Geo-spatial search on mobile: Quick but not dirty | Algolia

Geo-spatial search, or geo-search, is becoming increasingly important for mobile apps and services. According to Google's 2011 "The Mobile Movement Study", 77% of smartphone users use their device for search, with 95% looking for local information. This highlights the significance of location in user interactions, not just for buying food or dining but also for social networking and media apps. Developers should consider incorporating geo-search capabilities into their services to improve search experiences. Firebase + GeoFire can be a quick solution for geospatial search problems, but it has limitations such as storing only the ID of an object and its coordinates, and not supporting any kind of filtering. Algolia's geo features offer more advanced capabilities, including returning entire objects when querying based on location, allowing additional filters, and enabling searches within rectangles or polygons.