Geospatial data structures (points, geometry, features, meta) and parsers (GeoJSON, WKT) for Dart.
Roadmap
β οΈ Status: After the geocore
version 0.10.0 (published at 2022-08-21), no
new features has been added to this package.
This package shall be officially discontinued by the end of 2025.
β All key features, and even more, has been implemented to other packages with code published on the same geospatial repository on GitHub.
π‘ You can find these new packages, geobase and geodata, also on pub.dev.
π Comprehensive guidance on how to use those packages is available on the geospatial.navibyte.dev documentation website.
Features
Key features of the geocore
package:
- π geospatial data structures (geometry, features and metadata)
- π geographic coordinates (longitude-latitude)
- πΊοΈ projected coordinates (cartesian XYZ)
- π· geometry primitives (bounds or bbox, point, line string, polygon)
- 𧩠multi geometries (multi point, multi line string, multi polygon, geometry collections)
- β feature objects (with id, properties and geometry) and feature collections
- π GeoJSON data parser
- πͺ§ WKT (Well-known text representation of geometry) data parser
Usage
The package requires at least Dart SDK 2.17, and it supports all Dart and Flutter platforms.
Add the dependency in your pubspec.yaml
:
dependencies:
geocore: ^0.10.1
Import it:
import `package:geocore/geocore.dart`
There are also partial packages containing only a certain subset. See the Packages section below.
Introduction
Geometry primitives supported by this library package (with samples adapted from the samples of the Wikipedia page about WKT):
Also multipart geometry classes are provided:
Geometry types introduced above are based on the Simple Feature Access - Part 1: Common Architecture standard by The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
Spatial bounds:
Bounds.of(min: Point2(x: 10.1, y: 10.1), max: Point2(x: 20.2, y: 20.2));
Bounds.of(min: Point3i(x: 10, y: 10, z: 3), max: Point3i(x: 20, y: 20, z: 5));
GeoBounds.bboxLonLat(-20.3, 50.2, 20.5, 60.9);
A feature (a geospatial entity) contains an id, a geometry and properties:
Feature(
id: 'ROG',
geometry: GeoPoint3(lon: -0.0014, lat: 51.4778, elev: 45.0),
properties: {
'place': 'Greenwich',
'city': 'London',
},
);
Parsing GeoJSON data:
final geoJsonParser = GeoJSON().parserGeographic(GeoPoint3.coordinates);
geoJsonParser.feature(
'''
{
"type": "Feature",
"id": "ROG",
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [-0.0014, 51.4778, 45.0]
},
"properties": {
"place": "Greenwich",
"city": "London"
}
}
''',
);
Parsing WKT (Well-known text representation of geometry) data:
// Parse using specific point factories for coordinates with and without M
final wktParser = WKT().parser(Point2.coordinates, Point2m.coordinates);
wktParser.parse('POINT (100.0 200.0)'); // => Point2;
wktParser.parse('POINT M (100.0 200.0 5.0)'); // => Point2m;
// Projected (or cartesian) coordinates (Point2, Point2m, Point3 or Point3m)
WKT().parserProjected().parse('LINESTRING (200.1 500.9, 210.2 510.4)');
// Geographic coordinates (GeoPoint2, GeoPoint2m, GeoPoint3 or GeoPoint3m)
WKT().parserGeographic().parse(
'POLYGON ((40 15, 50 50, 15 45, 10 15, 40 15),'
' (25 25, 25 40, 35 30, 25 25))',
);
User guide
Cartesian or projected points
The abstract base class for all point geometries is Point
. It's implemented by
following concrete classes to represent projected or cartesian (XYZ)
coordinates with an optional measure (m) coordinate:
Class | Coordinates | x | y | z | m |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Point2 |
num |
+ | + | ||
Point2m |
num |
+ | + | + | |
Point3 |
num |
+ | + | + | |
Point3m |
num |
+ | + | + | + |
Point2i |
int |
+ | + | ||
Point3i |
int |
+ | + | + |
Points are created by geometry parsers or point factory implementations. Each point geometry class has also multiple factory constructors.
