Geospatial Commands

GEOADD-&-GEODIST

Store latitude/longitude data and find nearby locations. Perfect for store finders, delivery apps, and location-based features.

You'll Learn

  • GEOADD for storing coordinates
  • GEODIST for calculating distances
  • GEOSEARCH for finding nearby items
  • How Redimo displays geo data
Free Download

See Your Data, Not Terminal Text

Redimo visualizes every Redis data type beautifully. Edit inline, undo mistakes, stay safe in production.

1. What Are Geo Commands?

Geo commands let you store locations (longitude, latitude) and perform spatial queries like "find all stores within 10km." Under the hood, Redis uses a Sorted Set with geohash-encoded scores for efficient querying.

This means all Sorted Set commands (ZRANGE, ZREM, ZSCORE) also work on geo data. The "score" is the geohash, a clever encoding that maps 2D coordinates to a 1D number while preserving proximity.

Syntax

GEOADD key longitude latitude member [lon lat member ...]
GEODIST key member1 member2 [unit]   # unit: m, km, mi, ft
GEOPOS key member [member ...]        # Get coordinates
GEOSEARCH key FROMMEMBER member BYRADIUS radius unit
GEOSEARCH key FROMLONLAT lon lat BYRADIUS radius unit
GEOSEARCH key FROMLONLAT lon lat BYBOX width height unit
GEOHASH key member [member ...]       # Get geohash string

Distance Units

  • m - meters (default)
  • km - kilometers
  • mi - miles
  • ft - feet

Common Use Cases

  • • Store/restaurant finders
  • • Delivery radius checks
  • • Nearby user matching
  • • Geofencing alerts

2. The CLI Way (Hard Mode)

Adding locations and finding nearby places in CLI means typing coordinates carefully and parsing raw output:

Adding Locations

127.0.0.1:6379> GEOADD stores:coffee -73.985428 40.748817 "empire-state"
(integer) 1
127.0.0.1:6379> GEOADD stores:coffee -73.968285 40.785091 "central-park"
(integer) 1
127.0.0.1:6379> GEOADD stores:coffee -74.044500 40.689247 "statue-liberty"
(integer) 1
127.0.0.1:6379> GEOADD stores:coffee -73.989308 40.757988 "times-square"
(integer) 1

Querying Geo Data

127.0.0.1:6379> GEODIST stores:coffee "empire-state" "central-park" km
"4.1543"
127.0.0.1:6379> GEOPOS stores:coffee "empire-state"
1) 1) "-73.98542732000351"
   2) "40.74881653388516"
127.0.0.1:6379> GEOSEARCH stores:coffee FROMMEMBER "empire-state" BYRADIUS 5 km
1) "empire-state"
2) "times-square"
3) "central-park"
127.0.0.1:6379> GEOSEARCH stores:coffee FROMLONLAT -73.98 40.75 BYRADIUS 5 km WITHDIST
1) 1) "empire-state"
   2) "0.5234"
2) 1) "times-square"
   2) "1.0023"
3) 1) "central-park"
   2) "3.9876"

The Problem

Coordinates are just numbers - easy to swap longitude and latitude by mistake. No map visualization to verify your data is correct. Results are raw lists without spatial context. And there's no way to know if you're using the right coordinate order without checking documentation.

3. The Redimo Way (Smart Mode)

Redimo recognizes Geo data (it's a ZSet internally) and displays coordinates clearly. Each member shows its latitude and longitude in a readable format. Since it's a Sorted Set, all ZSet features work too.

What Redimo Does for Geo Data:

  • ●Clear Coordinate Display: Each member shows both member name and its decoded coordinates, not just the geohash score.
  • ●ZSet Compatibility: Since Geo uses Sorted Sets, all ZSET features work - sorting, filtering, range queries.
  • ●Inline Editing: Edit member names or remove locations with standard ZSet controls.
  • ●Member Count: See total location count at a glance.

