What is GeoJSON?

GeoJSON, short for "Geographic JavaScript Object Notation", is an open standard format for encoding geographic data structures. It is based on the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format and is commonly used for representing geographical features, such as points, lines, polygons, and their associated properties.

Key aspects of GeoJSON include:

1. Geometry Types: GeoJSON supports various geometry types, including Point, LineString, Polygon, MultiPoint, MultiLineString, MultiPolygon, and GeometryCollection. These geometries describe different spatial features like points, lines, and polygons.
2. Feature Objects: A GeoJSON Feature object represents a spatially bounded entity along with its properties. It consists of a geometry and an optional set of properties. Features can represent various geographic entities such as cities, rivers, or countries.
3. Feature Collection: A GeoJSON Feature Collection is a container for multiple Feature objects. It allows grouping multiple features into a single object.
4. Coordinate Reference System (CRS): GeoJSON supports the use of both geographic and projected coordinate reference systems. The default CRS is WGS84 (EPSG:4326), which uses longitude and latitude coordinates. Alternative coordinate reference systems can be specified using the "crs" member.
5. Properties: GeoJSON allows the inclusion of additional properties alongside geometries. These properties can be any JSON value and provide metadata or attributes associated with the spatial features.
6. Simple and Lightweight: GeoJSON is designed to be easy to read and write for both humans and machines. It is a lightweight format suitable for transmitting geographic data over the web.
7. Interoperability: GeoJSON is widely supported by various GIS software, libraries, and web mapping frameworks, making it a popular choice for exchanging geographic data between different systems.

Overall, GeoJSON provides a simple and versatile format for representing geographic data, making it well-suited for a wide range of applications, including web mapping, data visualization, and spatial analysis.

What is MVT?

A Mapbox Vector Tile (MVT) file is a file format used for efficiently storing and transmitting vector data for use in web mapping applications. MVT files are a compact binary format that represents geographic features such as points, lines, and polygons as vector tiles. Each tile typically contains a subset of geographic features from a larger dataset, organized in a grid-based system.

The structure of an MVT file consists of several layers, each containing a collection of features. Features within a layer are encoded using Protobuf (Protocol Buffers), a binary serialization format, which allows for efficient storage and transmission of data. Each feature contains geometry and attribute information, encoded in a compact binary format.

MVT files are widely used in web mapping applications, particularly those built on vector tile rendering libraries such as Mapbox GL JS. They offer significant performance benefits compared to traditional raster tiles, as vector data can be styled and rendered dynamically on the client-side, resulting in smoother zooming and panning experiences for users.

Overall, MVT files provide a scalable and efficient solution for delivering vector-based map data over the web, making them a popular choice for modern web mapping applications.