For example Point3
can be created in many ways:
// Projected point with X, Y and Z coordinates in two ways.
Point3(x: 708221.0, y: 5707225.0, z: 45.0);
Point3.xyz(708221.0, 5707225.0, 45.0);
// The same point created from `Iterable<num>`.
Point3.from([708221.0, 5707225.0, 45.0]);
// The same point parsed from WKT compatible text.
// Actually WKT representation would be : "POINT (708221.0 5707225.0 45.0)",
// but this parser takes only coordinate data between paranthesis.
Point3.parse('708221.0 5707225.0 45.0');
// The `parse` method throws when text is invalid, but `tryParse` returns null
// in such case. This can be utilized for fallbacks.
Point3.tryParse('nop') ?? Point3.parse('708221.0 5707225.0 45.0');
// The same point parsed using the WKT parser for projected geometries.
// Here `wktProjected` is a global constant for a WKT factory implementation.
WKT().parserProjected().parse('POINT Z (708221.0 5707225.0 45.0)');
All other point classes have similar constructors.
If you have a point instance of one of the point classes, then there are some methods that help to create another instance of the same type.
// A sample point with x, y, z and m coordinates.
final source = Point3m.xyzm(708221.0, 5707225.0, 45.0, 123.0);
// Return new points of the same type by changing only some coordinate values.
source.copyWith(m: 150.0);
source.copyWith(x: 708221.7, z: 46.2);
// Returns a point of the same type, but no previous values are preserved
// (result here is Point3m.xyzm(1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 0.0)) with default 0.0 for m).
source.newWith(x: 1.0, y: 2.0, z: 3.0);
// This returns also Point3m.xyzm(1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 0.0)).
source.newFrom([1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 0.0]);
Geographic points
The base class for all geographic point geometries is GeoPoint
, that extends
also Point
. Geographic coordinates are longitude (lon
) and latitude (lat
),
in degrees and preferable always in this order. Elevation (elev
) in meters and
measure (m
) coordinates are optional.
Class | Coordinates | lon (x) | lat (y) | elev (z) | m |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GeoPoint2 |
double |
+ | + | ||
GeoPoint2m |
double |
+ | + | + | |
GeoPoint3 |
double |
+ | + | + | |
GeoPoint3m |
double |
+ | + | + | + |
In the context of this package geographic coordinate axes are related with axes
defined in the base Point
-class:
- Longitude:
lon
==x
- Latitude:
lat
==y
- Elevation:
elev
==z
See below how to create GeoPoint3m
instances (other classes in similar ways):
// Geographic point with longitude, latitude, elevation and measure.
GeoPoint3m(lon: -0.0014, lat: 51.4778, elev: 45.0, m: 123.0);
GeoPoint3m.lonLatElevM(-0.0014, 51.4778, 45.0, 123.0);
// Someone might want to represent latitude before longitude, it's fine too.
GeoPoint3m.latLonElevM(51.4778, -0.0014, 45.0, 123.0);
// When creating from value array, the order is: lon, lat, elev, m.
GeoPoint3m.from([-0.0014, 51.4778, 45.0, 123.0]);
// Also here it's possible to parse from WKT compatible text.
GeoPoint3m.parse('-0.0014 51.4778 45.0 123.0');
// The WKT parser for geographic coordinates parses full representations.
WKT().parserGeographic().parse('POINT ZM (-0.0014 51.4778 45.0 123.0)');
Point series
Other geometries are composed of point geometries in different structures.
PointSeries
is a collection class with a series of points and it can represent
a geometry path, a line string, an outer or inner linear ring of a polygon,
a multi point, a vertex array or any any other collection for points.
// A point series of `Point2` composed of list of points that are of `Point2`
// or it's sub classes.
