diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e8681137..6a7bcb64 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ RUN npm install
 # copy code from local checkout
 ADD . ${WORKDIR}
 
-ENV WOF_DIR '/data/whosonfirst/data'
+ENV WOF_DIR '/data/whosonfirst/sqlite'
 ENV PLACEHOLDER_DATA '/data/placeholder'
 
 USER pelias
diff --git a/cmd/download_extract.sh b/cmd/download_extract.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 832e435d..00000000
--- a/cmd/download_extract.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -euo pipefail
-
-# directory of this file
-DIR=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )
-
-# placetypes to download and extract
-PLACETYPES=( 'neighbourhood' 'macrohood' 'borough' 'locality' 'localadmin' 'county' 'macrocounty' 'region'
-  'macroregion' 'disputed' 'dependency' 'country' 'empire' 'marinearea' 'continent' 'ocean' )
-
-# download and extract fields from contents of tar
-function extract {
-  curl -so "/tmp/wof-${1}-latest-bundle.tar.bz2" "https://whosonfirst.mapzen.com/bundles/wof-${1}-latest-bundle.tar.bz2"
-  if hash lbzip2 2>/dev/null; then
-    tar --wildcards '*.geojson' -x --use-compress-program=lbzip2 --to-command 'jq -cMf "${DIR}/jq.filter"' -f "/tmp/wof-${1}-latest-bundle.tar.bz2"
-  else
-    tar --wildcards '*.geojson' -jx --to-command 'jq -cMf "${DIR}/jq.filter"' -f "/tmp/wof-${1}-latest-bundle.tar.bz2"
-  fi
-  rc=$?; if [[ $rc != 0 ]]; then
-    >&2 echo "/tmp/wof-${1}-latest-bundle.tar.bz2"
-    >&2 echo "command exited with status: $rc"
-  fi
-}
-
-# export variables required by the 'extract' function
-export -f extract
-export DIR
-
-# run the import
-parallel \
-  --no-notice \
-  --line-buffer \
-  --jobs -1 \
-  extract \
-  ::: "${PLACETYPES[@]}"
diff --git a/cmd/extract.sh b/cmd/extract.sh
index 2816b56d..7c8ebade 100755
--- a/cmd/extract.sh
+++ b/cmd/extract.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ mkdir -p ${PLACEHOLDER_DATA};
 
 echo "Creating extract at ${PLACEHOLDER_DATA}/wof.extract"
 
-${DIR}/wof_extract.sh > ${PLACEHOLDER_DATA}/wof.extract;
+exec node --max_old_space_size=8000 ${DIR}/wof_extract_sqlite.js > ${PLACEHOLDER_DATA}/wof.extract;
 
