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Query for Locations Near a Point on a Sphere

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About this Task

Before You Begin
Procedure
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You can query for location data that appears near a specified point on a sphere.

To query for location data near a specified point, use the $near operator:

db.<collection>.find( {
   <location field> : {
      $near : {
         $geometry : {
            type : "Point",
            coordinates : [ <longitude>, <latitude> ]
         },
         $maxDistance : <distance in meters>
      }
    }
 } )

About this Task

When you specify longitude and latitude 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.
Specify distance in the $maxDistance field in meters.

Before You Begin

Create a places collection that contains these documents:

db.places.insertMany( [
   {
      loc: { type: "Point", coordinates: [ -73.97, 40.77 ] },
      name: "Central Park",
      category : "Park"
   },
   {
      loc: { type: "Point", coordinates: [ -73.88, 40.78 ] },
      name: "La Guardia Airport",
      category: "Airport"
   },
   {
      loc: { type: "Point", coordinates: [ -1.83, 51.18 ] },
      name: "Stonehenge",
      category : "Monument"
   }
] )

The values in the loc field are GeoJSON points.

To query for location data with the $near operator, you must create a geospatial index on the field that contains the location data.
Create a 2dsphere index on the loc field:
```
db.places.createIndex( { "loc": "2dsphere" } )
```

Procedure

Use $near to query the collection. The following $near query returns documents that have a loc field within 5000 meters of a GeoJSON point located at [ -73.92, 40.78 ]:

db.places.find( {
   loc: {
      $near: {
         $geometry: {
            type: "Point",
            coordinates: [ -73.92, 40.78 ]
         },
         $maxDistance : 5000
      }
   }
} )

Output:

[
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63f7c3b15e5eefbdfef81cab"),
    loc: { type: 'Point', coordinates: [ -73.88, 40.78 ] },
    name: 'La Guardia Airport',
    category: 'Airport'
  },
  {
    _id: ObjectId("63f7c3b15e5eefbdfef81caa"),
    loc: { type: 'Point', coordinates: [ -73.97, 40.77 ] },
    name: 'Central Park',
    category: 'Park'
  }
]

Results are sorted by distance from the queried point, from nearest to farthest.

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← Query for Locations Bound by a Polygon

Query for Locations that Intersect a GeoJSON Object →