PointSeries<Point2>.from([
Point2(x: 10.0, y: 10.0),
Point2(x: 20.0, y: 20.0),
Point2m(x: 30.0, y: 30.0, m: 5.0),
Point3(x: 40.0, y: 40.0, z: 40.0),
Point3m(x: 50.0, y: 50.0, z: 50.0, m: 5.0),
]);
// Making a point series of `Point3` from a list of a list of nums.
PointSeries.make(
// three points each with x, y and z coordinates
[
[10.0, 11.0, 12.0],
[20.0, 21.0, 22.0],
[30.0, 31.0, 32.0],
],
// This is `PointFactory` that converts `Iterable<num>` to a point instance,
// in this example using a factory creating `Point3` instances.
Point3.coordinates,
);
// Parsing a point series of `GeoPoint` from WKT compatible text with
// `GeoPoint3` as a concrete point class.
PointSeries<GeoPoint>.parse(
'10.0 11.0 12.0, 20.0 21.0 22.0, 30.0 31.0 32.0',
GeoPoint3.coordinates,
);
The PointSeries
class is not extending the Geometry
class, but it's used by
actual geometry classes, described in following sections, as a building block.
Line strings
A line string contains a chain of points, implemented using PointSeries
.
You can use LineString.any
factory constructor to create a line string with
any chain, or LineString.ring
constructor to create a linear ring with a
closed chain. Both constructors simply take an instance of PointSeries
.
Or below are examples of more direct ways to construct line strings:
// This makes a a line string of `Point3m` from a list of points.
LineString.make(
[
[10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 5.1],
[20.0, 21.0, 22.0, 5.2],
[30.0, 31.0, 32.0, 5.3],
],
Point3m.coordinates,
);
// Using the WKT factory produces the same result as the previous sample.
WKT().parserProjected().parse<Point3m>(
'LINESTRING ZM(10.0 11.0 12.0 5.1, 20.0 21.0'
' 22.0 5.2, 30.0 31.0 32.0 5.3)',
);
// Also this sample, parsing from WKT compatible text, gives the same result.
LineString.parse(
'10.0 11.0 12.0 5.1, 20.0 21.0 22.0 5.2, 30.0 31.0 32.0 5.3',
Point3m.coordinates,
);
Polygons
A polygon contains one exterior boundary and optional interior boundaries
(representing holes). All boundaries are linear rings implemented as
LineString
instances each with a closed chain of points as a ring.
The default constructor of Polygon
takes a series of LineString
instances,
with at least an exterior boundary at index 0.
Other ways to construct polygons are familiar from previous samples:
// Making a polygon of `GeoPoint2` from a list of a list of a list of nums:
Polygon.make(
[
// this is an exterior boundary or an outer ring
[
[35, 10],
[45, 45],
[15, 40],
[10, 20],
[35, 10]
],
// this is an interior boundary or an inner ring representing a hole
[
[20, 30],
[35, 35],
[30, 20],
[20, 30]
],
],
GeoPoint2.coordinates,
);
// The same polygon geometry as above, but parsed from a WKT compatible text.
Polygon.parse(
'(35 10, 45 45, 15 40, 10 20, 35 10) (20 30, 35 35, 30 20, 20 30)',
GeoPoint2.coordinates,
);
Multi geometries
Multi points, multi line strings and multi polygons can also be constructed in similar ways described already for other geometries. Also parsed from text:
// A multi point of `GeoPoint2` with four lon-lat points.
MultiPoint.parse('10 40, 40 30, 20 20, 30 10', GeoPoint2.coordinates);
// A multi line string of `Point2` with two line strings.
MultiLineString.parse(
'(10 10, 20 20, 10 40), (40 40, 30 30, 40 20, 30 10)',
Point2.coordinates,
);
// A multi polygon of `GeoPoint2` with two polygon (both with exterior
// boundary without holes).
MultiPolygon.parse(
'((30 20, 45 40, 10 40, 30 20)), ((15 5, 40 10, 10 20, 5 10, 15 5))',
GeoPoint2.coordinates,
);
There is also GeometryCollection
:
// A geometry collection can contain any other geometry types. Items for such
// a collection can be constructed using different ways.
