Error: invalid index file

[mojodna]

It appears that somewhere in the mapnik-3.4 series the index file format has changed. We're unable to use .indexes that were created with shapeindex-0.3.0 using mapnik-3.4.16 (mapnik/node-mapnik-sample-code#6 shows it happening in 3.4.15 as well). We were previously, but I'm not sure how far back at the moment.

We managed to solve it by using the shapeindex alternative that now ships with node-mapnik to reindex: node_modules/.bin/mapnik-shapeindex.js

[springmeyer]

I'm sorry about this change and not documenting it well. I've added details now at https://github.com/mapnik/node-mapnik/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#3413

We managed to solve it by using the shapeindex alternative that now ships with node-mapnik to reindex: node_modules/.bin/mapnik-shapeindex.js

That is the intended upgrade process/workaround. In other words, when you upgrade to node-mapnik >= 3.4.13 then you must regenerate .index files. The benefit is then you can use the experimental --index-parts option which can lead to faster read for polygons with many geometry parts that are outside the query extents.