# Explanation of mapping in documentation

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/explanation-of-mapping-in-documentation/7529>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [May 2, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/explanation-of-mapping-in-documentation/7529 "2012-05-02T03:53:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Duke\_Dougal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@Duke\_Dougal](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Duke_Dougal)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/explanation-of-mapping-in-documentation/7529/1 "2012-05-02T03:53:00Z")

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It would be good if the documentation explaining mapping  
[http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/) was clearer and  
easier to understand, perhaps with examples and more narrative  
description.

I've read it but I still don't really understand what mapping is.

Without wanting to be too picky, sentences like this could be worded  
differently: "Mapping types are a way to try and divide the documents  
indexed into the same index into logical groups. "

thanks

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**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:** [May 2, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/explanation-of-mapping-in-documentation/7529/2 "2012-05-02T05:02:35Z")

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Mapping is how ES will deal with each field. Is it a Date, String ? Will it be searchable ? What kind of analyzer ES will use for that field.

HTH  
David 😉  
Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr

Le 2 mai 2012 à 05:53, Duke Dougal [dukedougal@gmail.com](mailto:dukedougal@gmail.com) a écrit :

> It would be good if the documentation explaining mapping  
> [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/mapping/) was clearer and  
> easier to understand, perhaps with examples and more narrative  
> description.
> 
> I've read it but I still don't really understand what mapping is.
> 
> Without wanting to be too picky, sentences like this could be worded  
> differently: "Mapping types are a way to try and divide the documents  
> indexed into the same index into logical groups. "
> 
> thanks

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**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, 3:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/explanation-of-mapping-in-documentation/7529/3 "2017-07-06T03:30:23Z")

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