spatial view fails with a function_clause error - couchdb

Question

I wan't to use GeoCouch but it seems I can't get the setup right
setup:
Ubuntu 14.10
CouchDB 1.6.1, built from source
GeoCouch: I couldn't build it from the newvtree branch as indicated in the README, so I tried with the couchdb1.3.x branch as in this gist (+commentary) adapted to 1.6.1
the data comes from here and is passed in a db with this design doc:
{
"_id": "_design/geotest",
"_rev": "7-6e930896b441ace3dc1d46ff1dd4f09e",
"language": "javascript",
"spatial": {
"points": "function(doc){ if (doc.latitude && doc.longitude){emit([doc.latitude, doc.longitude], null)}}"
}
}
curl $DB/_design/geotest/_spatial/points?bbox=46,16,48.2,16.4 gives me an Empty reply from server while this is what appears in the logs:
[Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:55:12 GMT] [info] [<0.32.0>] Apache CouchDB has started on http://0.0.0.0:5984/
[Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:57:40 GMT] [info] [<0.304.0>] Opening index for db: geoexample idx: _design/geotest sig: "ad4c001590440653d6856cc41edf57d5"
[Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:57:40 GMT] [info] [<0.308.0>] Starting index update for db: geoexample idx: _design/geotest
[Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:57:41 GMT] [error] [emulator] Error in process <0.314.0> with exit value: {function_clause,[{couch_spatial_updater,process_result,[[[3.317463e+01,-1.173577e+02],null]],[{file,"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},{line,286}]},{couch_spatial_updater,'-merge_results/3-lc$^1/1-1-',1,[{file,"src/geocouch/couch_sp...
[Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:57:41 GMT] [error] [<0.120.0>] {error_report,<0.31.0>,
{<0.120.0>,crash_report,
[[{initial_call,
{mochiweb_acceptor,init,
['Argument__1','Argument__2','Argument__3']}},
{pid,<0.120.0>},
{registered_name,[]},
{error_info,
{error,badarg,
[{erlang,list_to_binary,
[[{couch_spatial_updater,process_result,
[[[33.174628,-117.357673],null]],
[{file,
"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},
{line,286}]},
{couch_spatial_updater,
'-merge_results/3-lc$^1/1-1-',1,
[{file,
"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},
{line,189}]},
{couch_spatial_updater,
'-merge_results/3-lc$^0/1-0-',1,
[{file,
"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},
{line,189}]},
{couch_spatial_updater,merge_results,3,
[{file,
"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},
{line,189}]},
{lists,foldl,3,[{file,"lists.erl"},{line,1261}]},
{couch_spatial_updater,merge_results,4,
[{file,
"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},
{line,180}]},
{couch_spatial_updater,write_results,2,
[{file,
"src/geocouch/couch_spatial_updater.erl"},
{line,155}]}]],
[]},
{couch_httpd,error_info,1,
[{file,"couch_httpd.erl"},{line,818}]},
{couch_httpd,send_error,2,
[{file,"couch_httpd.erl"},{line,925}]},
{couch_httpd,handle_request_int,5,
[{file,"couch_httpd.erl"},{line,353}]},
{mochiweb_http,headers,5,
[{file,"mochiweb_http.erl"},{line,94}]},
{proc_lib,init_p_do_apply,3,
[{file,"proc_lib.erl"},{line,239}]}]}},
{ancestors,
[couch_httpd,couch_secondary_services,
couch_server_sup,<0.32.0>]},
{messages,[]},
{links,[<0.104.0>,#Port<0.2715>]},
{dictionary,
[{mochiweb_request_qs,[{"bbox","46,16,48.2,16.4"}]},
{couch_rewrite_count,0},
{mochiweb_request_cookie,[]}]},
{trap_exit,false},
{status,running},
{heap_size,6772},
{stack_size,27},
{reductions,6588}],
[]]}}
I tried variations on this setup, but the closest answer I found related to this kind of error invites to install a version of CouchDB that stopped being even available on Apache mirrors, while apparently some people did make GeoCouch work with CouchDB 1.6.1, at least on OS X, so I guess it is just that I'm doing something wrong, but what?!? Thank in advance for any clue

Answer 1

If you use the couchdb1.3.x branch, you need to emit a GeoJSON geometry. So in your case that would be:
emit({"type": "Point", "coordinates": [doc.longitude, doc.latitude]}, null);