GeoJSON Formatter & Validator
Instantly format, validate and preview GeoJSON data on a map; minify, copy or download in one click. Everything runs in your browser — your data never leaves it.
Related Tools
What Is GeoJSON and Why Format It?
GeoJSON is an open standard format (RFC 7946) for encoding geographic data structures using JSON. It represents points, lines, polygons, and feature collections with associated properties — making it the de-facto interchange format for web mapping applications and spatial APIs. Because GeoJSON is plain text, it is often received or stored in a compact, unreadable form that is difficult to inspect or debug by eye.
Formatting — also called "beautifying" or "prettifying" — adds consistent indentation and line breaks so you can read the structure clearly, spot missing brackets, or confirm that coordinate arrays are in the correct longitude/latitude order required by the spec. A proper GeoJSON formatter does this instantly without requiring any local software.
Key Features
- Format & Beautify: Indent and prettify any raw or minified GeoJSON into clean, human-readable output.
- RFC 7946 Validation: Checks JSON syntax, geometry type names, coordinate order, and FeatureCollection structure.
- Minify / Compress: Strip whitespace to produce the smallest possible file for API payloads and production web maps.
- Live Map Preview: Valid GeoJSON is immediately rendered on an interactive map so you can confirm geometries visually.
Who Uses a GeoJSON Formatter?
GIS analysts, web developers, and data engineers all work with GeoJSON daily. A developer building a web mapping application needs to inspect API responses that arrive as a single compressed line. A GIS specialist exporting features from ArcGIS may want to verify the geometry structure before handing data to a back-end team. A data scientist loading spatial boundaries needs to confirm coordinate precision and property field names. This formatter serves all of these workflows without requiring any installation.
Safe and Client-side
Just like the Map Viewer, this tool processes data securely in your browser. Your data is never uploaded to any server. If you need to convert spatial data between formats, try our Shapefile to GeoJSON converter or the CSV to GeoJSON tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does GeoJSON validation check?
The tool validates compliance with the RFC 7946 GeoJSON standard: valid JSON syntax, correct geometry type values (Point, LineString, Polygon, MultiPolygon, etc.), coordinate format (longitude before latitude), Feature and FeatureCollection structure, and presence of required fields such as "type" and "geometry".
Why minify GeoJSON?
Minification removes unnecessary whitespace and line breaks to reduce file size. This speeds up data transfer in API responses and web mapping applications — especially useful for large GeoJSON files with many features or dense polygon rings where whitespace can account for 30–50% of total file size.
What is the difference between GeoJSON and Shapefile?
GeoJSON is a text-based, lightweight format readable by any text editor and natively supported in web applications. ESRI Shapefile is a binary multi-file format (.shp, .dbf, .shx, etc.) widely used in desktop GIS software. GeoJSON is preferred for web APIs and spatial data exchange; Shapefile remains common in enterprise GIS workflows. You can view both formats in our Map Viewer.
Is my GeoJSON data safe when I use this tool?
Yes. All formatting, validation, and map rendering happens entirely inside your web browser using client-side JavaScript. Your GeoJSON data is never sent to any server or stored anywhere. This makes the tool safe to use with sensitive survey data, proprietary boundaries, or confidential location datasets.
What coordinate system does GeoJSON use?
RFC 7946 specifies that all GeoJSON coordinates must be in WGS 84 geographic coordinates (EPSG:4326), with longitude listed before latitude in each coordinate pair. Other coordinate reference systems are not compliant with the standard, although many tools accept them. If your data is in a projected system like UTM, it should be reprojected to WGS 84 before being stored as GeoJSON.
What GeoJSON geometry types are supported?
All seven RFC 7946 geometry types are supported: Point, MultiPoint, LineString, MultiLineString, Polygon, MultiPolygon, and GeometryCollection. Features and FeatureCollections containing any mix of these types will be formatted, validated, and displayed on the preview map simultaneously.