GeoParquet

GeoParquet viewer in your browser

GeoParquet stores geospatial vector data — points, lines, polygons — inside standard Apache Parquet, combining columnar compression with standardized geo metadata. It is rapidly replacing shapefiles for cloud-native GIS work.

viewparquet treats GeoParquet as a first-class format. Drop a file in and it opens like any Parquet file: browse attribute columns in the grid, see the geometry column and its encoding, read the geo metadata from the file footer, and query everything with DuckDB SQL. Processing is local via DuckDB-WASM, so datasets are never uploaded — no QGIS install, no waiting on a desktop GIS to boot for a quick inspection.

Inspect a GeoParquet file

  1. Open the file

    Drag a .parquet or GeoParquet file into viewparquet, or stream it from S3 or a URL — handy for large open datasets like Overture Maps extracts.

  2. Check schema and geo metadata

    The schema panel shows attribute columns and the geometry column; the metadata view exposes row groups, compression, and the GeoParquet metadata stored in the footer.

  3. Query with SQL

    Filter features by attribute, count by category, or sample rows with full DuckDB SQL, then export results to Parquet, CSV, or JSON.

Common questions

What is a GeoParquet file?

GeoParquet is Apache Parquet with a standardized way of storing geospatial vector data: geometry columns (typically WKB-encoded) plus geo metadata — CRS, geometry types, bounds — in the file footer. Any Parquet reader can open it; geo-aware tools additionally understand the geometry.

How do I open a GeoParquet file without installing QGIS or GDAL?

Open it in viewparquet in your browser. The file parses locally with DuckDB-WASM — no GIS software, no install — and you can inspect attributes, geometry, and metadata, and run SQL immediately.

How is the geometry column stored and displayed?

GeoParquet geometry is usually WKB (Well-Known Binary) inside a Parquet binary column. viewparquet shows the column in the grid and its details in the schema panel, and you can query and filter rows by their attribute columns with SQL.

GeoParquet vs shapefile — why switch?

GeoParquet is columnar, compressed, and has no shapefile limits (no 2 GB cap, no 10-character field names, no multi-file sidecar mess). It also queries fast with engines like DuckDB and works cloud-natively over object storage.

Is my GeoParquet data uploaded when I view it?

No. viewparquet processes files entirely client-side in your browser with DuckDB-WASM. Local files never upload, and files opened from S3 or a URL stream directly from the bucket to your browser.

Related

Try it on your own file

Drop a Parquet, GeoParquet, CSV, or JSON file into viewparquet — browse rows, run DuckDB SQL, and export results, all locally in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.