Type to search.

Shape field type

Serverless

Elastic Cloud Serverless projects are autoscaled environments, fully managed by Elastic and available on Elastic Cloud.

Availability

  • Generally available

    This functionality is generally available and ready for production usage.

Serverless interfaces and procedures might differ from classic Elastic Stack deployments.

Stack

The Elastic Stack includes Elastic's core products such as Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash, and Beats.

Availability

  • Generally available

    This functionality is generally available and ready for production usage.

Unless stated otherwise on the page, this functionality is available when your Elastic Stack is deployed on Elastic Cloud Hosted, Elastic Cloud Enterprise, Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes, and self-managed environments.

This documentation corresponds to the latest patch available for each minor version. If you're not using the latest patch, check the release notes for changes.

The shape data type facilitates the indexing of and searching with arbitrary x, y cartesian shapes such as rectangles and polygons. It can be used to index and query geometries whose coordinates fall in a 2-dimensional planar coordinate system.

You can query documents using this type using shape Query.

Like the geo_shape field type, the shape field mapping maps GeoJSON or Well-Known Text (WKT) geometry objects to the shape type. To enable it, users must explicitly map fields to the shape type.

Option Description Default
orientation Optionally define how to interpret vertex order forpolygons / multipolygons. This parameter defines one of two coordinatesystem rules (Right-hand or Left-hand) each of which can be specified in threedifferent ways. 1. Right-hand rule: right, ccw, counterclockwise,2. Left-hand rule: left, cw, clockwise. The default orientation(counterclockwise) complies with the OGC standard which definesouter ring vertices in counterclockwise order with inner ring(s) vertices (holes)in clockwise order. Setting this parameter in the geo_shape mapping explicitlysets vertex order for the coordinate list of a geo_shape field but can beoverridden in each individual GeoJSON or WKT document. ccw
ignore_malformed If true, malformed GeoJSON or WKT shapes are ignored. Iffalse (default), malformed GeoJSON and WKT shapes throw an exception and reject theentire document. false
ignore_z_value If true (default) three dimension points will be accepted (stored in source)but only latitude and longitude values will be indexed; the third dimension is ignored. If false,geopoints containing any more than latitude and longitude (two dimensions) values throw an exceptionand reject the whole document. true
coerce If true unclosed linear rings in polygons will be automatically closed. false

Like geo_shape, the shape field type is indexed by decomposing geometries into a triangular mesh and indexing each triangle as a 7 dimension point in a BKD tree. The coordinates provided to the indexer are single precision floating point values so the field guarantees the same accuracy provided by the java virtual machine (typically 1E-38). For polygons/multi-polygons the performance of the tessellator primarily depends on the number of vertices that define the geometry.

IMPORTANT NOTES

CONTAINS relation query - shape queries with relation defined as contains are supported for indices created with ElasticSearch 7.5.0 or higher.

Example

JSON 
PUT /example
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "geometry": {
        "type": "shape"
      }
    }
  }
}

This mapping definition maps the geometry field to the shape type. The indexer uses single precision floats for the vertex values so accuracy is guaranteed to the same precision as float values provided by the java virtual machine approximately (typically 1E-38).

Shapes can be represented using either the GeoJSON or Well-Known Text (WKT) format. The following table provides a mapping of GeoJSON and WKT to Elasticsearch types:

GeoJSON Type WKT Type Elasticsearch Type Description
Point POINT point A single x, y coordinate.
LineString LINESTRING linestring An arbitrary line given two or more points.
Polygon POLYGON polygon A closed polygon whose first and last pointmust match, thus requiring n + 1 vertices to create an n-sidedpolygon and a minimum of 4 vertices.
MultiPoint MULTIPOINT multipoint An array of unconnected, but likely relatedpoints.
MultiLineString MULTILINESTRING multilinestring An array of separate linestrings.
MultiPolygon MULTIPOLYGON multipolygon An array of separate polygons.
GeometryCollection GEOMETRYCOLLECTION geometrycollection A shape collection similar to themulti* shapes except that multiple types can coexist (e.g., a Point and a LineString).
N/A BBOX envelope A bounding rectangle, or envelope, specified byspecifying only the top left and bottom right points.
Note

For all types, both the inner type and coordinates fields are required.

In GeoJSON and WKT, and therefore Elasticsearch, the correct coordinate order is (X, Y) within coordinate arrays. This differs from many Geospatial APIs (e.g., geo_shape) that typically use the colloquial latitude, longitude (Y, X) ordering.

A point is a single coordinate in cartesian x, y space. It may represent the location of an item of interest in a virtual world or projected space. The following is an example of a point in GeoJSON.

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "point",
    "coordinates" : [-377.03653, 389.897676]
  }
}

The following is an example of a point in WKT:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "POINT (-377.03653 389.897676)"
}

A linestring defined by an array of two or more positions. By specifying only two points, the linestring will represent a straight line. Specifying more than two points creates an arbitrary path. The following is an example of a LineString in GeoJSON.

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "linestring",
    "coordinates" : [[-377.03653, 389.897676], [-377.009051, 389.889939]]
  }
}

The following is an example of a LineString in WKT:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "LINESTRING (-377.03653 389.897676, -377.009051 389.889939)"
}

A polygon is defined by a list of a list of points. The first and last points in each (outer) list must be the same (the polygon must be closed). The following is an example of a Polygon in GeoJSON.

