Geo-bounding box queryedit

Matches geo_point and geo_shape values that intersect a bounding box.

Exampleedit

Assume the following documents are indexed:

PUT /my_locations
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "pin": {
        "properties": {
          "location": {
            "type": "geo_point"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

PUT /my_locations/_doc/1
{
  "pin": {
    "location": {
      "lat": 40.12,
      "lon": -71.34
    }
  }
}

PUT /my_geoshapes
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "pin": {
        "properties": {
          "location": {
            "type": "geo_shape"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

PUT /my_geoshapes/_doc/1
{
  "pin": {
    "location": {
      "type" : "polygon",
      "coordinates" : [[[13.0 ,51.5], [15.0, 51.5], [15.0, 54.0], [13.0, 54.0], [13.0 ,51.5]]]
    }
  }
}

Use a geo_bounding_box filter to match geo_point values that intersect a bounding box. To define the box, provide geopoint values for two opposite corners.

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: {
                lat: 40.73,
                lon: -74.1
              },
              bottom_right: {
                lat: 40.01,
                lon: -71.12
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": {
              "lat": 40.73,
              "lon": -74.1
            },
            "bottom_right": {
              "lat": 40.01,
              "lon": -71.12
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Use the same filter to match geo_shape values that intersect the bounding box:

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_geoshapes',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: {
                lat: 40.73,
                lon: -74.1
              },
              bottom_right: {
                lat: 40.01,
                lon: -71.12
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_geoshapes/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": {
              "lat": 40.73,
              "lon": -74.1
            },
            "bottom_right": {
              "lat": 40.01,
              "lon": -71.12
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

To match both geo_point and geo_shape values, search both indices:

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations,my_geoshapes',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: {
                lat: 40.73,
                lon: -74.1
              },
              bottom_right: {
                lat: 40.01,
                lon: -71.12
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations,my_geoshapes/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": {
              "lat": 40.73,
              "lon": -74.1
            },
            "bottom_right": {
              "lat": 40.01,
              "lon": -71.12
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Query optionsedit

Option Description

_name

Optional name field to identify the filter

validation_method

Set to IGNORE_MALFORMED to accept geo points with invalid latitude or longitude, set to COERCE to also try to infer correct latitude or longitude. (default is STRICT).

Accepted formatsedit

In much the same way the geo_point type can accept different representations of the geo point, the filter can accept it as well:

Lat lon as propertiesedit
response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: {
                lat: 40.73,
                lon: -74.1
              },
              bottom_right: {
                lat: 40.01,
                lon: -71.12
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": {
              "lat": 40.73,
              "lon": -74.1
            },
            "bottom_right": {
              "lat": 40.01,
              "lon": -71.12
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
Lat lon as arrayedit

Format in [lon, lat], note, the order of lon/lat here in order to conform with GeoJSON.

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: [
                -74.1,
                40.73
              ],
              bottom_right: [
                -71.12,
                40.01
              ]
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": [ -74.1, 40.73 ],
            "bottom_right": [ -71.12, 40.01 ]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
Lat lon as stringedit

Format in lat,lon.

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: 'POINT (-74.1 40.73)',
              bottom_right: 'POINT (-71.12 40.01)'
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": "POINT (-74.1 40.73)",
            "bottom_right": "POINT (-71.12 40.01)"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
Bounding box as well-known text (WKT)edit
response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              wkt: 'BBOX (-74.1, -71.12, 40.73, 40.01)'
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "wkt": "BBOX (-74.1, -71.12, 40.73, 40.01)"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
Geohashedit
response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top_left: 'dr5r9ydj2y73',
              bottom_right: 'drj7teegpus6'
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top_left": "dr5r9ydj2y73",
            "bottom_right": "drj7teegpus6"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

When geohashes are used to specify the bounding the edges of the bounding box, the geohashes are treated as rectangles. The bounding box is defined in such a way that its top left corresponds to the top left corner of the geohash specified in the top_left parameter and its bottom right is defined as the bottom right of the geohash specified in the bottom_right parameter.

In order to specify a bounding box that would match entire area of a geohash the geohash can be specified in both top_left and bottom_right parameters:

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      geo_bounding_box: {
        "pin.location": {
          top_left: 'dr',
          bottom_right: 'dr'
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "geo_bounding_box": {
      "pin.location": {
        "top_left": "dr",
        "bottom_right": "dr"
      }
    }
  }
}

In this example, the geohash dr will produce the bounding box query with the top left corner at 45.0,-78.75 and the bottom right corner at 39.375,-67.5.

Verticesedit

The vertices of the bounding box can either be set by top_left and bottom_right or by top_right and bottom_left parameters. Instead of setting the values pairwise, one can use the simple names top, left, bottom and right to set the values separately.

response = client.search(
  index: 'my_locations',
  body: {
    query: {
      bool: {
        must: {
          match_all: {}
        },
        filter: {
          geo_bounding_box: {
            "pin.location": {
              top: 40.73,
              left: -74.1,
              bottom: 40.01,
              right: -71.12
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
)
puts response
GET my_locations/_search
{
  "query": {
    "bool": {
      "must": {
        "match_all": {}
      },
      "filter": {
        "geo_bounding_box": {
          "pin.location": {
            "top": 40.73,
            "left": -74.1,
            "bottom": 40.01,
            "right": -71.12
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Multi location per documentedit

The filter can work with multiple locations / points per document. Once a single location / point matches the filter, the document will be included in the filter

Ignore unmappededit

When set to true the ignore_unmapped option will ignore an unmapped field and will not match any documents for this query. This can be useful when querying multiple indexes which might have different mappings. When set to false (the default value) the query will throw an exception if the field is not mapped.

Notes on precisionedit

Geopoints have limited precision and are always rounded down during index time. During the query time, upper boundaries of the bounding boxes are rounded down, while lower boundaries are rounded up. As a result, the points along on the lower bounds (bottom and left edges of the bounding box) might not make it into the bounding box due to the rounding error. At the same time points alongside the upper bounds (top and right edges) might be selected by the query even if they are located slightly outside the edge. The rounding error should be less than 4.20e-8 degrees on the latitude and less than 8.39e-8 degrees on the longitude, which translates to less than 1cm error even at the equator.

Geoshapes also have limited precision due to rounding. Geoshape edges along the bounding box’s bottom and left edges may not match a geo_bounding_box query. Geoshape edges slightly outside the box’s top and right edges may still match the query.