 echo 'Done!'
diff --git a/cmd/wof_extract.sh b/cmd/wof_extract.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 99ce35de..00000000
--- a/cmd/wof_extract.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,48 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -euo pipefail
-
-# directory of this file
-DIR=$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd );
-
-# location of whosonfirst data dir
-# note: set WOF_DIR env var to override
-WOF_DIR=${WOF_DIR:-'/data/whosonfirst-data/data'};
-
-# requires command: jq - Command-line JSON processor
-# on ubuntu: sudo apt-get install jq
-
-# requires version jq 1.5 or later, for older versions of ubunutu:
-# sudo apt-get remove jq
-# sudo apt-get install libonig2
-# wget http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/j/jq/jq_1.5+dfsg-1_amd64.deb
-# sudo dpkg -i jq_1.5+dfsg-1_amd64.deb
-
-# ensure jq exists and is executable
-JQ_BIN=$(which jq) || true
-if [[ ! -f "${JQ_BIN}" || ! -x "${JQ_BIN}" ]]; then
-  echo "jq binary not found or is not executable" 1>&2;
-  exit 1;
-fi
-
-# parellize execution on systems which support it
-XARGS_CMD='xargs';
-PARALLEL_BIN=$(which parallel) || true
-if [[ -f "${PARALLEL_BIN}" || -x "${PARALLEL_BIN}" ]]; then
-  echo "info: using parallel execution" 1>&2;
-  XARGS_CMD='parallel --no-notice --group --keep-order --jobs +0';
-fi
-
-# filter records by placetype
-# removing any file names from the stream whose body does not match the pattern
-function placetypeFilter {
-  while IFS= read -r FILENAME; do
-    grep --files-with-match -f "${DIR}/placetype.filter" "${FILENAME}" || true;
-  done
-}
-
-# extract only the json properies from each file (eg: excluding zs:*)
-# note: excludes 'alt' geometeries
-find "${WOF_DIR}" -type f -name '*.geojson' |\
-  grep -E '/[0-9]+\.geojson$' |\
-  placetypeFilter |\
-  ${XARGS_CMD} ${JQ_BIN} -c -M -f "${DIR}/jq.filter";
diff --git a/cmd/wof_extract_sqlite.js b/cmd/wof_extract_sqlite.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..75689e53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/wof_extract_sqlite.js
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+const path = require('path');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const whosonfirst = require('pelias-whosonfirst');
+const SQLiteStream = whosonfirst.SQLiteStream;
+const through = require('through2');
+const Placeholder = require('../Placeholder');
+const combinedStream = require('combined-stream');
+
+const SQLITE_REGEX = /whosonfirst-data-[a-z0-9-]+\.db$/;
+
+const WOF_DIR = process.env.WOF_DIR || '/data/whosonfirst-data/sqlite';
+
+const layers = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'placetype.filter'), 'utf-8')
+                  .replace(/^.*\(/, '') // Removes all characters before the first parenthesis
+                  .match(/[a-z]+/g); // Get the layer list
+
+const jq_filter = fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'jq.filter'), 'utf-8')
+                    .match(/test\("(.*)"\)/g) // Get all tests
+                    .map(s => s.replace(/^[^"]+"/, '').replace(/"[^"]+$/, '')) // Get only regex part
+                    .map(s => new RegExp(s)); // Transform it into JS RegExp
+
+const output = () => {
+  if (process.argv.length > 2 && process.argv[2] === 'build') {
+    const ph = new Placeholder();
+    ph.load({ reset: true });
+    return through.obj((row, _, next) => {
+      ph.insertWofRecord(row, next);
+    }, done => {
+      console.error('populate fts...');
+      ph.populate();
+      console.error('optimize...');
+      ph.optimize();
+      console.error('close...');
+      ph.close();
+      done();
+    });
+  } else {
+    return through.obj((row, _, next) => {
+      console.log(JSON.stringify(row));
+      next();
+    });
+  }
+};
+
+const sqliteStream = combinedStream.create();
+fs.readdirSync(WOF_DIR)
+  .filter(file => SQLITE_REGEX.test(file))
+  .map(file => path.join(WOF_DIR, file))
+  .forEach(dbPath => {
+    sqliteStream.append(next => {
+      next(new SQLiteStream(dbPath, SQLiteStream.findGeoJSONByPlacetype(layers)));
+    });
+  });
+
+sqliteStream
+  .pipe(whosonfirst.toJSONStream())
+  .pipe(through.obj((row, _, next) => {
+    Object.keys(row.properties)
+          .filter(key => !jq_filter.some(regex => regex.test(key)))
+          .forEach(key => delete row.properties[key]);
+    next(null, row.properties);
+  }))
+  .pipe(output());
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a0a19a58..dc24dd13 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@
     "lower-case": "^2.0.0",
     "morgan": "^1.9.0",
     "pelias-blacklist-stream": "^1.1.0",
+    "pelias-config": "^4.5.0",
     "pelias-logger": "^1.2.1",
+    "pelias-whosonfirst": "^4.0.0",
     "remove-accents": "^0.4.0",
     "require-dir": "^1.0.0",
     "sorted-intersect": "^0.1.4",