Invalid GeoJSON type ${type}. Traces with locationmode *geoj

Error message

Invalid GeoJSON type ${type}. Traces with locationmode *geojson-id* only support *FeatureCollection* and *Feature* types.

What it means

For traces with locationmode 'geojson-id', plotly.js extracts GeoJSON features to match location ids. Only GeoJSON objects of type 'FeatureCollection' or 'Feature' are supported; anything else (Geometry, GeometryCollection, FeatureCollection-ish malformed input, or missing type) triggers this warning and the trace gets no geometry.

Source

Thrown at src/lib/geo_location_utils.js:289

        }

        // remove key from lookup, so that we can track (if any)
        // the locations that did not have a corresponding GeoJSON feature
        delete lookup[id];
    }

    switch (geojsonIn.type) {
        case 'FeatureCollection':
            var featuresIn = geojsonIn.features;
            for (i = 0; i < featuresIn.length; i++) {
                appendFeature(featuresIn[i]);
            }
            break;
        case 'Feature':
            appendFeature(geojsonIn);
            break;
        default:
            loggers.warn(
                [
                    'Invalid GeoJSON type',
                    (geojsonIn.type || 'none') + '.',
                    'Traces with locationmode *geojson-id* only support',
                    '*FeatureCollection* and *Feature* types.'
                ].join(' ')
            );
            return false;
    }

    for (var loc in lookup) {
        loggers.log(
            [
                'Location *' + loc + '*',
                'does not have a matching feature with id-key',
                '*' + trace.featureidkey + '*.'
            ].join(' ')
        );

View on GitHub (pinned to 1d090e0b5f)

Solutions

Wrap raw geometries: {type: 'Feature', geometry: <your geometry>, properties: {}} before assigning to geojson.
Convert TopoJSON to GeoJSON (e.g. with topojson-client feature()) before use.
Verify geojson.type === 'FeatureCollection' || geojson.type === 'Feature' right after fetching.
Ensure features contain an id (or use featureidkey pointing to a properties field) so 'geojson-id' lookups resolve.
Log JSON.parse of your file and inspect the top-level type when the warning appears.

Example fix

// before
Plotly.newPlot(gd, [{type: 'choropleth', locationmode: 'geojson-id', geojson: {type: 'Polygon', coordinates: [...]}}]);
// after
const feature = {type: 'Feature', properties: {id: 'ABC'}, geometry: {type: 'Polygon', coordinates: [...]}};
Plotly.newPlot(gd, [{type: 'choropleth', locationmode: 'geojson-id', geojson: feature, locations: ['ABC'], featureidkey: 'properties.id'}]);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function isUsableGeoJSON(g) {
  return !!g && (g.type === 'FeatureCollection' || g.type === 'Feature') &&
    (g.type === 'FeatureCollection' ? Array.isArray(g.features) && g.features.length > 0 : !!g.geometry);
}
if (!isUsableGeoJSON(geojson)) throw new Error('geojson must be Feature or FeatureCollection');

Type guard

function isGeoJSONFeatureOrCollection(v) {
  return typeof v === 'object' && v !== null &&
    (v.type === 'Feature' || (v.type === 'FeatureCollection' && Array.isArray(v.features)));
}

Try / catch

const res = await fetch(url);
const geojson = await res.json();
if (!isGeoJSONFeatureOrCollection(geojson)) {
  throw new Error(`expected Feature/FeatureCollection, got ${geojson && geojson.type}`);
}
Plotly.newPlot(gd, [{type: 'choropleth', locationmode: 'geojson-id', geojson, ...}]);

Prevention

Convert TopoJSON with topojson-client before use.
Wrap bare geometries in {type:'Feature', geometry, properties}.
Give features ids or set featureidkey to a properties field.
Verify the fetched endpoint actually returns GeoJSON, not TopoJSON or shapefile output.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a raw Geometry ({type: 'Polygon', ...}) or an array of geometries as the geojson attribute; a fetched TopoJSON or non-GeoJSON file; a geojson object whose .type is misspelled or absent; passing a Feature collection wrapped in another object.

Common situations: Using data exported from shapefile converters that emit bare geometries; fetching 'GeoJSON' endpoints that actually return TopoJSON; building geojson by hand and forgetting the Feature wrapper; version confusion after switching locationmode from 'geojson' to 'geojson-id'.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of plotly/plotly.js@1d090e0b5f (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/115763d971913b80. Report an issue: GitHub.