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Query for Locations within a Shape on a Flat Surface

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  • About this Task
  • Before You Begin
  • Procedure
  • Learn More

To query for location data within a specified shape on a flat surface, use the $geoWithin operator. To use $geoWithin with data that appears on a flat surface, use this syntax:

db.<collection>.find( {
   <location field> : {
      $geoWithin : {
         <shape operator> : <coordinates>
      }
    }
 } )

Replace these values for your query:

Field
Description
<collection>
The collection to query.
<location field>
The field that contains your location data. For queries on a flat surface, your data must be stored as legacy coordinate pairs.
<shape operator>

The shape to query within. You can specify one of the following shapes:

The example on this page uses the $box operator. To see examples of queries using other shapes, refer to those operator pages.

<coordinates>

The coordinates that define the edges of the shape to query within. When used with the $box operator, the coordinates represent the bottom-left and top-right corners of a rectangle.

When you specify longitude and latitude coordinates, list the longitude first, and then latitude.

  • Valid longitude values are between -180 and 180, both inclusive.

  • Valid latitude values are between -90 and 90, both inclusive.

About this Task

$geoWithin does not require a geospatial index. However, a geospatial index improves query performance.

Before You Begin

Create the contacts collection:

db.contacts.insertMany( [
   {
      name: "Evander Otylia",
      phone: "202-555-0193",
      address: [ 55.5, 42.3 ]
   },
   {
      name: "Georgine Lestaw",
      phone: "714-555-0107",
      address: [ -74, 44.74 ]
   }
] )

The address field contains legacy coordinate pairs.

Procedure

Use $geoWithin to query the contacts collection. The following $geoWithin query uses the $box operator to return documents that appear within a specified rectangle:

db.contacts.find( {
   address: {
      $geoWithin: {
         $box: [ [ 49, 40 ], [ 60, 60 ] ]
      }
   }
} )

Output:

[
  {
    _id: ObjectId("647e4e496cdaf4dc323ec92a"),
    name: 'Evander Otylia',
    phone: '202-555-0193',
    address: [ 55.5, 42.3 ]
  }
]

The values of the $box operator represent the bottom-left and top-right corners of of the rectangle to query within.

The $geoWithin query shown earlier returns documents that are within a rectangle that has these vertices:

  • [ 49, 40 ]

  • [ 49, 60 ]

  • [ 60, 60 ]

  • [ 60, 40 ]

Learn More

To learn how to use the $geoWithin operator with other shapes, see these pages:

← Query for Locations Near a Point on a Flat Surface
2d Index Internals →

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