GeoJSON Viewer
Paste or drop GeoJSON to plot points, lines and polygons locally.
By Aryan Khan, Founder & Editor · Updated October 2026
For example, a delivery-radius polygon pasted from an API response appears on the map in under a second — and the neighbourhood it accidentally covers is immediately, visibly obvious.
How to use GeoJSON Viewer
The ten-second test every GeoJSON file deserves:
The GeoJSON Viewer plots pasted or dropped GeoJSON — points, lines and polygons — on a map in your browser, locally. Paste the text or drop the file and see your data's geography at once: the fastest possible answer to 'where does this file actually think things are?'
- 1Paste or open GeoJSON.
- 2Inspect features on the map.
What people use GeoJSON Viewer for
1. Sanity-checking exports
Your pipeline emits GeoJSON; the viewer is the smoke test. Wrong-hemisphere exports confess instantly. Structural doubts go to the GeoJSON Validator.
2. Reviewing someone else's data
A contractor's boundary file, an open-data download, a colleague's attachment — see it before you agree it is what it claims to be.
3. Debugging empty layers
If it plots here, your file is fine and your app has the bug. If it plots in the ocean off West Africa, the file's coordinates are swapped or defaulted — the classic 0,0 neighbourhood.
4. Quick presentations
Sometimes the deliverable is one screenshot of the data on a map. The viewer produces it without a GIS project ever existing.
Worked examples
Data authored lat,lon instead of lon,lat plots mirrored into the wrong ocean — New York data surfaces off Somalia's latitude with longitude's sign games. One look diagnoses what an hour of code review might miss.
All seven RFC 7946 geometry types render — Points through GeometryCollections. A Feature with null geometry renders nothing, correctly: there is nothing to draw, and the properties still exist for the table tools.
Reading what you see
The plot is a diagnostic instrument — common sights and their meanings.
| You see | It usually means |
|---|---|
| Your shapes, right place | Healthy file — proceed |
| Shapes in the ocean, mirrored | Latitude/longitude swapped in coordinates |
| Everything at one point near 0,0 | Coordinates missing or defaulted |
| Nothing at all | Invalid JSON, empty collection, or null geometries |
| Shapes at the wrong scale/place | Source was not WGS84 lon/lat — a projected file in disguise |
The viewer assumes RFC 7946: WGS84 longitude/latitude. Files in projected coordinates (metres) plot as garbage near the origin — recognisably, which is itself the diagnosis.
Validate, inspect and convert GeoJSON privately
Drop a .geojson file — or paste raw GeoJSON text — and this workbench validates the structure, reports the feature count by geometry type, draws everything on an interactive map and lists every feature for property inspection on click. Points, MultiPoints, lines, MultiLines, polygons, MultiPolygons and GeometryCollections are all supported, exactly per spec. Invalid JSON gets a precise, human error (trailing commas and unquoted keys are named offenders) instead of a silent failure.
The privacy guarantee is architectural: parsing happens in your browser via FileReader and DOMParser, and the file never touches a server — check the network tab to verify. When you need other ecosystems, one-click exports convert to KML or GPX with names and properties preserved as far as each format allows, and GeoJSON re-download normalises what you pasted. Bounding-box zoom frames any dataset instantly. It is the first stop for QA on exports from QGIS, Mapshaper, Felt or any API you trust slightly less than you should.
How to interpret the result
The most common errors come from using a correct result to answer the wrong geographic question. Keep these points in mind for GeoJSON Viewer:
- For big CSVs, fix the coordinate columns first and map a sample before mapping everything: auto-detection is good but not magical, and one swapped column renders a beautiful map of the wrong ocean.
- Keep the original file even after converting: GPX→GeoJSON drops timestamps' context, KML→GeoJSON drops styling, and every pipeline has a lossy edge. Originals are cheap; re-acquisition is not.
Limits & appropriate use
File formats support different combinations of geometry, timestamps, properties and styling. Converting between them can lose information, so keep the original and inspect the output before sharing or using it.
Capabilities differ by workspace: check the accepted format and the operations actually offered on this page. Some tools process files locally but may request map tiles or other services over the network; large or specialised datasets may require dedicated GIS software.
