elastic/elasticsearch · error · IllegalArgumentException

max y cannot be less than min y

Error message

max y cannot be less than min y

What it means

Thrown by the default GeometryValidator.validateBBox method when maxY < minY. This default applies to any CRS because an inverted y-range is never geometrically valid. The default deliberately does NOT check x-ordering, because geographic coordinates legitimately allow minX > maxX (antimeridian crossing); only CartesianValidator overrides to add the x-check.

Source

Thrown at libs/geo/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/geometry/utils/GeometryValidator.java:42

    void validate(Geometry geometry);

    /**
     * Validates a single coordinate and throws IllegalArgumentException if it is not valid.
     * Default implementation is a no-op.
     */
    default void validateCoordinate(double x, double y, double z) {}

    /**
     * Validates the ordinate ordering of a rectangle/envelope, throwing IllegalArgumentException if the
     * envelope is invalid. The default implementation only checks that maxY is not less than minY, since that
     * is always invalid, regardless of CRS. It deliberately does not check x-ordinate ordering: geographic
     * coordinates allow minX to legitimately exceed maxX, to represent an envelope that crosses the
     * antimeridian, so only implementations for CRSes without that concept (e.g. {@link CartesianValidator})
     * need to additionally check that maxX is not less than minX.
     */
    default void validateBBox(double minX, double maxX, double maxY, double minY) {
        if (maxY < minY) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("max y cannot be less than min y");
        }
    }

}

View on GitHub (pinned to db6a809a66)

Solutions

1. Pass arguments in (minX, maxX, maxY, minY) order with maxY >= minY.
2. Normalize the bounds before validating: `double lo = Math.min(y1, y2); double hi = Math.max(y1, y2);`
3. If the input truly represents an inverted envelope (rare for y), no Rectangle/bbox can express it — restructure.

Example fix

// before
validator.validateBBox(0, 10, -20, 20); // maxY(-20) < minY(20)

// after
validator.validateBBox(0, 10, 20, -20); // maxY(20) >= minY(-20)

double lo = Math.min(y1, y2);
double hi = Math.max(y1, y2);
validator.validateBBox(minX, maxX, hi, lo);

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `validator.validateBBox(minX, maxX, maxY, minY)` on any GeometryValidator (default or override that calls super) where maxY < minY. The default implementation runs in GeographyValidator, which delegates to this default for bbox.

Common situations: Argument-order mistakes (the signature passes maxY before minY); inverted bounding boxes from upstream computations; user-supplied bbox parameters with swapped corners.

Related errors

• max x cannot be less than min x
• invalid latitude
• invalid longitude
• max y cannot be less than min y
• only one z value is specified

AI-assisted analysis of elastic/elasticsearch@db6a809a66 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/24c79b8f6cd0e8ce. Report an issue: GitHub.