Added ability to use remote URL for GeoJSON

Author: jreades

folium/folium.py

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from .map import LegacyMap, FitBounds
 from .features import GeoJson, TopoJson
 
+import requests
 
 class Map(LegacyMap):
     """Create a Map with Folium and Leaflet.js
@@ -251,7 +252,11 @@ def choropleth(self, geo_path=None, geo_str=None, data_out='data.json',
 
         # Create GeoJson object
         if geo_path:
-            geo_data = open(geo_path)
+            print("Using new folium")
+            if geo_path.lower().startswith(('http','ftp','https')): 
+                geo_data = requests.get(geo_path).json()
+            else: 
+                geo_data = open(geo_path)
         elif geo_str:
             geo_data = geo_str
         else: