---
title: Circle processor
description: Converts circle definitions of shapes to regular polygons which approximate them. error distance Using the above pipeline, we can attempt to index a document...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/enrich-processor/ingest-circle-processor
products:
  - Elasticsearch
---

# Circle processor
Converts circle definitions of shapes to regular polygons which approximate them.


| Name             | Required | Default | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|------------------|----------|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `field`          | yes      | -       | The field to interpret as a circle. Either a string in WKT format or a map for GeoJSON.                                                                                                                                        |
| `target_field`   | no       | `field` | The field to assign the polygon shape to, by default `field` is updated in-place                                                                                                                                               |
| `ignore_missing` | no       | `false` | If `true` and `field` does not exist, the processor quietly exits without modifying the document                                                                                                                               |
| `error_distance` | yes      | -       | The difference between the resulting inscribed distance from center to side and the circle’s radius (measured in meters for `geo_shape`, unit-less for `shape`)                                                                |
| `shape_type`     | yes      | -       | Which field mapping type is to be used when processing the circle: `geo_shape` or `shape`                                                                                                                                      |
| `description`    | no       | -       | Description of the processor. Useful for describing the purpose of the processor or its configuration.                                                                                                                         |
| `if`             | no       | -       | Conditionally execute the processor. See [Conditionally run a processor](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/manage-data/ingest/transform-enrich/ingest-pipelines#conditionally-run-processor). |
| `ignore_failure` | no       | `false` | Ignore failures for the processor. See [Handling pipeline failures](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/manage-data/ingest/transform-enrich/ingest-pipelines#handling-pipeline-failures).       |
| `on_failure`     | no       | -       | Handle failures for the processor. See [Handling pipeline failures](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/manage-data/ingest/transform-enrich/ingest-pipelines#handling-pipeline-failures).       |
| `tag`            | no       | -       | Identifier for the processor. Useful for debugging and metrics.                                                                                                                                                                |

![error distance](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/enrich-processor/images/error_distance.png)
```json

{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "circle": {
        "type": "geo_shape"
      }
    }
  }
}


{
  "description": "translate circle to polygon",
  "processors": [
    {
      "circle": {
        "field": "circle",
        "error_distance": 28.0,
        "shape_type": "geo_shape"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

Using the above pipeline, we can attempt to index a document into the `circles` index. The circle can be represented as either a WKT circle or a GeoJSON circle. The resulting polygon will be represented and indexed using the same format as the input circle. WKT will be translated to a WKT polygon, and GeoJSON circles will be translated to GeoJSON polygons.
<important>
  Circles that contain a pole are not supported.
</important>


## Example: Circle defined in Well Known Text

In this example a circle defined in WKT format is indexed
```json

{
  "circle": "CIRCLE (30 10 40)"
}
```

The response from the above index request:
```json
{
  "found": true,
  "_index": "circles",
  "_id": "1",
  "_version": 1,
  "_seq_no": 22,
  "_primary_term": 1,
  "_source": {
    "circle": "POLYGON ((30.000365257263184 10.0, 30.000111397193788 10.00034284530941, 29.999706043744222 10.000213571721195, 29.999706043744222 9.999786428278805, 30.000111397193788 9.99965715469059, 30.000365257263184 10.0))"
  }
}
```


## Example: Circle defined in GeoJSON

In this example a circle defined in GeoJSON format is indexed
```json

{
  "circle": {
    "type": "circle",
    "radius": "40m",
    "coordinates": [30, 10]
  }
}
```

The response from the above index request:
```json
{
  "found": true,
  "_index": "circles",
  "_id": "2",
  "_version": 1,
  "_seq_no": 22,
  "_primary_term": 1,
  "_source": {
    "circle": {
      "coordinates": [
        [
          [30.000365257263184, 10.0],
          [30.000111397193788, 10.00034284530941],
          [29.999706043744222, 10.000213571721195],
          [29.999706043744222, 9.999786428278805],
          [30.000111397193788, 9.99965715469059],
          [30.000365257263184, 10.0]
        ]
      ],
      "type": "Polygon"
    }
  }
}
```


## Notes on Accuracy

Accuracy of the polygon that represents the circle is defined as `error_distance`. The smaller this difference is, the closer to a perfect circle the polygon is.
Below is a table that aims to help capture how the radius of the circle affects the resulting number of sides of the polygon given different inputs.
The minimum number of sides is `4` and the maximum is `1000`.


| error_distance | radius in meters | number of sides of polygon |
|----------------|------------------|----------------------------|
| 1.00           | 1.0              | 4                          |
| 1.00           | 10.0             | 14                         |
| 1.00           | 100.0            | 45                         |
| 1.00           | 1000.0           | 141                        |
| 1.00           | 10000.0          | 445                        |
| 1.00           | 100000.0         | 1000                       |