OpenLayers GeoJSON File

Question

I am trying to add a GeoJSON file to my OpenLayers application and I am getting a cross origin request error.

My main question is can a GeoJSON be stored locally (within a folder on my C drive) and be used in OpenLayers?

I am just learning OL and I just want to be able to test some of the capabilities without setting up a web server.

Secondly, if its not possible to bring in a GeoJSON without having a web server or something like jetty running on my computer, is there a better format for bringing in features to OpenLayers?

Are KML files a better option for what I am trying to do?

Answer 1

Because of CORS-issues you cannot(?) load files directly from the harddrive.

But there is a simple solution: if you have python installed, you can use the builtin web server. Simply run

python -mhttp.server <portnumber> 

or

python -mSimpleHTTPServer <portnumber>

, depending on your python version (version 2 uses SimpleHTTPServer and Version 3 uses http.server). Use e.g. 8080 as portnumber, and then browse to localhost:8080. Run the command in the base directory of your webapp. URL paths are then relative to that directory.