Mongoose, geospatial query for users - node.js

Question

I'm currently working with nodeJS, using express and mongoDB and mongoose for an ORM. When I create a User and save them to the database I would like to query their location and save it. This is what I am currently doing, I have a UserSchema and a location Schema.
My userSchema just has the location stored as a string and in the location Schema itself I have
var locationSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
name: String,
loc: {
type: [Number],
index: '2d'
}
});
mongoose.model('Location', LocationSchema);
And then in my controller, I have the following
import json from '../helpers/json;
import mongoose from 'mongoose';
var User = mongoose.model('User);
module.exports = function() {
var obj = {};
obj.create = function (req, res) {
var user = new User(req.body);
user.roles = ['authenticated']
user.location = getLocation(req);
user.save(function (err) {
if (err) {
return json.bad(err, res);
}
json.good({
record: user,
});
});
};
return obj;
function getLocation (req) {
var limit = req.query.limit || 10;
var maxDistance = req.query.distance || 1;
maxDistance /= 6371;
var coords = [];
coords[0] = req.query.longitude;
coords[1] = req.query.lattitude;
Location.findOne({
loc: {
$near: coords,
$maxDistance: maxDistance
}
}).limit(limit).exec(function (err, location) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);
}
return location.name;
});
}
};
I have also tried using location.find instead of findOne and returning locations[0].name.
The error is thrown says cast to the number failed for value undefined at loc.
Do I need to send the location data to the server from the client side? If so, is there a best method to implement this? I have heard of the HTML5 Geolocation API, but I have never utilized it.
Thank you!
!!! -- UPDATE --- !!
I have started using the Geolocation API on the client side to send this data to the server in the request. I am using angular on the client side like so
(function() {
'use strict';
angular.module('opinionated.authentication')
.controller('SignupController', SignupController);
/* #ngInject */
function SignupController ($state, appUsers, appToast) {
var vm = this;
vm.reset = reset;
vm.create = create;
vm.user = {
name: '',
username: '',
email: '',
password: ''
};
vm.location = {
lattitude: '',
longitude: ''
};
function create = (isValid) {
if (isValid) {
var user = new appUsers.single({
name: vm.user.name,
username: vm.user.username,
email: vm.user.email,
password: vm.user.password,
lattitude: vm.location.lattitude,
longitutde: vm.location.longitude
});
user.$save(function (response) {
if (response.success) {
appToast('Welcome to Opinionated, ' + response.res.record.name);
$state.go('authentication.wizard')
} else {
appToast(response.res.messsage);
}
});
} else {
appToast('Hmm... Something seems to be missing');
}
}
function getPosition() {
navigator.geolocation.getPosition(updatePosition);
}
function updatePosition (position) {
vm.location.lattitude = position.coords.lattitude;
vm.location.longitutde = position.coords.longitude;
}
getPosition();
....
I think it has something to do with how I am getting the coordinates now. My browser prompts me for permission to use my location, so I am at least requesting the data. However, I changed my User Schema to save the lat and long and neither of these values are being saved upon success.

Answer 1

I found my error. I did need to include the Geolocation API to get the users coordinates. I then just saved the coordinates to the database and am using mongo's geo service from there! Everything works fine now.