Filter by geo bounding box

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 \
  -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])" }'

client.index('restaurants').search('', {
  filter: ['_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])'],
})

client.index('restaurants').search('Batman', {
  'filter': '_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])'
})

$client->index('restaurants')->search('', [
  'filter' => '_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])'
]);

SearchRequest searchRequest = SearchRequest.builder().q()("").filter(new String[] {
    "_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])"
  }).build();
client.index("restaurants").search(searchRequest);

client.index('restaurants').search('', { filter: ['_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])'] })

client.Index("restaurants").Search("", &meilisearch.SearchRequest{
  Filter: "_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])",
})

SearchQuery filters = new SearchQuery()
{
    Filter = "_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])"
};
var restaurants = await client.Index("restaurants").SearchAsync<Restaurant>("restaurants", filters);

let results: SearchResults<Restaurant> = client
  .index("restaurants")
  .search()
  .with_filter("_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])")
  .execute()
  .await
  .unwrap();

let searchParameters = SearchParameters(
    filter: "_geoBoundingBox([45.494181, 9.214024], [45.449484, 9.179175])"
)
client.index("restaurants").search(searchParameters) { (result: Result<Searchable<Restaurant>, Swift.Error>) in
    switch result {
    case .success(let searchResult):
        print(searchResult)
    case .failure(let error):
        print(error)
    }
}

await client.index('restaurants').search(
      '',
      SearchQuery(
        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.

Capabilities

Full-text search

Hybrid and semantic search

Geo search

Agentic search

Multi-search

Filtering, sorting, and faceting

Personalization

Analytics

Security and tenant tokens

Search rules

Platform

Indexing

Syntax

Filter by bounding box

Use with map-based UIs

Combine with other filters

Geo search overview

Search API reference

​Syntax

​Filter by bounding box

​Use with map-based UIs

​Combine with other filters

Geo search overview

Search API reference

Syntax

Filter by bounding box

Use with map-based UIs

Combine with other filters