diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java
index c0158f61c3af7..7b083c2ce9e0f 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapper.java
@@ -546,11 +546,24 @@ protected void doXContentBody(XContentBuilder builder, boolean includeDefaults,
         if (includeDefaults || fieldType().tree().equals(Defaults.TREE) == false) {
             builder.field(Names.TREE, fieldType().tree());
         }
-        if (includeDefaults || fieldType().treeLevels() != 0) {
+
+        if (fieldType().treeLevels() != 0) {
             builder.field(Names.TREE_LEVELS, fieldType().treeLevels());
+        } else if(includeDefaults && fieldType().precisionInMeters() == -1) { // defaults only make sense if precision is not specified
+            if ("geohash".equals(fieldType().tree())) {
+                builder.field(Names.TREE_LEVELS, Defaults.GEOHASH_LEVELS);
+            } else if ("legacyquadtree".equals(fieldType().tree())) {
+                builder.field(Names.TREE_LEVELS, Defaults.QUADTREE_LEVELS);
+            } else if ("quadtree".equals(fieldType().tree())) {
+                builder.field(Names.TREE_LEVELS, Defaults.QUADTREE_LEVELS);
+            } else {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown prefix tree type [" + fieldType().tree() + "]");
+            }
         }
-        if (includeDefaults || fieldType().precisionInMeters() != -1) {
+        if (fieldType().precisionInMeters() != -1) {
             builder.field(Names.TREE_PRESISION, DistanceUnit.METERS.toString(fieldType().precisionInMeters()));
+        } else if (includeDefaults && fieldType().treeLevels() == 0) { // defaults only make sense if tree levels are not specified
+            builder.field(Names.TREE_PRESISION, DistanceUnit.METERS.toString(50));
         }
         if (includeDefaults || fieldType().strategyName() != Defaults.STRATEGY) {
             builder.field(Names.STRATEGY, fieldType().strategyName());
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapperTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapperTests.java
index 201e749cd22e7..00b3b7c7f3e73 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/GeoShapeFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.geo.GeoUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.geo.builders.ShapeBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ESSingleNodeTestCase;
@@ -34,6 +36,7 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Collections;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.GeoPointFieldMapper.Names.IGNORE_Z_VALUE;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
@@ -517,4 +520,78 @@ public void testEmptyName() throws Exception {
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("name cannot be empty string"));
     }
 
+    public void testSerializeDefaults() throws Exception {
+        DocumentMapperParser parser = createIndex("test").mapperService().documentMapperParser();
+        {
+            String mapping = Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("location")
+                .field("type", "geo_shape")
+                .field("tree", "quadtree")
+                .endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject());
+            DocumentMapper defaultMapper = parser.parse("type1", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+            String serialized = toXContentString((GeoShapeFieldMapper) defaultMapper.mappers().getMapper("location"));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"precision\":\"50.0m\""));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"tree_levels\":21"));
+        }
+        {
+            String mapping = Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("location")
+                .field("type", "geo_shape")
+                .field("tree", "geohash")
+                .endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject());
+            DocumentMapper defaultMapper = parser.parse("type1", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+            String serialized = toXContentString((GeoShapeFieldMapper) defaultMapper.mappers().getMapper("location"));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"precision\":\"50.0m\""));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"tree_levels\":9"));
+        }
+        {
+            String mapping = Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("location")
+                .field("type", "geo_shape")
+                .field("tree", "quadtree")
+                .field("tree_levels", "6")
+                .endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject());
+            DocumentMapper defaultMapper = parser.parse("type1", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+            String serialized = toXContentString((GeoShapeFieldMapper) defaultMapper.mappers().getMapper("location"));
+            assertFalse(serialized, serialized.contains("\"precision\":"));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"tree_levels\":6"));
+        }
+        {
+            String mapping = Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("location")
+                .field("type", "geo_shape")
+                .field("tree", "quadtree")
+                .field("precision", "6")
+                .endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject());
+            DocumentMapper defaultMapper = parser.parse("type1", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+            String serialized = toXContentString((GeoShapeFieldMapper) defaultMapper.mappers().getMapper("location"));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"precision\":\"6.0m\""));
+            assertFalse(serialized, serialized.contains("\"tree_levels\":"));
+        }
+        {
+            String mapping = Strings.toString(XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type1")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("location")
+                .field("type", "geo_shape")
+                .field("tree", "quadtree")
+                .field("precision", "6m")
+                .field("tree_levels", "5")
+                .endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject());
+            DocumentMapper defaultMapper = parser.parse("type1", new CompressedXContent(mapping));
+            String serialized = toXContentString((GeoShapeFieldMapper) defaultMapper.mappers().getMapper("location"));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"precision\":\"6.0m\""));
+            assertTrue(serialized, serialized.contains("\"tree_levels\":5"));
+        }
+    }
+
+    public String toXContentString(GeoShapeFieldMapper mapper) throws IOException {
+        XContentBuilder builder = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject();
+        mapper.doXContentBody(builder, true, new ToXContent.MapParams(Collections.singletonMap("include_defaults", "true")));
+        return Strings.toString(builder.endObject());
+    }
+
 }