[GIS] Converting large GeoJSON to shapefile

geojsonlarge datasetsqgisshapefile

I have recently downloaded a building footprint GeoJSON file from Microsoft Bing Maps. The file I downloaded was for the entirety of Texas, and is of approximately 2.2 GB file size. They do not provide the data in any smaller sections for the state of Texas.

My issue is that I am unable to convert this GeoJSON into any usable format, such as a shapefile. I have tried to use https://mapshaper.org/ but my file size is too large and the website crashes. Similarly, I have tried to open the GeoJSON in QGIS, but that program crashes as well. I know ArcGIS has the Data Interoperability Toolset, but that requires a special license.

Does anyone have any other techniques to convert a large GeoJSON file?

Best Answer

Shapefile have a size limit of 2GB so trying to convert your 2.2GB geojson probably result in a too big shapefile.

You should try to load it in a database that is capable of handling that amount of data (a simple spatialite database for exemple could be created and managed from qgis and has no size limit)

Also for large file you may run to hardware limitation....

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GML to GeoJSON Conversion

You Can use ogr2ogr. Simplest to install it would be to download fwTools.

the following command will do

ogr2ogr -f "GeoJSON" E:\lakes.geojson e:\lakes.gml

Else if you have QuantumGIS, you can add your GML layer to map and by Right-Clicking the Layer, Select Save As to GeoJSON format.

[GIS] Shapefile to GeoJSON conversion

As said by neogeomat, topojson format is probably a good alternative, but I think you should first apply the following steps :

First of all, you should wander if geometries stored in shapefile could not be generalized -regarding to your online needs? You could, for sure, reduce dramatically the size of your file. To apply the cartographic generalization you can use the online tool mapshaper. You can also try in QGIS or other GIS softwares.
Then, delete unused attributes from the database.
Then, you can also gain some weight by reducing the coordinate precision. Using ogr2ogr, the command will be similar to

ogr2ogr -f "GeoJSON" -lco COORDINATE_PRECISION=2 output.json my_input.shp
And finally convert the file to topojson, with this online tool, for example : http://jeffpaine.github.io/geojson-topojson/

As references, you can read :

In english : http://blog.thematicmapping.org/2012/11/how-to-minify-geojson-files.html
In French this page, which explains how to switch from a 44 Mb shapefile to a 98 kb geojson file.

Best Answer

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GML to GeoJSON Conversion

[GIS] Shapefile to GeoJSON conversion

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