Tippecanoe accepts GeoJSON inputs. You must first convert your KML using ogr2ogr (part of the GDAL suite): ogr2ogr -f GeoJSON output.geojson input.kml Use code with caution. Step 2: Run Tippecanoe
for 95% of use cases.
If you do not want to install software and your KML file is small (under 20MB), several online tools can handle the conversion. convert kml to mbtiles
This pipeline is ideal for large datasets and for producing vector MBTiles. You will need to have GDAL and Tippecanoe installed on your system.
Before diving into conversion methods, it is essential to understand what each format represents. KML, or Keyhole Markup Language, is an XML-based geospatial format originally developed by Keyhole Inc. and later acquired by Google. It was designed primarily for visualizing geographic features in Google Earth, Google Maps, and other GIS platforms. A KML file can represent points, lines, polygons, images, and overlays, often bundled with descriptive information such as names, icons, or metadata. Because KML is based on standard XML, it is human‑readable and relatively easy to create, edit, and share. Tippecanoe accepts GeoJSON inputs
: Click the gear icon on the toolbar or go to Processing → Toolbox to open the Processing Toolbox panel.
Your KML features are converted into vector tiles (typically Mapbox Vector Tile / MVT format). This keeps the data sharp at any zoom level, allows for dynamic styling, retains attribute tables, and keeps file sizes incredibly small. Method 1: The Open-Source Way (QGIS) If you do not want to install software
# Example on macOS using Homebrew brew install gdal brew install tippecanoe Use code with caution. Step 2: Convert KML to GeoJSON (via ogr2ogr) ogr2ogr -f "GeoJSON" output.json input.kml Use code with caution. Step 3: Convert GeoJSON to MBTiles (via Tippecanoe)
Here’s a proper technical feature outline for converting , suitable for documentation, a tool specification, or a feature request.
tippecanoe (by Mapbox).
Here is a straightforward programmatic template using fiona and system-level GDAL bindings: