Filter by geo bounding box

Filter search results within a rectangular geographic area defined by two corner points.

The _geoBoundingBox filter returns documents located within a rectangle defined by its top-right and bottom-left coordinates. This is especially useful for map-based interfaces where you want to display results that fit within the current viewport.

Syntax

_geoBoundingBox([topRightLat, topRightLng], [bottomLeftLat, bottomLeftLng])

Parameter	Type	Description
topRightLat	Float	Latitude of the top-right corner (northern boundary)
topRightLng	Float	Longitude of the top-right corner (eastern boundary)
bottomLeftLat	Float	Latitude of the bottom-left corner (southern boundary)
bottomLeftLng	Float	Longitude of the bottom-left corner (western boundary)

The first coordinate pair defines the top-right (northeast) corner of the rectangle, and the second defines the bottom-left (southwest) corner. This means:

• topRightLat should be greater than bottomLeftLat
• topRightLng should be greater than bottomLeftLng

Filter by bounding box

The following example searches for restaurants within a bounding box covering central Milan:

cURL

curl \
  -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/restaurants/search' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-type:application/json' \
  --data-binary '{ "filter": "_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])" }'

Meilisearch returns all documents with a _geo location inside the specified rectangle:

{
  "hits": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Nàpiz' Milano",
      "address": "Viale Vittorio Veneto, 30, 20124, Milan, Italy",
      "type": "pizza",
      "rating": 9,
      "_geo": {
        "lat": 45.4777599,
        "lng": 9.1967508
      },
      "_geoDistance": 0
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "name": "Artico Gelateria Tradizionale",
      "address": "Via Dogana, 1, 20123 Milan, Italy",
      "type": "ice cream",
      "rating": 10,
      "_geo": {
        "lat": 45.4632046,
        "lng": 9.1719421
      },
      "_geoDistance": 0
    }
  ]
}

When using _geoBoundingBox without _geoRadius or _geoPoint sorting, the _geoDistance field is 0 because there is no reference point to calculate distance from.

Use with map-based UIs

Bounding box filters work well with interactive maps. When a user pans or zooms the map, read the visible bounds from your map library and pass them directly to Meilisearch.

For example, with a JavaScript map library:

// Get the current map bounds
const bounds = map.getBounds();
const ne = bounds.getNorthEast();
const sw = bounds.getSouthWest();

// Search for results in the visible area
const results = await client.index('restaurants').search('', {
  filter: `_geoBoundingBox([${ne.lat}, ${ne.lng}], [${sw.lat}, ${sw.lng}])`
});

Combine with other filters

You can combine _geoBoundingBox with any other filter using AND and OR operators:

curl \
  -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/restaurants/search' \
  -H 'Content-type:application/json' \
  --data-binary '{
    "filter": "_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175]) AND type = pizza"
  }'

Geo search overview

Learn about all geo search capabilities in Meilisearch.

Search API reference

Full reference for the search endpoint and filter parameter.