# 2 way search by query and incoming docs

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [July 15, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170 "2024-07-15T15:54:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 15, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/1 "2024-07-15T15:54:41Z")

</div>

I am working on an app where the goal is to find likeminded people in your area, nothing revolutionary.

Given a user's `age`, `minAge`,`maxAge` fields, we want to query for other docs that meet the criteria. However, the search criteria need to be met on both sides. For example, the user's `age` should be in the `minAge` and `maxAge` range of the "incoming" docs.

What is the most efficient way of doing this? I currently have a solution using `function_score` but not sure if it's the most efficient:

```auto
POST people/_search
{
  "size" : 10,
  "min_score": 0.6,
  "query" : {
   "function_score": {
    "query": {
       "bool" : {
          "must" : [
            {
                "range": {
                "age": {
                  "gte": 18,
                  "lte": 30
                }
              }
            }
          ]
       }
      }
    },
    "functions": [
      {
        "script_score": {
          "script": {
            "source": "if (params.age >= doc['minAge'].value && params.age <= doc['maxAge'].value) { return 1.0; } else { return 0.0; }",
            "params": {
              "age": 28
            }
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
}

```

I am using `age` here as an example, but ideally we want to have the same logic on distance, etc.

Would appreciate any help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/2 "2024-07-16T14:32:08Z")

</div>

@Kathleen_DeRusso @dadoonet sorry for pinging directly, but i was wondering if you'd be able to offer any guidance here? thank you so much!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/3 "2024-07-16T15:33:14Z")

</div>

From #Elastic Search to #Elasticsearch

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/4 "2024-07-16T15:33:26Z")

</div>

Please be patient in waiting for responses to your question and refrain from pinging multiple times asking for a response or opening multiple topics for the same question. This is a community forum, it may take time for someone to reply to your question. For more information please refer to the [Community Code of Conduct](https://www.elastic.co/community/codeofconduct) specifically the section "Be patient". Also, please refrain from pinging folks directly, this is a forum and anyone that participates might be able to assist you.

If you are in need of a service with an SLA that covers response times for questions then you may want to consider talking to us about a [subscription](https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions).

It's fine to answer on your own thread after 2 or 3 days (not including weekends) if you don't have an answer.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/5 "2024-07-16T15:34:55Z")

</div>

Why not just a bool query with 2 must clauses?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kathleen\_DeRusso](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kathleen_derusso/32/132039_2.png) [@Kathleen\_DeRusso](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Kathleen_DeRusso)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2024, 7:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/6 "2024-07-16T19:19:12Z")

</div>

Agreed, a Boolean query seems like it should be sufficient for your filtering purposes here?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 11:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/7 "2024-07-17T11:34:25Z")

</div>

hi David and Kathleen, apologies again for breaking the guidelines. will keep in mind for the future.

regarding the Boolean queries, are you suggesting something like this:

```auto
"must": {
    "script": {
      "script": {
          "source": """
            double distance = doc['location'].arcDistance(params.lat, params.lon) / 1000;
          
            boolean isWithinDistance = distance <= doc['searchRadius'].value;
            boolean isWithinAge = params.age >= doc['minAge'].value && params.age <= doc['maxAge'].value;
            
            return isWithinDistance && isWithinAge;
          """,
          "params": {
            "lat":51.545874,
            "lon": 0.048306,
            "age": 28
          }
      }
    }
}

```

the above works but my concern is around efficiency, would you say this is the most efficient way of filtering based on the incoming parameters? is there any other feature that I am not aware of / should look into? thank you so much for your help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kathleen\_DeRusso](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kathleen_derusso/32/132039_2.png) [@Kathleen\_DeRusso](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Kathleen_DeRusso)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 12:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/8 "2024-07-17T12:47:29Z")

</div>

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought @dadoonet 's original selection was to replace the script with a regular Boolean query with filters and [range](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-range-query.html) queries.

