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Version: 3.3

GeoJSON Project Export

Interpretation work is often the most valuable — and least recoverable — part of a project. GeoJSON Project Export writes every interpretation in the project to a single .geojson file: polylines, orientations, palaeocurrents, measurements, faults, geopolygons, fracture scan-lines, waypoints, samples, labels and scale bars, each with its colours, stratigraphy and group membership. The result serves two purposes at once:

  • A backup you can actually read. GeoJSON is plain text, so the file is diffable, archivable, and independent of the VRGS project format. If a project database is ever lost or damaged, your interpretations survive in a form that is trivially recoverable.
  • A GIS interchange file. The same file loads directly into QGIS, ArcGIS and any other GeoJSON-aware tool, with geometry in the right place and every attribute visible in the attribute table.

Exporting​

  1. Open the project you want to back up.
  2. On the Edit ribbon tab, in the Editing panel, click Export GeoJSON.
  3. Choose a filename and, if you need them, tick the options:
    • Export displayed items only — limits the export to items currently visible in the 3D view. Leave it unticked for a full backup.
    • Export in EPSG:4326 (lat/long) — converts all coordinates to WGS84 longitude/latitude. This option only appears when the project has a coordinate system assigned (see below).
  4. Click Export. A confirmation appears in the messages panel when the file is written.

The file is written atomically (to a temporary file first, then swapped in), so an interrupted export can never truncate or corrupt an existing backup.

Coordinate systems​

By default the export keeps project coordinates — the same values you see in the 3D view, typically UTM metres — and records the project's EPSG code in the file's crs member (e.g. urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::32633). QGIS and most GIS packages read this member and place the data correctly without being asked.

Tick Export in EPSG:4326 to convert every coordinate to WGS84 longitude/latitude instead. In this mode the file is a fully standard RFC 7946 GeoJSON: coordinates are written in [longitude, latitude, elevation] order and no crs member is written (WGS84 is the GeoJSON default). Elevations pass through unchanged.

note

The EPSG:4326 option requires the project coordinate system to be set (Project Properties → coordinate system). Without an EPSG code VRGS cannot convert to lat/long, so the option is hidden and the export always uses project coordinates.

What is in the file​

The file is one GeoJSON FeatureCollection. Every interpretation object is a Feature whose properties carry its VRGS metadata:

  • Identity — name, record_number, object_type, and path (the object's position in its interpretation tree).
  • Geology — stratigraphy and the resolved display colour (stratColour); orientations also carry dip, azimuth, plane_type and set; scan-lines include their fracture statistics (P10, spacing, Fisher parameters) and per-fracture orientations.
  • Presentation — line width and style for polylines; primary/secondary colours, segment count and units for scale bars; palaeocurrent readings attached to geopolygons.

Alongside the features, a vrgs section records project-level context that a plain FeatureCollection cannot express:

  • stratigraphy — the full stratigraphic legend: every log unit and every facies with its name, code and colour (as #RRGGBB), so the colour scheme survives independently of any one feature.
  • groups — the interpretation-tree hierarchy, with each group's display options. Every feature's path points into this tree, so the grouping (and group colours) can be reconstructed.
  • coordinate_mode, project_crs and the exporting app_version.

GIS packages simply ignore the vrgs section; it is there so the file remains a complete, self-describing record of the interpretation work.

tip

Colours appear twice by design: as hex strings that any tool can display, and inside the group/stratigraphy records so a future re-import can restore the exact scheme. GeoJSON export is currently one-way — VRGS can import polyline GeoJSON, and fuller re-import of a project backup is planned — but the file already contains everything needed to rebuild the objects.

Using the file in QGIS​

Drag the .geojson file into QGIS. With a project-coordinate export, QGIS reads the embedded CRS and overlays the interpretations on your basemap directly; with an EPSG:4326 export the layer is WGS84. All feature properties appear in the attribute table, so you can label by stratigraphy, categorise by featureType, or style by the exported colours.

Notes​

  • If Interpretation Version Control is in use, the export reflects the active scenario — the variants currently in use — not every variant in the project.
  • Scale bars, labels and other annotation objects are exported as point features so that a backup is complete; filter them out by featureType if you only want geological data in a GIS layer.
  • Exports are whole-project. To export a single group instead, right-click the group in its interpretation tree and use its Export command, which also offers GeoJSON.