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "polygon",
    "coordinates" : [
      [ [1000.0, -1001.0], [1001.0, -1001.0], [1001.0, -1000.0], [1000.0, -1000.0], [1000.0, -1001.0] ]
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a Polygon in WKT:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "POLYGON ((1000.0 -1001.0, 1001.0 -1001.0, 1001.0 -1000.0, 1000.0 -1000.0, 1000.0 -1001.0))"
}

The first array represents the outer boundary of the polygon, the other arrays represent the interior shapes ("holes"). The following is a GeoJSON example of a polygon with a hole:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "polygon",
    "coordinates" : [
      [ [1000.0, -1001.0], [1001.0, -1001.0], [1001.0, -1000.0], [1000.0, -1000.0], [1000.0, -1001.0] ],
      [ [1000.2, -1001.2], [1000.8, -1001.2], [1000.8, -1001.8], [1000.2, -1001.8], [1000.2, -1001.2] ]
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a Polygon with a hole in WKT:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "POLYGON ((1000.0 1000.0, 1001.0 1000.0, 1001.0 1001.0, 1000.0 1001.0, 1000.0 1000.0), (1000.2 1000.2, 1000.8 1000.2, 1000.8 1000.8, 1000.2 1000.8, 1000.2 1000.2))"
}

IMPORTANT NOTE: WKT does not enforce a specific order for vertices. GeoJSON mandates that the outer polygon must be counterclockwise and interior shapes must be clockwise, which agrees with the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Simple Feature Access specification for vertex ordering.

By default Elasticsearch expects vertices in counterclockwise (right hand rule) order. If data is provided in clockwise order (left hand rule) the user can change the orientation parameter either in the field mapping, or as a parameter provided with the document.

The following is an example of overriding the orientation parameters on a document:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "polygon",
    "orientation" : "clockwise",
    "coordinates" : [
      [ [1000.0, 1000.0], [1000.0, 1001.0], [1001.0, 1001.0], [1001.0, 1000.0], [1000.0, 1000.0] ]
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a list of GeoJSON points:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "multipoint",
    "coordinates" : [
      [1002.0, 1002.0], [1003.0, 2000.0]
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a list of WKT points:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "MULTIPOINT (1002.0 2000.0, 1003.0 2000.0)"
}

The following is an example of a list of GeoJSON linestrings:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "multilinestring",
    "coordinates" : [
      [ [1002.0, 200.0], [1003.0, 200.0], [1003.0, 300.0], [1002.0, 300.0] ],
      [ [1000.0, 100.0], [1001.0, 100.0], [1001.0, 100.0], [1000.0, 100.0] ],
      [ [1000.2, 100.2], [1000.8, 100.2], [1000.8, 100.8], [1000.2, 100.8] ]
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a list of WKT linestrings:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "MULTILINESTRING ((1002.0 200.0, 1003.0 200.0, 1003.0 300.0, 1002.0 300.0), (1000.0 100.0, 1001.0 100.0, 1001.0 100.0, 1000.0 100.0), (1000.2 0.2, 1000.8 100.2, 1000.8 100.8, 1000.2 100.8))"
}

The following is an example of a list of GeoJSON polygons (second polygon contains a hole):

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "multipolygon",
    "coordinates" : [
      [ [[1002.0, 200.0], [1003.0, 200.0], [1003.0, 300.0], [1002.0, 300.0], [1002.0, 200.0]] ],
      [ [[1000.0, 200.0], [1001.0, 100.0], [1001.0, 100.0], [1000.0, 100.0], [1000.0, 100.0]],
        [[1000.2, 200.2], [1000.8, 100.2], [1000.8, 100.8], [1000.2, 100.8], [1000.2, 100.2]] ]
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a list of WKT polygons (second polygon contains a hole):

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "MULTIPOLYGON (((1002.0 200.0, 1003.0 200.0, 1003.0 300.0, 1002.0 300.0, 102.0 200.0)), ((1000.0 100.0, 1001.0 100.0, 1001.0 100.0, 1000.0 100.0, 1000.0 100.0), (1000.2 100.2, 1000.8 100.2, 1000.8 100.8, 1000.2 100.8, 1000.2 100.2)))"
}

The following is an example of a collection of GeoJSON geometry objects:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type": "geometrycollection",
    "geometries": [
      {
        "type": "point",
        "coordinates": [1000.0, 100.0]
      },
      {
        "type": "linestring",
        "coordinates": [ [1001.0, 100.0], [1002.0, 100.0] ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

The following is an example of a collection of WKT geometry objects:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "GEOMETRYCOLLECTION (POINT (1000.0 100.0), LINESTRING (1001.0 100.0, 1002.0 100.0))"
}

Envelope

Elasticsearch supports an envelope type, which consists of coordinates for upper left and lower right points of the shape to represent a bounding rectangle in the format [[minX, maxY], [maxX, minY]]:

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : {
    "type" : "envelope",
    "coordinates" : [ [1000.0, 100.0], [1001.0, 100.0] ]
  }
}

The following is an example of an envelope using the WKT BBOX format:

NOTE: WKT specification expects the following order: minLon, maxLon, maxLat, minLat.

JSON 
POST /example/_doc
{
  "location" : "BBOX (1000.0, 1002.0, 2000.0, 1000.0)"
}

Sorting and Retrieving index Shapes

Due to the complex input structure and index representation of shapes, it is not currently possible to sort shapes or retrieve their fields directly. The shape value is only retrievable through the _source field.