GeometryCollection([
// A point with integer values using a constructor with named parameters.
Point2(x: 40, y: 10),
// A line string made from a list of points (each a list of nums).
LineString.make(
[
[10, 10],
[20, 20],
[10, 40]
],
Point2.coordinates,
),
// A polygon parsed from WKT compatible text.
Polygon.parse('(40 40, 20 45, 45 30, 40 40)', Point2.coordinates)
]);
// A geometry collection can also be parsed from WKT text.
WKT().parserProjected().parse<Point2>(
'''
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (
POINT (40 10),
LINESTRING (10 10, 20 20, 10 40),
POLYGON ((40 40, 20 45, 45 30, 40 40)))
''',
);
Spatial bounds
Bounding boxes or spatial bounds objects can be represented in 2D or 3D, and with an optional measure coordinates.
Bounds samples with projected or cartesian coordinates:
// Bounds (2D) or bounding box from minimum and maximum 2D projected points.
Bounds.of(min: Point2(x: 10.0, y: 10.0), max: Point2(x: 20.0, y: 20.0));
// Bounds (3D) made from a list of list of nums.
Bounds.make(
[
[10.0, 10.0, 10.0],
[20.0, 20.0, 20.0]
],
Point3.coordinates,
);
// Bounds (3D with measure) parsed from WKT compatible text.
Bounds.parse('10.0 10.0 10.0 5.0, 20.0 20.0 20.0 5.0', Point3m.coordinates);
Bounds samples with geographic coordinates:
// Geographical bounds (-20.0 .. 20.0 in longitude, 50.0 .. 60.0 in latitude).
GeoBounds.bboxLonLat(-20.0, 50.0, 20.0, 60.0);
// The same bounds created of 2D geographic point instances.
GeoBounds.of(
min: GeoPoint2(lon: -20.0, lat: 50.0),
max: GeoPoint2(lon: 20.0, lat: 60.0),
);
Geospatial features
According to the OGC Glossary a geospatial feature is a digital representation of a real world entity. It has a spatial domain, a temporal domain, or a spatial/temporal domain as one of its attributes. Examples of features include almost anything that can be placed in time and space, including desks, buildings, cities, trees, forest stands, ecosystems, delivery vehicles, snow removal routes, oil wells, oil pipelines, oil spill, and so on.
Below is an illustration of features in a simple vector map. Wells are features with a point geometry, rivers with a line string (or polyline) geometry, and finally lakes are features with a polygon geometry. Features normally contain also an identifier and other attributes (or properties) along with a geometry.
The Feature
class of this package has geospatial geometry
and bounds
as fields along with id
and properties
fields.
// Geospatial feature with an identification, a point geometry and properties.
Feature(
id: 'ROG',
geometry: GeoPoint3(lon: -0.0014, lat: 51.4778, elev: 45.0),
properties: {
'title': 'Royal Observatory',
'place': 'Greenwich',
'city': 'London',
'isMuseum': true,
'measure': 5.79,
},
);
Naturally, the geometry
field could also contain other geometries described
earlier, not just points.
Parsing GeoJSON data
GeoJSON, as described by Wikipedia, is an open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, along with their non-spatial attributes.
See also the official GeoJSON website. As specified by the referenced RFC 7946 standard, all GeoJSON geometries use WGS 84 geographic coordinates. Alternative coordinate reference systems can also be used when involved parties have a prior arrangement of using other systems.
Below is an example with sample GeoJSON data and code to parse it.
