# ElasticSearch geo\_bounding\_box coordinate format

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-geo-bounding-box-coordinate-format/8176>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 21, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-geo-bounding-box-coordinate-format/8176 "2012-06-21T00:57:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JeffLocke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@JeffLocke](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/JeffLocke)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-geo-bounding-box-coordinate-format/8176/1 "2012-06-21T00:57:08Z")

</div>

I was following the guide online to represent coordinates as "lat, lng" but  
it doesnt seem to be working until I flip everything around to "lng, lat".  
I even have to flip around top\_left and bottom\_right in order for the query  
to work.

Is anyone experiencing the same problem? Clearly this is not how the  
documentation says to use it, but it's only working when I format it this  
way.

Rails format

def self.search(params)  
tire.search( page: params[:page], per\_page: 2 ) do  
query { all }  
filter :geo\_bounding\_box, location: { top\_left: "  
-121.88596979687497, 37.33588487375733", bottom\_right: "  
-122.43528620312497, 37.553946238118264" }  
end  
end

CURL format

curl -X GET  
"[http://localhost:9200/articles/article/\_search?page=&per\_page=2&size=2&pretty=true](http://localhost:9200/articles/article/_search?page=&per_page=2&size=2&pretty=true)"  
-d  
'{"query":{"match\_all":{}},"facets":{"condition":{"terms":{"field":"condition","size":10,"all\_terms":false}}},"filter":{"geo\_bounding\_box":{"location":{"top\_left":"  
-121.88596979687497, 37.33588487375733","bottom\_right":"  
-122.43528620312497, 37.553946238118264"}}},"size":2}'

Console response

{  
"took" : 1,  
"timed\_out" : false,  
"\_shards" : {  
"total" : 5,  
"successful" : 5,  
"failed" : 0  
},  
"hits" : {  
"total" : 169,  
"max\_score" : 1.0,  
"hits" : [ {  
"\_index" : "articles",  
"\_type" : "article",  
"\_id" : "4f72bc7d0bdb820f02000002",  
"\_score" : 1.0, "\_source" : {"content":"words  
here!","location":[37.444995,-122.160628],"name":"harro"}  
}, {  
"\_index" : "articles",  
"\_type" : "article",  
"\_id" : "4fdf0cf20bdb82336c000002",  
"\_score" : 1.0, "\_source" : {"content":"Run of the  
mill","location":[37.33588487375733,-121.88596979687497],"name":"Billy Bob"}  
} ]  
},  
"facets" : {  
"condition" : {  
"\_type" : "terms",  
"missing" : 5597,  
"total" : 0,  
"other" : 0,  
"terms" : []  
}  
}

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Igor\_Motov](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/igor_motov/32/45193_2.png) [@Igor\_Motov](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Igor_Motov)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-geo-bounding-box-coordinate-format/8176/2 "2012-06-21T01:52:02Z")

</div>

String representation of geo point and array representation of geo point  
are using different formats. The string representation is using "lat,lon"  
format while array representation is using [lon, lat] format. You are using  
strings in query and arrays in data. That's why you are getting  
strange results. See

> **[Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale](https://www.elastic.co)**
>
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On Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:57:08 PM UTC-4, Jeff Locke wrote:

> I was following the guide online to represent coordinates as "lat, lng"  
> but it doesnt seem to be working until I flip everything around to "lng,  
> lat". I even have to flip around top\_left and bottom\_right in order for the  
> query to work.
> 
> Is anyone experiencing the same problem? Clearly this is not how the  
> documentation says to use it, but it's only working when I format it this  
> way.
> 
> Rails format
> 
> def self.search(params)  
> tire.search( page: params[:page], per\_page: 2 ) do  
> query { all }  
> filter :geo\_bounding\_box, location: { top\_left: "  
> -121.88596979687497, 37.33588487375733", bottom\_right: "  
> -122.43528620312497, 37.553946238118264" }  
> end  
> end
> 
> CURL format
> 
> curl -X GET "  
> [http://localhost:9200/articles/article/\_search?page=&per\_page=2&size=2&pretty=true](http://localhost:9200/articles/article/_search?page=&per_page=2&size=2&pretty=true)"  
> -d  
> '{"query":{"match\_all":{}},"facets":{"condition":{"terms":{"field":"condition","size":10,"all\_terms":false}}},"filter":{"geo\_bounding\_box":{"location":{"top\_left":"  
> -121.88596979687497, 37.33588487375733","bottom\_right":"  
> -122.43528620312497, 37.553946238118264"}}},"size":2}'
> 
> Console response
> 
> {  
> "took" : 1,  
> "timed\_out" : false,  
> "\_shards" : {  
> "total" : 5,  
> "successful" : 5,  
> "failed" : 0  
> },  
> "hits" : {  
> "total" : 169,  
> "max\_score" : 1.0,  
> "hits" : [ {  
> "\_index" : "articles",  
> "\_type" : "article",  
> "\_id" : "4f72bc7d0bdb820f02000002",  
> "\_score" : 1.0, "\_source" : {"content":"words  
> here!","location":[37.444995,-122.160628],"name":"harro"}  
> }, {  
> "\_index" : "articles",  
> "\_type" : "article",  
> "\_id" : "4fdf0cf20bdb82336c000002",  
> "\_score" : 1.0, "\_source" : {"content":"Run of the  
> mill","location":[37.33588487375733,-121.88596979687497],"name":"Billy Bob"}  
> } ]  
> },  
> "facets" : {  
> "condition" : {  
> "\_type" : "terms",  
> "missing" : 5597,  
> "total" : 0,  
> "other" : 0,  
> "terms" :   
> }  
> }

---

<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:** [July 6, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-geo-bounding-box-coordinate-format/8176/3 "2017-07-06T03:23:13Z")

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