Prepare data for manual import

Course Overview

The LIBECCIO DMSS combines two broad categories of data: information retrieved automatically through a data provider and web APIs, and institutional data that only the destination administrator can supply — tourist flows, accommodation capacity, expenditure, airport and port statistics, weather data, traffic routes, and the geographic boundaries of the destination itself. This second category is the focus of this course.
The course guides destination administrators through the full process of preparing manual data for import: understanding where this data fits within the DMSS architecture, locating and retrieving the relevant datasets from external sources such as Eurostat and the Copernicus Climate Data Store, formatting files correctly according to the DMSS templates, and defining the geographical areas and traffic routes associated with the destination.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Explain how manually-supplied data fits within the overall DMSS data collection architecture, and understand their role and responsibility as a destination administrator in the process.
   Identify the types of data the DMSS accepts (tourist flows, accommodation capacity, expenditure, events, airport and port statistics, climate data, traffic routes, and geographic areas) and the file formats required for each (Excel, CSV, GeoJSON).
2. Retrieve flight, port movement, and climate data from external public sources, including the Eurostat databrowser and the Copernicus Climate Data Store.
3. Apply the DMSS formatting rules correctly: column naming conventions, header placement, location coding, handling of missing values, and avoidance of common errors such as merged cells or embedded totals.
4. Prepare a correctly formatted Excel file for any of the supported institutional data categories, using the provided templates.
5. Define a geographic area of interest using either official administrative codes or a custom GeoJSON polygon, and understand how this connection is essential for any data to be stored and visualised correctly.
6. Define traffic routes using coordinate-based waypoints, including the schedule information needed for periodic data collection.
7. Recognise and avoid common pitfalls, such as historical data referencing administrative boundaries that have since changed (e.g. municipal mergers).

Course Structure

The course is organised into five sections:

• Webinar Recording — the full LIBECCIO data collection and entry webinar, providing context for the rest of the course.
• Where does manual data fit in DMSS? — the role of institutional data and the administrator's responsibility within the system.
• Generating and collecting your data — how to retrieve flight, port, and climate data from external sources.
• Preparing your files correctly — detailed formatting rules for each supported data type.
• Defining your territory — how to define and submit geographic areas and traffic routes.

What Learners Will Take Away

On completion, learners will be equipped to independently prepare accurate, correctly formatted data files for their destination and submit them for integration into the DMSS, reducing back-and-forth corrections and ensuring their region's data is represented reliably across the platform's dashboards.

Audience: Destination administrators responsible for supplying institutional and locally-held tourism data to the LIBECCIO DMSS.

Prerequisites: Basic familiarity with Microsoft Excel (or equivalent spreadsheet software). No prior knowledge of the DMSS platform is required, although completing the introductory DMSS course beforehand is recommended.

Estimated duration: 60–90 minutes, plus the webinar recording (approximately 2 hours 25 minutes).