Imports:
import 'package:geocore/parse.dart';
The sample code:
// sample GeoJSON data
const sample = '''
{
"type": "FeatureCollection",
"features": [
{
"type": "Feature",
"id": "ROG",
"geometry": {
"type": "Point",
"coordinates": [-0.0014, 51.4778, 45.0]
},
"properties": {
"title": "Royal Observatory",
"place": "Greenwich",
"city": "London"
}
}
]
}
''';
// parse FeatureCollection using a GeoJSON parser with geographic coordinates
final format = GeoJSON();
final parser = format.parserGeographic(geographicPoints);
final fc = parser.featureCollection(sample);
// loop through features and print id, geometry and properties for each
for (final f in fc.features) {
print('Feature with id: ${f.id}');
print(' geometry: ${f.geometry}');
print(' properties:');
for (final key in f.properties.keys) {
print(' $key: ${f.properties[key]}');
}
}
At this stage the package supports reading following GeoJSON elements:
- FeatureCollection
- Feature
- Point, LineString and Polygon
- MultiPoint, MultiLineString and MultiPolygon
- GeometryCollection
Parsing WKT data
Well-known text representation of geometry (WKT) is a text markup language for representing vector geometry objects. It's specified by the Simple Feature Access - Part 1: Common Architecture standard.
WKT representations for coordinate data has already been discussed on previous
sections introducing geometry objects. Geometry classes have factory
constructors that allows parsing coordinate values from WKT compatible text
(like a point using Point2.parse('100.0 200.0')
factory).
When parsing full WKT geometry text representations, with a geometry type id and
coordinate values, the WktFactory
class can be used. There are two main parser
implementations for different use cases:
Parser factory | Use cases |
---|---|
WKT().parserProjected() |
Parsing geometries with projected or cartesian coordinates. |
WKT().parserGeographic() |
Parsing geometries with geographic coordinates (like WGS 84). |
Other custom parsers for WKT format can be created via WKT().parser()
method.
Imports:
import 'package:geocore/parse.dart';
Samples to parse from WKT text representation of geometry:
// get WKT format
final format = WKT();
// Parse projected points from WKT (result is different concrete classes).
final parser1 = format.parserProjected();
parser1.parse('POINT (100.0 200.0)'); // => Point2
parser1.parse('POINT M (100.0 200.0 5.0)'); // => Point2m
parser1.parse('POINT (100.0 200.0 300.0)'); // => Point3
parser1.parse('POINT Z (100.0 200.0 300.0)'); // => Point3
parser1.parse('POINT ZM (100.0 200.0 300.0 5.0)'); // => Point3m
// Parse geographical line string, from (10.0 50.0) to (11.0 51.0).
final parser2 = format.parser(GeoPoint2.coordinates);
parser2.parse('LINESTRING (10.0 50.0, 11.0 51.0)');
// Parse geographical polygon with a hole.
final parser3 = format.parserGeographic();
parser3.parse(
'POLYGON ((40 15, 50 50, 15 45, 10 15, 40 15),'
' (25 25, 25 40, 35 30, 25 25))',
);
Supported WKT geometry types: POINT
, LINESTRING
, POLYGON
, MULTIPOINT
,
MULTILINESTRING
, MULTIPOLYGON
and GEOMETRYCOLLECTION
.
GeoJSON and WKT writers
Content interfaces
Content interfaces are used for two main use cases:
- writing geospatial data (coordinates, geometry and features) to text or binary format encoders
- building objects in decoders reading geospatial data from text or binary formats
Content interface | Description |
---|---|
CoordinateContent |
Write coordinate objects (bounding boxes, positions, position arrays). |
GeometryContent |
Write geometry objects (supported geometry types: point , lineString , polygon , multiPoint , multiLineString , multiPolygon , geometryCollection ) |
FeatureContent |
Write features (with properties and geometry objects) and feature collections |
Text format encoders
Text formats supported:
Format | Format class | Content encoders |
---|---|---|
GeoJSON | GeoJSON |
Coordinates, Geometries, Features |
WKT | WKT |
Coordinates, Geometries |
There are also formats DefaultFormat
(a text format aligned with GeoJSON but
output is somewhat simpler) and WktLikeFormat
(a text format aligned with
WKT).
