I had some endpoints of a lines that I needed to convert to GeoJSON today. Before I started I do what every GIS professional does, take inventory of the multitude of ways to actually accomplish this. I mentally jotted down the following:
- Esri ArcGIS
- QGIS
- Online tools (csv -> json)
- R
- Python
I started to realize that these are all pretty heavy tools to just accomplish something as simple as a line string to line. We literally pull out a chainsaw when all we want it to trim a little piece of paper. Nothing simple about converting some coordinates into JSON. Enter Turf.js.
turf.linestring – Creates a LineString based on a coordinate array. Properties can be added optionally.
So simple, plus it’s JavaScript already. Honestly I need to keep coming back to Turf.js, the docs cover easily 90% of what we mostly do with GIS every day. I just run Turf.js on my laptop and now I don’t even have to open up QGIS to get my work done. The best part, all JavaScript! So who is writing the Turf.js book right now?