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Geospatial Query

$near

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  • Definition
  • Behavior
  • Examples

Definition

$near

Specifies a point for which a geospatial query returns the documents from nearest to farthest. The $near operator can specify either a GeoJSON point or legacy coordinate point.

$near requires a geospatial index:

  • 2dsphere index if specifying a GeoJSON point.

  • 2d index if specifying a point using legacy coordinates.

To specify a GeoJSON point, $near operator requires a 2dsphere index and has the following syntax:

{
   <location field>: {
     $near: {
       $geometry: {
          type: "Point" ,
          coordinates: [ <longitude> , <latitude> ]
       },
       $maxDistance: <distance in meters>,
       $minDistance: <distance in meters>
     }
   }
}

Important

If specifying latitude and longitude 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.

When specifying a GeoJSON point, you can use the optional $minDistance and $maxDistance specifications to limit the $near results by distance in meters:

  • $minDistance limits the results to those documents that are at least the specified distance from the center point.

  • $maxDistance limits the results to those documents that are at most the specified distance from the center point.

To specify a point using legacy coordinates, $near requires a 2d index and has the following syntax:

{
  $near: [ <x>, <y> ],
  $maxDistance: <distance in radians>
}

When specifying a legacy coordinate, you can use the optional $maxDistance specification to limit the $near results by distance in radians. $maxDistance limits the results to those documents that are at most the specified distance from the center point.

Behavior

Special Indexes Restriction

You cannot combine the $near operator, which requires a special geospatial index, with a query operator or command that requires another special index. For example you cannot combine $near with the $text query.

Sort Operation

The $near operator sorts documents by distance.

  • If you use the sort() method in your query, MongoDB performs a second sort operation, re-ordering the matching documents. When querying large collections, this can negatively affect query performance.

  • If the order of the documents is not important to you, consider using the $geoWithin operator instead, as it returns unsorted results.

  • $near is a Match Execution operator and is not permitted in aggregation pipelines.

Validation

Starting in MongoDB 8.0, $near, $nearSphere, and $geoNear validate that the type of the specified GeoJSON points is Point. Any other input type returns an error.

Examples

Query on GeoJSON Data

Important

If specifying latitude and longitude 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.

Consider a collection places that has a 2dsphere index.

The following example returns documents that are at least 1000 meters from and at most 5000 meters from the specified GeoJSON point, sorted from nearest to farthest:

db.places.find(
   {
     location:
       { $near :
          {
            $geometry: { type: "Point",  coordinates: [ -73.9667, 40.78 ] },
            $minDistance: 1000,
            $maxDistance: 5000
          }
       }
   }
)

Query on Legacy Coordinates

Important

If specifying latitude and longitude 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.

Consider a collection legacy2d that has a 2d index.

The following example returns documents that are at most 0.10 radians from the specified legacy coordinate pair, sorted from nearest to farthest:

db.legacy2d.find(
   { location : { $near : [ -73.9667, 40.78 ], $maxDistance: 0.10 } }
)

Back

$geoWithin