geospatial-map

Geospatial Mapping

Spatial mistakes do not raise errors. A bounding box computed over malformed features, or a place name the model invented coordinates for, produces a map that renders perfectly and is wrong.

Validate before anything spatial

clio-geo:validate_geojson checks the supported GeoJSON structure. Run it before spatial operations, then inspect coordinate ranges, CRS and geometric validity. A successful structural check does not establish valid topology or correct CRS.

Then clio-geo:inspect_geojson for geometry types and counts, feature count, property keys and bounding box in one call — the fastest way to find out what a file actually holds. clio-geo:summarize_geojson gives the readable version with sample properties.

Two bounding-box tools, and they can disagree

clio-geo:feature_bbox and clio-geo:bounding_box both return [min_lon, min_lat, max_lon, max_lat].

On a clean file they agree. On a file with malformed geometries they need not, because they differ in what they include. Validate first and the question does not arise; skip validation and you have a box you cannot account for.

They do not even take the same argument. feature_bbox wants source; bounding_box wants geojson. That split runs through the whole server: the four tools ported in from the old geojson server (inspect_geojson, validate_geojson, summarize_geojson, feature_bbox) take source, while geo's own tools take geojson, data_path, layers or query. Passing the wrong one returns a missing-required-argument error that reads as though the file were absent.

clio-geo:bounding_box also takes buffer_km for padding, which is what you want when the box is being used to query a region rather than describe one.

Never guess coordinates

clio-geo:geocode looks a place name up against OpenStreetMap Nominatim and returns real coordinates. Writing coordinates from memory is a fabricated result that looks exactly like a real one.

Geocoding is ambiguous by nature — several matches come back for a name. Pick using the returned metadata, and say which one was used.