Converting JSON/GeoJSON files to Shapefiles

Question

I have a quick question please about converting JSON/GeoJSON files.

I'm trying to convert some JSON files into something I know how to work with (shapefile, R objects or PostGIS). I'm afraid I have no experience with JSON.

I've tried converting them to shapefiles using ogr2ogr, readOGR in R, and FME. I've tried converting them and uploading them to a PostGIS database using FME. And I've tried converting them to R objects using the rjson package. Nothing works.

ogrinfo can't read them and the couple of online JSON/GeoJSON validation tools I've tried say they are not valid JSON files?

Would someone who understands JSON/GeoJSON mind taking a very quick look at one of the files please, and tell me if they're OK? If they're fine, that's great, I can go away and try and work it out. If not, I can save myself a little head scratching. I'm sure there's probably nothing wrong with them.

Here's a link to one of the files in my Google Drive: Opendata Scotland JSON File

Answer 1

To convert TopoJSON files to Shapefiles using ogr2ogr you'll need to install the geojson-cli package for Node.js using the Node Package Manager (NPM). You can follow the instructions below or read this article on installing both.

# If you need to install Node and NPM...
wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.24/node-v0.10.24.tar.gz
tar -xzvf node-v0.10.24.tar.gz && rm node-v0.10.24.tar.gz && cd node-v0.10.24
./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

# For installing NPM...
wget https://npmjs.org/install.sh
source install.sh

# Finally, install the geojson-cli
sudo npm install -g geojson

With the geojson-cli installed, you can convert your TopoJSON back into GeoJSON, which can then be converted to a Shapefile using ogr2ogr.

# Automatically makes a file with ".topo" removed in filename
geojson my.topo.json
ogr2ogr -f "ESRI Shapefile" my.shp my.json

Alternatively, you can convert your TopoJSON to GeoJSON and back again using this handy web client.