Most people meet a GeoJSON, KML or GPX file when someone sends them one, and then have to work out how to look at it. This viewer is the short answer: drop the file onto the map and it is drawn straight away, with no software to install and no account to create.
Several files can sit on the map at once, each as its own layer. That is the difference between viewing a file and actually working with it — you can put a boundary under a set of points, recolour one so it stands out, hide another while you look at the rest, and export whichever pieces you want back out again.
How it works
The file is read in your browser and drawn with a mapping library on the client side. It is never sent to a server, which is why the viewer stays fast and why it is safe to open data you would rather not upload anywhere. Files up to 100 MB open on a free account, and up to 300 MB on a paid plan.
Files holding a modest number of features are broken out into individually selectable pieces, so you can click one shape and see just it highlighted, jump the map to it, or read the properties attached to it in an attribute table. Past a feature count that depends on your plan, the file is drawn as one combined layer instead, because too many separately clickable shapes would slow the map down. Note that the threshold counts features, not megabytes — it is separate from the file size limits above.
How to use the Map Data Viewer
- 1
Open the workspace
Open the MapGO workspace and pick Map from the Upload tools. That is the panel that takes a file and draws it straight onto the map.
- 2
Drop in your file
Drag a .geojson, .json, .kml or .gpx file onto the drop zone, or click it to browse. The map zooms to fit whatever the file contains.
- 3
Stack and style your layers
Add more files the same way. The Layers panel lists everything on the map, and lets you show or hide a layer, give it a different colour, rename it or zoom to it.
- 4
Inspect the data
Click a feature to select it, or open the attribute table to see and edit the properties behind the geometry.
- 5
Export what you need
Export a single layer as a GeoJSON file from the Layers panel, or use the header's copy and download buttons to take the whole map as one GeoJSON file.
What people use it for
Checking a file someone sent you
Confirm that a GeoJSON or KML export actually contains what it should, and that the coordinates land where you expect, before passing it on.
GPS tracks and routes
Open a GPX track from a watch, handheld unit or route planner and see the whole trip drawn on a satellite, terrain or plain basemap.
Comparing datasets
Stack boundaries, sites and routes as separate layers, recolour them so they read clearly, and toggle each one on and off.
Quick QA before publishing
Spot empty geometries, misplaced features and wrong property values on the map instead of scrolling through raw text.
Frequently asked questions
- Which file formats can I open on the map?
- GeoJSON (.geojson or .json), KML and GPX. For anything else — Shapefile, GeoPackage, DXF, GML and more — run it through the MapGO file converter first and open the GeoJSON it produces.
- Can I view a Shapefile?
- Not directly on the map. Convert the zipped Shapefile to GeoJSON with the file converter, which handles it on the server, then drop the result onto the map. The converter link is below.
- Is my file uploaded anywhere?
- No. The map viewer reads the file inside your browser and it never leaves your machine. The size limit exists to protect your browser tab, not our servers.
- How big a file can I open?
- Up to 100 MB on a free account and up to 300 MB on a paid plan. Whether the features inside it become individually clickable is a separate question, decided by how many features the file holds rather than by its size: past a per-plan feature count the file is drawn as one combined layer so the map stays responsive.
- Can I get the data back out?
- Yes. Any layer can be exported as a GeoJSON file, and the whole map — every layer merged into one collection — can be copied or downloaded as GeoJSON in a single step.