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It happens every summer. An Operator rings the regional tourism office: they changed their opening hours in ATDW a week ago, and the destination website still shows the old ones. Or the photo is wrong, or the Product has vanished, or it sits in the wrong category. Someone apologises, someone emails the web agency, and nobody is sure whose problem it is.
The answer is almost always one of seven causes. This explainer walks through how ATDW data reaches a destination website, where each cause sits, and who can fix it. The mechanics apply to any site that takes data from the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW), not only Roam sites.
How a profile becomes a Product
An Operator keeps one profile in ATDW. Your website is a distributor: it requests profiles through ATDW’s API, which ATDW’s developer portal documents as the ATLAS API, including a delta update that returns only what has changed since the last check (ATDW developer portal (opens in a new tab)). Your platform then stores or proxies each profile, maps ATDW’s categories to your site’s own, applies any local edits your team has made, and renders the result as a Product: a page, a map pin and a search result.
Every one of those stages is a place where the profile and the Product can drift apart.
The seven causes
1. The sync hasn’t run yet. Sites check ATDW on a schedule, not continuously. A change made this morning may appear this evening or tomorrow, depending on how often your platform asks for the delta. This is the most common cause, and the only one that fixes itself.
2. It has become a custom copy. A destination site can’t edit an Operator’s ATDW content: ATDW’s distribution licence doesn’t allow distributors to modify it (ATDW Distribution Licence Agreement, June 2024 (opens in a new tab)). A team that wants different words or images can add its own content alongside the Product, or replace the Product with a custom one. A custom Product is a copy, and copies don’t sync: when the Operator updates their ATDW profile, the copy on your site stays as it was. Your platform should show which Products are custom copies; if it can’t, that is a question for whoever runs it.
3. The category mapping sends it elsewhere. ATDW has its own categories and your site has its own menu. A mapping table joins them. When an Operator changes category in ATDW, or ATDW adds a category your mapping doesn’t know, the Product can land in the wrong section or nowhere at all.
4. The profile has expired. Profiles that aren’t kept current can lapse. In NSW, a profile that is not updated at least once every 12 months expires and is removed from websites (Destination NSW (opens in a new tab)). The Operator usually hasn’t left, and needs to log in to ATDW and update the profile.
5. Your site doesn’t show that field. ATDW profiles carry more fields than most sites display. If the Operator added accessibility details or a new accreditation and your template never shows them, the data is there and invisible. ATDW added “EV Aware” and “EV Ready” this year, so check those first (ATDW in 2026).
6. A cache is serving the old page. Websites cache pages and images so they load fast. After a change, a cached copy can linger for a while at the edge, in the image service or in the Visitor’s own browser. Opening the page in a private window is a quick test.
7. The change was made somewhere else. The Operator updated their own website, or a booking platform, or their Google Business Profile, and assumed it flowed to ATDW. ATDW only knows what is entered in ATDW.
A troubleshooting table
Symptom | Most likely cause | Who fixes it |
|---|---|---|
Change made today isn't showing | Sync timing (1) or cache (6) | Wait one sync cycle, then ask your platform |
Nothing changes after the Operator updates ATDW | Custom copy (2) | Your team: switch back to the ATDW Product, or update the copy |
Product in the wrong section | Category mapping (3) | Your platform, or your team if you manage the mapping |
Product has disappeared | Expired profile (4) | The Operator, in ATDW |
Detail in ATDW, not on your site | Field not displayed (5) | Your platform (a template change) |
Old photo after a new upload | Image cache (6) | Usually resolves; ask your platform if it doesn't |
"But I changed it" | Changed outside ATDW (7) | The Operator, in ATDW |
Questions to ask whoever runs your site
- How often does the site check ATDW for changes, and can we force a refresh for one Product?
- Can we see which Products are custom copies, not live ATDW Products?
- Who maintains the category mapping, and how will we hear when ATDW adds a category?
- Which ATDW fields does the site not display today?
- What happens to the site if ATDW is unavailable for a day?
A site that renders Products live from ATDW goes blank when the feed stops; a site that stores a synced copy keeps working. ATDW is also planning a new platform, over the next 12 to 18 months according to its chief executive recruitment brief, and a transition is when sync problems cluster.
On Roam
Roam syncs 40,000+ ATDW Products automatically: descriptions, imagery, contacts, opening hours, accessibility, booking links, ATDW Rooms and Tours, with category mapping to your site’s structure, import by postcode or radius, and out-of-region Operators where you want them. Content is synced into Roam on a schedule, so your site stays up even if ATDW doesn’t. Your team can add custom Products alongside ATDW, and Product tiers let you control the prominence of Products and Operators. See how ATDW sync works.
For what the next generation of ATDW may mean for your site, read what to ask before ATDW changes.
