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$center![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
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Definition![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
$center
The
$center
operator specifies a circle for a$geoWithin
query. The query returns legacy coordinate pairs that are within the bounds of the circle. The operator does not return GeoJSON objects.To use the
$center
operator, specify an array that contains:The grid coordinates of the circle's center point, and
The circle's radius, as measured in the units used by the coordinate system.
{ <location field>: { $geoWithin: { $center: [ [ <x>, <y> ] , <radius> ] } } } Important
If you use longitude and latitude, specify longitude first.
Behavior![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
The query calculates distances using flat (planar) geometry.
Applications can use $center
without having a geospatial index.
However, geospatial indexes support much faster queries than the
unindexed equivalents.
Example![](/docs/v5.3/assets/link.svg)
The following example query returns all documents that have coordinates
that exist within the circle centered on [ -74, 40.74 ]
and with a
radius of 10
:
db.places.find( { loc: { $geoWithin: { $center: [ [-74, 40.74], 10 ] } } } )