics - Depends on protected areas

If protected areas import fails with hard errors, subsequent importers are skipped.

Data Sources

Portal Materialized Views

Data is primarily sourced from materialized views in the Data Management Portal database:

  • portal_standard_polygons - Protected area polygons
  • portal_standard_points - Protected area points
  • portal_standard_sources - Source data
  • Staging versions: staging_portal_standard_polygons, staging_portal_standard_points, etc.

CSV Files

Statistics and related data come from CSV files in lib/data/seeds/:

  • country_statistics_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv
  • global_statistics_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv
  • pame_country_statistics_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv
  • pame_data_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv
  • green_list_sites_<YYYY-MM>-01.csv

See: Release Process Documentation for details on CSV file preparation.

Staging Process

All data (except live table updates) goes through staging:

  1. Staging tables are created with staging_ prefix
  2. Data is imported into staging tables
  3. Validation checks data integrity
  4. Atomic swap moves staging → live (with backups)

This ensures data consistency and allows rollback if needed.