All formats mentioned above have following content specific formats:
/// The text format for coordinate objects.
static const TextFormat<CoordinateContent> coordinate;
/// The text format for geometry objects.
static const TextFormat<GeometryContent> geometry;
GeoJSON
provides also:
/// The text format for feature objects.
static const TextFormat<FeatureContent> feature;
Formats, content interfaces and writers are re-exported from the geobase package that also provides more documentation.
See samples below how to use text formats and encoders.
A sample to print coordinates of a point geometry below.
// create a point (XYZ)
final point = Point3(x: 10.123, y: 20.25, z: -30.95);
// print with default format
print('Default format: ${point.toString()}');
print('Default format (decimals = 0): ${point.toStringAs(decimals: 0)}');
// print with WKT format
print('WKT format: ${point.toStringAs(format: WKT.geometry)}');
// print with GeoJSON format
print('GeoJSON format: ${point.toStringAs(format: GeoJSON.geometry)}');
print(
'GeoJSON (decimals = 1) format: ${point.toStringAs(
format: GeoJSON.geometry,
decimals: 1,
)}',
);
The sample below creates a GeoJSON format and feature writer, then create a feature collection, and finally uses a writer to print it as GeoJSON text.
// feature text encoder for GeoJSON
final encoder = GeoJSON.feature.encoder();
// create a feature collection with two features
final collection = FeatureCollection(
bounds: GeoBounds.of(
min: GeoPoint2(lon: -1.1, lat: -3.49),
max: GeoPoint2(lon: 10.12, lat: 20.25),
),
features: [
Feature(
id: 'fid-1',
geometry: GeoPoint2(lon: 10.123, lat: 20.25),
properties: {
'foo': 100,
'bar': 'this is property value',
},
),
Feature(
geometry: LineString.make(
[
[-1.1, -1.1],
[2.1, -2.5],
[3.5, -3.49]
],
GeoPoint2.coordinates,
type: LineStringType.any,
bounds: GeoBounds.make(
[
[-1.1, -3.49],
[3.5, -1.1]
],
GeoPoint2.coordinates,
),
),
properties: {},
),
],
);
// write the feture collection to the content writer of the encoder
// (encoder.writer is FeatureContent)
collection.writeTo(encoder.writer);
// print GeoJSON text
print(encoder.toText());
// the previous line prints (however without line breaks):
// {"type":"FeatureCollection",
// "bbox":[-1.1,-3.49,10.123,20.25],
// "features":[
// {"type":"Feature",
// "id":"fid-1",
// "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[10.123,20.25]},
// "properties":{"foo":100,"bar":"this is property value"}},
// {"type":"Feature",
// "geometry":{"type":"LineString",
// "bbox":[-1.1,-3.49,3.5,-1.1],
// "coordinates":[[-1.1,-1.1],[2.1,-2.5],[3.5,-3.49]]},
// "properties":{}}]}
Reference
Packages
The geocore library contains also following partial packages, that can be used to import only a certain subset instead of the whole geocore package:
Package | Exports also | Description |
---|---|---|
base | Base classes for geospatial geometry objects. | |
coordinates | base | Projected and geographic coordinates. |
data | base, coordinates | Geospatial features and geometries (linestring, polygon, multi geometries). |
Please note that some of the most often used classes from
geobase are also re-exported by geocore
.
External packages geocore
is depending on:
- equatable for equality and hash utils
- geobase for base geospatial data structures
- meta for annotations
Note: The
geocore
package uses version 0.3.x of thegeobase
package (not compatible withgeobase
0.4.x and later).
Authors
This project is authored by Navibyte.
More information and other links are available at the geospatial repository from GitHub.
License
This project is licensed under the "BSD-3-Clause"-style license.
Please see the LICENSE.
Libraries
- base
- Base classes for geospatial geometries objects.
- coordinates
- Projected and geographic coordinates, and basic transforms.
- data
- Geospatial features and geometries (linestring, polygon, multi geometries).
- geocore
- Geospatial data (geometry, features, meta) and parsers (WKT, GeoJSON).