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$box

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  • Definition
  • Behavior
  • Example
$box

Specifies a rectangle for a geospatial $geoWithin query to return documents that are within the bounds of the rectangle, according to their point-based location data. When used with the $box operator, $geoWithin returns documents based on grid coordinates and does not query for GeoJSON shapes.

To use the $box operator, you must specify the bottom left and top right corners of the rectangle in an array object:

{
<location field>: {
$geoWithin: {
$box: [
[ <bottom left coordinates> ],
[ <upper right coordinates> ]
]
}
}
}

Important

If you use longitude and latitude, specify longitude first.

The query calculates distances using flat (planar) geometry.

Applications can use $box without having a geospatial index. However, geospatial indexes support much faster queries than the unindexed equivalents.

Only the 2d geospatial index supports $box.

The following example query returns all documents that are within the box having points at: [ 0 , 0 ], [ 0 , 100 ], [ 100 , 0 ], and [ 100 , 100 ].

db.places.find( {
loc: { $geoWithin: { $box: [ [ 0, 0 ], [ 100, 100 ] ] } }
} )
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