How the free file check works
The free check runs the same deterministic validation engine the Clearlane platform runs — in your browser, on your machine, against the cited EUDR rule pack. This page explains exactly what happens to your file, and what never does.
Everything runs in the browser
When you drop a file on the check, it is read into your browser's memory and processed there — parsing, conversion, validation, repair and the map all execute on your machine. There is no upload step: the check works the same with your network disconnected.
GeoJSON files are validated directly. KML, KMZ and CSV files are first converted into a TRACES-shaped GeoJSON FeatureCollection, and the converted result is then run through the full validator — a conversion that produced an invalid file would be a bug by definition.
What the engine checks
The validator runs the EUDR geolocation rule pack eudr-geojson@1.0.1 — rules as versioned data, each with a severity, a plain-language message and a legal citation. The same pack, the same code, produces the same verdict every time; nothing is sampled, inferred or guessed. Every check has its own page in the error catalogue:
Blocking errors
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: file is not a FeatureCollection eudr.geo.feature-collection
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: coordinates are malformed eudr.geo.coords-structure
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: geometry type not accepted eudr.geo.geometry-type
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: coordinates out of range — latitude and longitude swapped eudr.geo.coords-range
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: polygon not closed eudr.geo.ring-closed
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: polygon crosses itself eudr.geo.no-self-intersection
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: polygon contains holes eudr.geo.no-holes
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: plot over 4 hectares mapped as a point eudr.geo.point-area-max
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: Area value is not a positive number eudr.geo.area-positive
- EUDR GeoJSON rejected: ProducerCountry is not a two-letter code eudr.geo.producer-country
Warnings
- EUDR GeoJSON warning: coordinates have fewer than 6 decimal places eudr.geo.precision
- EUDR GeoJSON warning: polygon winding order is wrong eudr.geo.winding
- EUDR GeoJSON warning: declared area does not match the polygon eudr.geo.area-consistent
What auto-repair does — and what it never does silently
Repairs are graded by how certain they are, and the grade decides who acts. The engine only ever acts alone when a fix is provably meaning-preserving.
- Applied automatically Deterministic
Fixes that cannot change what your file means: closing an unclosed polygon ring and rewinding a wrong-way ring. No vertex moves. Both happen the moment your file is read, and every one is recorded in the repair log.
- Suggested — flagged, you apply Heuristic
The latitude/longitude swap is a judgment call, so it is only offered when every out-of-range position becomes valid swapped — and even then it is marked as a suggested repair for you to apply per plot and review on the map.
- Needs your choice Changes the shape
Splitting a self-intersecting polygon and removing holes change the plot's shape or area. Each one asks for your explicit confirmation on its own row — never bulk-applied, never silent.
- Never done at all By design
The engine never fabricates coordinate precision, never moves a plot, and never invents geometry that was not in your file. A silently relocated farm is worse than a rejection — so it cannot happen here.
The privacy model
Your file never leaves your browser. No part of its contents — coordinates, producer names, areas — is sent anywhere. The one external request this tool makes is for map tiles (a CARTO basemap over OpenStreetMap data) when your plots render on the map; tile requests carry map coordinates of the view, never your file. Fonts are self-hosted, so not even a font provider sees you were here.
The repaired file you download is assembled in the browser from the same in-memory data. Close the tab and everything is gone.
The spec, pinned
Every verdict names its rule and citation. The pack is versioned — eudr-geojson@1.0.1 — so a result you saved is reproducible later: same file, same pack version, same answer.
Checked against EUDR GeoJSON spec v1.5