Esri JSON (ArcGIS REST API)
Open BetaEsri JSON is the vector feature serialization format of the ArcGIS REST API (Esri, since 2008): an alternative to GeoJSON spoken by the entire ArcGIS stack — ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, the JavaScript API, Survey123, Dashboards. It differs from GeoJSON: geometry is encoded through x/y, paths and rings, polygon outer rings run clockwise, the coordinate system is given by a numeric wkid, and attributes live in a typed fields schema. Our exporter writes the selected OSM layers as Esri JSON in WGS84 (wkid 4326) through the GDAL ESRIJSON driver; a single layer yields a .json file, multiple layers are packed into a ZIP. This is a static file for one-time ingestion into ArcGIS, not a live feature service — no paging, no applyEdits.
Key Features
About Esri JSON Format
Esri JSON is what the ArcGIS stack uses to exchange vector features over the network. ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online REST services return it, and ArcGIS Pro, the ArcGIS JavaScript API, Dashboards, Survey123 and FME all understand it. ArcGIS has read GeoJSON for a long time, but this format has remained the platform's internal language.
The export is for those who live inside the Esri ecosystem: OpenStreetMap data lands in a corporate map with no intermediate conversions, and a client who asks for "the ArcGIS format" gets exactly what they expect.
The file contains the map layers translated by the GDAL ESRIJSON driver. Geometry follows Esri's rules: points as x/y, lines as paths, polygons as rings. The coordinate system is WGS84, and its number (wkid 4326) is written into spatialReference so that ArcGIS puts the data in the right place immediately. OpenStreetMap attributes go into a typed fields schema with alias names, so the attribute table looks meaningful. One layer means one .json, several layers mean a ZIP archive.
The limitation is an honest one: this is a static snapshot of the data at export time, not a live feature service. There is no paging, no queries and no editing through applyEdits in a file, and there cannot be.
What Program Opens Esri JSON Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with Esri JSON (ArcGIS REST API) (.json) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Proprietary format
- 2D only
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- Stores feature attributes
- Output: 1 file
- ArcGIS REST Esri JSON in WGS84 (wkid 4326) via the GDAL ESRIJSON driver; a single layer yields a .json, multiple layers are packed into a ZIP. A static file, not a live service.
Who Uses Esri JSON Maps
How to Export Esri JSON
How to Open After Export
- ArcGIS Online — Content → Add Item → From your computer, upload the .json and publish it as a hosted feature layer; after that the layer is available to your organization's web maps.
- ArcGIS Pro — Add Data, or drag the file into the Contents pane; if there are several layers, unpack the ZIP first.
- QGIS (free) — Layer → Add Vector Layer: GDAL reads ESRIJSON, so the file opens without any Esri products.
- ogr2ogr — ogr2ogr -f GeoJSON out.geojson map.json converts the export into GeoJSON, GeoPackage or Shapefile in one command.
- FME and ETL pipelines — connect the file with the standard ESRIJSON reader if OSM data has to be fed into a corporate database regularly.
Popular maps in Esri JSON
Get Esri JSON (ArcGIS REST API) map exports
Download professional Esri JSON maps from OpenStreetMap. Instant generation, any area.