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Hosting Remote GeoJSON with Gists

It’s possible to use a Github gist to host your challenge GeoJSON remotely. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

  • Use a .json file extension if you want Github to treat the file as GeoJSON with a nice preview (.geojson will not work).
  • It’s okay to opt for a “secret” gist if you prefer. Anyone with the URL can still view a secret gist.
  • When creating your challenge on MapRoulette, you’ll need to select the Remote URL option and provide a URL to the raw gist content. By default, when you click on the Raw button for your gist, Github gives you a link to that specific version of the gist. To get a link that will always serve up the most recent version, remove the identifier in between raw/ and the filename in the URL. For example, you would change:
https://gist.githubusercontent.com/youruser/abcd123/raw/efgh456/yourTasks.json
                                                        ^^^^^^^^ remove

to:

https://gist.githubusercontent.com/youruser/abcd123/raw/yourTasks.json
  • Github caches the latest version of your gist, so you may need to wait 5-10 mins after editing your gist before the cache is updated and the latest raw content is served. If you’re planning to rebuild your challenge tasks from updated data, make sure the latest version is being served before asking MapRoulette to rebuild your challenge.