GeoJSON to Shapefile – How to Convert SimpleGeo Places GeoJSON File to Shapefile?

convertdatageojsonpoint-of-interest

SimpleGeo has recently made their "Places" data set freely available which is GREAT, because now we can use it for our own purposes, even offline. So I went about downloading the 2GB dataset, which contains zipped country files in GeoJSON format.

Here is where my problem begins… when I try loading a country file (*.geojson) directly into QGIS or even converting it to shapefile using ogr2ogr, I end up with just 1 point feature.

Clearly there is more data available in these files that I am not able to "see" or retrieve, so what am I doing wrong? Can someone provide me any suggestions on how to turn these files into useable GIS features?

Updated Question: I really want to convert the geojson file into a shapefile (or similar standard GIS format) for use in a desktop GIS software.

Snippet from SimpleGeo blog on Aug 1, 2011:

"SimpleGeo’s CC0 Places data set is now available for download at no cost. If you’d like to get your hands on 21M+ POIs that cover 63 countries, we’re ready to hand that over to you in one file. The file is about 2GB in .ZIP format, and remember, with the CC0 license, this data becomes yours – free and clear – to do whatever you want. We hope you do awesome things with it! You can download it now by clicking here."

Update:
January 12th, 2012: After SimpleGeo was acquired by Urban Airship in Oct 2011, Urban Aiship said “wind down the availability of the current versions of [SimpleGeo's] Places, Context, and Storage over the next few months.”…The target date for pulling the plug officially will be March 31, 2012. Link

Best Answer

Try wrapping the features in the following:

{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[ 

****ALL THE DATA HERE -- COMMA SEPARATED****

]}

and separating each feature with a comma.

For example, here's the first two features from the IE dataset:

{"geometry": {"type": "Point", "coordinates": [-6.422587, 53.293363]}, "type": "Feature", "id": "SG_41u80gC4971D4Gc0Fv1p8q_53.293363_-6.422587@1308163237", "properties": {"website": "http://www.buongiorno.com", "city": "Dublin", "name": "Buongiorno", "tags": ["mobile", "vas", "community", "social-networking", "connected-devices", "android", "tablets", "smartphones"], "country": "IE", "classifiers": [{"category": "Professional", "type": "Services", "subcategory": "Computer Services"}], "href": "http://api.simplegeo.com/1.0/features/SG_41u80gC4971D4Gc0Fv1p8q_53.293363_-6.422587@1308163237.json", "address": "Lake Drive City West Digital Park", "owner": "simplegeo", "postcode": "3050"}}
{"geometry": {"type": "Point", "coordinates": [-6.250848, 53.339347]}, "type": "Feature", "id": "SG_1dnWbWIg8hX3VyfUKIDRz9_53.339347_-6.250848@1308163237", "properties": {"website": "http://www.simchronise.com", "city": "Dublin", "name": "SIMchronise", "tags": ["mobile-solutions", "mobile-data", "data-synchronisation", "mobile-security", "backup", "restore", "mobile-contacts", "web-2.0-addressbook", "phonebackup"], "country": "IE", "classifiers": [{"category": "Professional", "type": "Services", "subcategory": "Computer Services"}], "href": "http://api.simplegeo.com/1.0/features/SG_1dnWbWIg8hX3VyfUKIDRz9_53.339347_-6.250848@1308163237.json", "address": "78 Merrion Square", "owner": "simplegeo", "postcode": "Dublin2"}}

... and here they are as a GeoJSON FeatureCollection:

{"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[ 
{"geometry": {"type": "Point", "coordinates": [-6.422587, 53.293363]}, "type": "Feature", "id": "SG_41u80gC4971D4Gc0Fv1p8q_53.293363_-6.422587@1308163237", "properties": {"website": "http://www.buongiorno.com", "city": "Dublin", "name": "Buongiorno", "tags": ["mobile", "vas", "community", "social-networking", "connected-devices", "android", "tablets", "smartphones"], "country": "IE", "classifiers": [{"category": "Professional", "type": "Services", "subcategory": "Computer Services"}], "href": "http://api.simplegeo.com/1.0/features/SG_41u80gC4971D4Gc0Fv1p8q_53.293363_-6.422587@1308163237.json", "address": "Lake Drive City West Digital Park", "owner": "simplegeo", "postcode": "3050"}},
{"geometry": {"type": "Point", "coordinates": [-6.250848, 53.339347]}, "type": "Feature", "id": "SG_1dnWbWIg8hX3VyfUKIDRz9_53.339347_-6.250848@1308163237", "properties": {"website": "http://www.simchronise.com", "city": "Dublin", "name": "SIMchronise", "tags": ["mobile-solutions", "mobile-data", "data-synchronisation", "mobile-security", "backup", "restore", "mobile-contacts", "web-2.0-addressbook", "phonebackup"], "country": "IE", "classifiers": [{"category": "Professional", "type": "Services", "subcategory": "Computer Services"}], "href": "http://api.simplegeo.com/1.0/features/SG_1dnWbWIg8hX3VyfUKIDRz9_53.339347_-6.250848@1308163237.json", "address": "78 Merrion Square", "owner": "simplegeo", "postcode": "Dublin2"}}
]}
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