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• Definition
• Behavior
• Example

Definition

$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:

copy

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

Important

If you use longitude and latitude, specify longitude first.

Behavior

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.

Example

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 ] ] } }
} )