WAML Pre-Conference Workshop: OpenIndexMaps

GeoJSON

GeoJSON is a geospatial data format designed for use on the web. Like other formats based on JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), it is a lightweight data-interchange format that is easy for a computer to parse, but is also relatively human-readable.

GeoJSON provides a standard way to store geospatial location information. It was originally released in 2008 as a community-developed specification, and was quickly adopted by many geospatial projects. It was later revised to become an official IETF specification (RFC 7946) in 2016. One of the major changes was that, whereas the 2008 allowed arbitrary coordinate systems, the 2016 standard mandates WGS84 (lon, lat) coordinates.

Example of a point in GeoJSON:

{
  "type": "Feature",
  "properties": {
    "name": "Walter C. Koerner Library",
    "address": "1958 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada"
  },
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [
      -123.25509914782164,
      49.26669325071529
    ]
  }
}

Example of a polygon in GeoJSON:

{
  "type": "Feature",
  "properties": {
    "name": "Walter C. Koerner Library",
    "address": "1958 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada" 
  },
  "geometry": {
    "type": "Polygon",
    "coordinates": [
      [
        [-123.255467, 49.266867],
        [-123.2550320, 49.266320],
        [-123.254822, 49.266392],
        [-123.255256, 49.266948],
        [-123.255467, 49.266867]
      ]
    ]
  }
}

Things to know about GeoJSON:


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