Docs out of sync regarding default values for geo_shape mapping

[adambro]

Elasticsearch version: number": "5.1.1", "build_hash": "5395e21" from official Docker image

Description of the problem including expected versus actual behavior:

When I query the default mapping values using mapping API with ?include_defaults=true I'm getting the following for geo_shape field:

{
              "type": "geo_shape",
              "tree": "geohash",
              "tree_levels": 0,
              "precision": "-1.0m",
              "strategy": "recursive",
              "distance_error_pct": 0.025,
              "orientation": "RIGHT",
              "points_only": false,
              "coerce": false
 }

Above values do not match the default values mentioned in documentation:
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.1/geo-shape.html#geo-shape-mapping-options

Here's the query result when I've added precision: 1m property to geo_shape mapping:

{
              "type": "geo_shape",
              "tree": "geohash",
              "tree_levels": 0,
              "precision": "1.0m",
              "strategy": "recursive",
              "distance_error_pct": 0.0,
              "orientation": "RIGHT",
              "points_only": false,
              "coerce": false
}

Still tree_levels is 0 (which is confusing). On the other hand distance_error_pct changes to 0 as documented.

Not sure if it's only docs out o date, because:

• tree_levels: 0 seems to be a bug
• precision: "-1.0m" by default does not make sense

[clintongormley]

@nknize could you have a look please?

[adambro]

Hi @clintongormley and @nknize any news on geo search docs being out of date?

[imotov]

The problem here is not that the docs are out of sync, but that we are showing placeholder values instead of default values in the mapping with ?include_defaults=true. Placeholder values are not the actual values that are used, but instead they indicate that the value wasn't specified and we should use defaults instead. The result might be confusing. For example the placeholder value of -1 for precision indicates that the default value of 50m should be used.

[adambro]

@imotov thanks for handling this!