How to Import GeoJSON into a Map Animation
GeoJSON is an open standard for encoding geographic shapes: points, lines, and polygons. Importing a file into Mapimator lets you animate your own office locations, delivery routes, sales territories, hiking trails, and any other geometry that is not in the default map data. Each kind of shape has its own way in: Import pins from a file, in the menu next to Pin in the toolbar, for points (and CSV files), the Route tool for lines, and the Region tool for polygons. All three need a Pro plan.
5 min read · Updated October 2, 2026
What you'll learn
- Prepare a GeoJSON or CSV file for import
- Import points as pins, a LineString as a route, and a Polygon as a region
- Style the imported layers
- Show or hide layers on specific slides
Step-by-step guide
- 1
Prepare your file
Create or export a .geojson file from any mapping tool: draw shapes at geojson.io (free), export from QGIS, or download one from a public data source. The kind of geometry decides where it goes in. Point and MultiPoint features become pins, a LineString becomes a route, and a Polygon becomes a region. For pins you can also use a CSV file with a header row.
- 2
Import points as pins
Select a slide, then open the arrow next to Pin in the toolbar above the map, choose Import pins from a file, and pick your .geojson, .json, or .csv file. Every point becomes a pin on the selected slide and the camera moves to frame them all. A name, title, or label property becomes the pin's label, and a color property sets its color. For a CSV, the header row needs a latitude column (lat, latitude, or y) and a longitude column (lon, lng, long, longitude, or x), and can add name and color columns. Files with more than 500 pins ask you to confirm first, and rows without usable coordinates are skipped and counted in a message afterward. On a free account Import opens the upgrade prompt.
- 3
Import a LineString as a route
Click Route in the toolbar to add a route. A small bar opens beside it; click More to open its settings on the right. Under Travel Mode, click the last tab, File. A file picker appears below the tabs: choose your .geojson, .gpx, or .kml file. The route redraws along your line, the camera frames it, and a green banner reads Route file loaded with the number of points. Lines with more than 2,000 points are thinned evenly on import. On a free account you see an Upgrade to Upload Route button in place of the picker.
- 4
Import a Polygon as a region
Polygons use the Region tool. First move the map to the area your polygon covers, because the region is placed at its real coordinates and the camera does not move for you. Click Region in the toolbar, then Upload GeoJSON at the top of the Highlight Region dialog, and choose a .json or .geojson file. The region takes the name property of the file's first feature. Files over 25 MB are refused, and very detailed shapes are simplified on import. On a free account the button reads Upgrade to Upload GeoJSON.
- 5
Style the imported layers
Click an imported layer on the map to open its settings on the right. Right after an import a small bar may appear instead; its More button opens them. On the Style tab a region has Fill (color, opacity), Texture (hatch, pattern, flag) and Border (color, opacity, width, glow). A route has Line (color, opacity, width, white outline, and a Path Rounding slider that smooths the line, with 0 giving the raw path). Imported pins are ordinary pins, so change their label, color, and style the same way.
- 6
Show and hide layers across slides
A layer appears on the slide where you added it and stays on screen through the slides after it. Open Elements in the bottom bar, select a slide, and click the eye icon beside an element (Disappear at this slide) to hide it from that slide on. The layer moves to Hidden on this slide, and its eye icon (Show again) brings it back. Routes draw on and regions fade in by default. Adjust the timing under Animation on the Timing tab of each layer's settings.
Interactive walkthrough coming soon
A visual step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots will be available here. In the meantime, follow the written steps above or watch the video tutorials.
Watch video tutorials →Pro tips
- One line per route: if your FeatureCollection contains several LineString features, only the first is imported. Split them into separate files and add one route per file. A single MultiLineString is joined into one continuous path.
- Only the first feature in a region file is imported, so put each territory in its own file.
- The route importer also accepts .gpx and .kml files, which is often easier if you are exporting from a GPS or trail app. The region importer accepts .json and .geojson only.
- Use each tool for the shape it expects. Import and Route show a message listing the supported files when a file has nothing they can use, for example a route file that only holds points.
- For files with thousands of pins, overlapping labels are hidden until you zoom in.
- Use geojson.io to draw and preview your shapes visually before importing. It is free and requires no account.
- For complex national or regional boundaries, search for official GeoJSON datasets from government open-data portals (e.g. data.gov, Eurostat).
- Simplify overly detailed polygons before importing (a tool such as mapshaper.org works). Region files over 25 MB, or with more than 100,000 vertices after Mapimator's own simplification, are refused.