Elasticsearch: Add field on the fly like driving distance by a user searching

Question

Is there a way to dynamically append a driving distance of the CONSUMER in ES?

I am trying to create an app and sort PROVIDERS by driving distance.

One thing I could think of is get all the PROVIDERS within a range then put them in an array. Iterate to add driving distance then sort array. But this is not efficient.

Any suggestions?

thank you!

Answer 1

You can use runtime fields to achieve what you want, A runtime field is a field that is evaluated at query time. Runtime fields enable you to:

• Add fields to existing documents without reindexing your data Start

• working with your data without understanding how it’s structured

• Override the value returned from an indexed field at query time

• Define fields for a specific use without modifying the underlying
  schema

For more information you can check Elasticsearch blog post here, and for runtime fields here.