elastic/elasticsearch · error · IllegalArgumentException

Invalid cartesian rectangle: minX (%s) > maxX (%s)

Error message

Invalid cartesian rectangle: minX (%s) > maxX (%s)

What it means

Thrown by SpatialEnvelopeVisitor's visitRectangle override when a cartesian rectangle has minX > maxX. The visitor accumulates an envelope over a geometry; in cartesian space an inverted x-range is invalid (unlike geographic, where minX > maxX can denote an antimeridian-crossing envelope). The message uses String.format with Locale.ROOT and includes both ordinates.

Source

Thrown at libs/geo/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/geometry/utils/SpatialEnvelopeVisitor.java:161

            return maxY;
        }

        public double getMinY() {
            return minY;
        }

        @Override
        public void visitPoint(double x, double y) {
            minX = Math.min(minX, x);
            maxX = Math.max(maxX, x);
            maxY = Math.max(maxY, y);
            minY = Math.min(minY, y);
        }

        @Override
        public void visitRectangle(double minX, double maxX, double maxY, double minY) {
            if (minX > maxX) {
                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                    String.format(Locale.ROOT, "Invalid cartesian rectangle: minX (%s) > maxX (%s)", minX, maxX)
                );
            }
            this.minX = Math.min(this.minX, minX);
            this.maxX = Math.max(this.maxX, maxX);
            this.maxY = Math.max(this.maxY, maxY);
            this.minY = Math.min(this.minY, minY);
        }

        @Override
        public boolean isValid() {
            return minY != Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
        }

        @Override
        public Rectangle getResult() {
            return new Rectangle(minX, maxX, maxY, minY);
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to db6a809a66)

Solutions

1. If the data is geographic, use the geographic variant of the envelope visitor that tolerates minX > maxX.
2. For cartesian data, ensure minX <= maxX before visiting — normalize or reject inverted rectangles upstream.
3. Pass rectangle ordinates in the (minX, maxX, maxY, minY) order expected by visitRectangle.

Example fix

// before
visitor.visitRectangle(170, -170, 20, -20); // cartesian, minX > maxX

// after (geographic data)
// use the geographic envelope visitor that handles antimeridian crossing
// or, for true cartesian:
visitor.visitRectangle(-170, 170, 20, -20);

if (dataIsGeographic) {
    // use a geographic envelope visitor that tolerates minX > maxX
} else {
    if (minX > maxX) throw new IllegalArgumentException("cartesian rectangle minX > maxX");
    visitor.visitRectangle(minX, maxX, maxY, minY);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Visiting a Rectangle whose minX exceeds maxX through a SpatialEnvelopeVisitor configured for cartesian mode. The visitor's visitRectangle method explicitly checks before folding the rectangle into the running envelope.

Common situations: Geographic data (longitudes that cross the antimeridian) routed through a cartesian envelope visitor; argument-order bugs passing (maxX, minX); inverted rectangles coming from upstream bounding-box computations.

Related errors

• max x cannot be less than min x
• max y cannot be less than min y
• max y cannot be less than min y
• only one z value is specified
• Unsupported geometry type:

AI-assisted analysis of elastic/elasticsearch@db6a809a66 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8c89c9e77ee49d94. Report an issue: GitHub.