- Cadastral/legal formats → jurisdictional land-registry exports.
- Point clouds and rasters → desktop GIS with proper spatial indexes.
- Certified tracks (evidence, insurance) → chain-of-custody originals, untouched.
Data & methodology
Browser JSON parsing accepts supported GeoJSON features for map display; exports may not preserve every format-specific property or geometry.
For source details, licences and model limitations, see Data Sources and Methodology.
Key terms worth knowing
- Bounding box
- The minimal rectangle enclosing a dataset; the instant sanity check.
- GeoJSON
- JSON geographic format; the web-mapping native dialect.
Editorial guidance: MapBench explains the method and limitations so the tool can be used as a transparent reference, not as a black-box answer. For legal boundaries, safety-critical routing, surveying, engineering, regulated decisions or official statistics, verify the result with the responsible authority or a qualified professional.
Category: Map Files. Results are intended for everyday analysis and planning unless a page explicitly states otherwise.
Method, assumptions & limits
- This tool’s method
- Browser JSON parsing accepts supported GeoJSON features for map display; exports may not preserve every format-specific property or geometry.
- Before relying on the answer
- Inspect the accepted file format and the fields reported by this specific tool. Keep a copy of the original file before converting or editing it.
- What the result cannot establish
- File geometry and recorded timestamps can be incomplete. Verify row or point counts and inspect the exported file in your target application.
Coverage: Worldwide. Search, basemap and external data requests may use third-party services; browser-based does not mean every operation is offline. Read the source and licence notes, calculation methodology and privacy policy. If a result looks inconsistent, report a correction with the inputs and mode used.
Frequently asked questions
Clear answers about the calculation, accuracy and appropriate use.
Uploaded?
No — stays in the browser.
Is my uploaded map file sent to a server?
Where a page says browser-first or local processing, the file is handled in your browser. Check the individual tool note for any external-service dependency.
What should I do if a file will not load?
Check that the file type is supported, the structure is valid and the file is within the stated size limits. Converting to GeoJSON, GPX, KML or CSV can also help.
Will converting a file preserve every property?
Not always. Geographic formats support different geometry, style and metadata features, so inspect the output before relying on it.
Which geometry types render?
All of them: Point, MultiPoint, LineString, MultiLineString, Polygon, MultiPolygon and GeometryCollection, as Features or bare geometries.
Can I view properties too?
Select a feature from the list to inspect up to ten properties in a map popup.
Does it handle huge files?
Limits depend on browser memory and rendering performance. Large datasets may be slow or fail; no specific capacity is guaranteed.
Styling — colours and weights?
The viewer draws a clear default style so the data reads immediately. Publication styling is a GIS or web-map-library task; this page answers 'where is it?'
My file plots upside-down-ish / mirrored.
Swapped coordinate order (see the table). Fix the source order to [longitude, latitude] and re-plot — do not mirror the data to match the bug.
TopoJSON or KML?
Not GeoJSON — convert first. This site's file family covers KML workflows on their own pages.
Can I measure on the plot?
Viewing is the scope here; the site's distance and area tools measure coordinates properly once the file checks out.
Related tools and resources
Validate it: the GeoJSON Validator; slim it: the GeoJSON Simplify Helper; flatten it: the GeoJSON to CSV Converter.
More free tools
Sources, methodology & editorial trust
- ✓ Browser-first processing where supported
- ✓ External sources are documented
- ✓ No account required for public tools
- ✓ Review data sources
Calculations are documented with their assumptions, limitations and source context rather than presented as unexplained answers.
Reviewed and maintained by Aryan Khan, Founder & Editor of MapBench.
Part of our gis files hub
GeoJSON Viewer sits in the gis files cluster, alongside 64 other tools that answer neighbouring questions with different methods or datasets. It also belongs to the GeoJSON tools family.
You may also need
When this answer is only part of the job, these clusters cover the next step.
Read the guide behind this tool
How to Open a GeoJSON File and Convert It to Something Else — What to do with a .geojson file you cannot open, how to check it is valid, and which conversions keep which information.