CLI Pain Points

  • • Raw coordinate numbers
  • • No visual verification
  • • Easy to swap lon/lat
  • • Geohash scores are unreadable
  • • No spatial context

Redimo Solutions

  • • Clear member + coordinates
  • • Decoded coordinate display
  • • ZSet features all work
  • • Inline coordinate editing
  • • Member management UI

4. Common Geo Patterns

Store Finder

# Add store locations
GEOADD stores:pizza -122.4194 37.7749 "sf-downtown"
GEOADD stores:pizza -122.4094 37.7849 "sf-soma"
GEOADD stores:pizza -122.3994 37.7649 "sf-mission"

# Find stores within 2km of user's location
GEOSEARCH stores:pizza FROMLONLAT -122.41 37.78 BYRADIUS 2 km

# With distances
GEOSEARCH stores:pizza FROMLONLAT -122.41 37.78 BYRADIUS 2 km WITHDIST WITHCOORD

# Sort by distance (ASC = closest first)
GEOSEARCH stores:pizza FROMLONLAT -122.41 37.78 BYRADIUS 5 km ASC COUNT 5

Delivery Zone Check

# Define delivery hub
GEOADD delivery:hubs -73.985 40.748 "hub-manhattan"

# Check if customer is within delivery radius
# Returns distance - if nil, member doesn't exist
GEODIST delivery:hubs "hub-manhattan" "customer:123" km
# If distance > max_radius, reject order

# Alternative: add customer temporarily, search, remove
GEOADD delivery:temp -73.990 40.750 "customer:123"
GEOSEARCH delivery:temp FROMMEMBER "customer:123" BYRADIUS 5 km
ZREM delivery:temp "customer:123"

Nearby Users

# Update user location on GPS ping
GEOADD users:active -122.4194 37.7749 "user:1001"

# Find users near current user
GEOSEARCH users:active FROMMEMBER "user:1001" BYRADIUS 1 km WITHDIST

# Find users in a rectangular area (city block)
GEOSEARCH users:active FROMLONLAT -122.42 37.78 BYBOX 500 500 m

5. Understanding Geohash

Geo commands work because of geohashing - encoding 2D coordinates into a 1D value that preserves proximity:

What is a Geohash?

A geohash divides the Earth into a grid and encodes each cell as a string. Nearby locations share common prefixes. "sqc8b49rny0" and "sqc8b49rny1" are close together.

How Redis Uses It

Redis converts the geohash to a 52-bit integer and stores it as the Sorted Set score. This allows range queries to efficiently find nearby points.

Precision Trade-offs

Redis uses 52-bit precision, giving ~0.6mm accuracy. More than enough for any real-world application. The geohash string is 11 characters.

Working with Geohash

# Get geohash string (useful for debugging)
GEOHASH stores:coffee "empire-state"
# Returns: "dr5ru6j8862"

# Geohash prefixes indicate proximity
# dr5ru... locations are all in the same area

# You can use geohash in external tools
# Many mapping services accept geohash strings

6. Pro Tips

Coordinate Order: Longitude First!

Redis uses longitude, latitude order. This is opposite of Google Maps (lat, lng). Double-check your order! Wrong order = locations in the wrong hemisphere.

GEOSEARCH Options (Redis 6.2+)

# Search by radius from coordinates
GEOSEARCH key FROMLONLAT -122.4 37.8 BYRADIUS 10 km

# Search by radius from existing member
GEOSEARCH key FROMMEMBER "store:1" BYRADIUS 5 mi

# Search by bounding box
GEOSEARCH key FROMLONLAT -122.4 37.8 BYBOX 10 10 km

# Add options
GEOSEARCH key FROMLONLAT -122.4 37.8 BYRADIUS 10 km \
  WITHDIST \     # Include distance
  WITHCOORD \    # Include coordinates
  WITHHASH \     # Include geohash
  ASC \          # Sort by distance (ascending)
  COUNT 10        # Limit results

GEORADIUS vs GEOSEARCH

GEORADIUS is deprecated in Redis 6.2+. Use GEOSEARCH instead - it's more flexible and supports bounding box queries. GEORADIUS still works but may be removed in future versions.

Redimo Bonus

Since Geo data is stored as a Sorted Set, Redimo's ZSet viewer works perfectly. You'll see the geohash as the score (a large integer), and can use all ZSet operations. The key difference is that Geo commands handle coordinate encoding/decoding for you.

Ready to Map?

Stop guessing if your coordinates are correct.
Download Redimo and manage geo data visually.

Download Redimo - It's Free

Continue Learning

Beginner

GET & SET

Store and retrieve string values - the foundation of Redis

Beginner

HSET & HGET

Store objects as field-value pairs without JSON serialization

Beginner

LPUSH & RPUSH

Ordered collections for queues, stacks, and activity feeds

Beginner

SADD & SMEMBERS

Unique collections with powerful set operations

Free Download

Stop Fighting with CLI.
Visualize Your Data.

Redimo makes every Valkey and Redis command easier. Visual data, inline editing, Safe Mode for production.

Download Redimo - It's Free