This is pseudocode, but imagine something like:

```auto
POST _search
{
  "query": {
    "bool" : {
      "filter" : [
        { age: >=18, <= 30 },
        { wants_to_match_with_age: <= 28, >= 28 }
      ]
    }
  }
}

```

Obviously the real query would have to be adjusted based on your data, but maybe you can structure it in a way so you can avoid that script score.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/9 "2024-07-17T15:41:00Z")

</div>

Ah got it, I think that works for the age, but are we able to do the same for the `distance` and `searchRadius` without the script? 🤔

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kathleen\_DeRusso](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kathleen_derusso/32/132039_2.png) [@Kathleen\_DeRusso](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Kathleen_DeRusso)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2024, 5:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/10 "2024-07-17T17:51:37Z")

</div>

I'll confess that I don't have a lot of expert knowledge in our geospacial search, perhaps you could index a geocircle with the allowed radius? You'd have to play with the search to see if it worked for your needs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 1:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/11 "2024-07-18T13:41:57Z")

</div>

Have a look at [Geo-distance query | Elasticsearch Guide [8.14] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-geo-distance-query.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/12 "2024-07-19T13:42:49Z")

</div>

I did look at the geo-distance query, and it's what I used to find the docs that are within the search radius of the user that's running the query. But I couldn't find a way to do the inverse of it where we make sure that the distance from the doc is within the search radius of the other user...does that make sense? thank you!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/13 "2024-07-19T14:34:33Z")

</div>

I have no idea of what "the other user" means in this context.

Anyway, if you want to move forward, please provide a full recreation script as described in [About the Elasticsearch category](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-the-elasticsearch-category/21). It will help to better understand what you are doing. Please, try to keep the example as simple as possible.

A full reproduction script is something anyone can **copy and paste in Kibana dev console** , click on the run button to reproduce your use case. It will help readers to understand, reproduce and if needed fix your problem. It will also most likely help to get a faster answer.

Have a look at the [Elastic Stack and Solutions Help · Forums and Slack | Elastic](https://elastic.co/community/help) page. It contains also lot of useful information on how to ask for help.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/14 "2024-07-19T15:04:03Z")

</div>

I think the script here that I shared [2 way search by query and incoming docs - #7 by elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/7) demonstrates what I want to do in simple terms.

Basically, I couldn't find a way to do a geo distance query where the `distance` value comes from the incoming docs, so I can't do something like:

```auto
"geo_distance": {
          "distance": doc["searchRadius"], // is this possible?
          "pin.location": {
            "lat": 40,
            "lon": -70
          }
}

```

does that make sense?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/15 "2024-07-19T15:27:10Z")

</div>

I see. Indeed, this does not seem possible with the geo distance query.  
Indeed the only way seems to be by using a script for this query.

> [@elsaticnoob](#):
>
> the above works but my concern is around efficiency,

Yeah but I don't see if you have any other choice...

But I'd try to make that script simpler and only compute the geo part.

I'd add this script as one of the bool -\> filter clauses and I'd add the age filter as a range query.

That way, you won't have to evaluate the geo part when age is not matching and I think that could be much faster.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elsaticnoob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elsaticnoob](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elsaticnoob)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/16 "2024-07-19T16:03:04Z")

</div>

Agreed, I can do that. I also had an alternative idea like this:

```auto
{
            "terms_set": {
              "locationGrids.enum": {
                "terms": ["86154e68fffffff"],
                "minimum_should_match": 1
               }
            }
},

```

where we have a pre-computed `locationGrids` field, that has the geo-hex values of a user's location + search radius. so it sets `locationGrids` to all the geo-hex values of the hexagons that are within the search radius for the user.

and so when we search, we just do a `terms_set` match on that field, and this also seems to work pretty well.

thank you for your help!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tareveor23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@tareveor23](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/tareveor23)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/17 "2024-07-22T12:17:36Z")

</div>

Thank you for sharing that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 12:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-way-search-by-query-and-incoming-docs/363170/18 "2024-08-19T12:18:21Z")

</div>

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