How do I create a SimplePointLayer in Neo4J spatial?

Question

I have seen a few posts here on stack that show how to create a simplePointLayer. However, the process is failing for me. I am using Neo4J version 3.0.2 and the spatial plugin version 3.0.2.

I have been here, here, and here.

Each of these pages contains the same set of instructions for creating a SimplePointLayer, as shown below.

This step works just fine for me:

POST /db/data/ext/SpatialPlugin/graphdb/addSimplePointLayer HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:7474
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-cache

{ 
    "layer" : "geom", 
    "lat" : "lat", 
    "lon" : "lon" 
}

I'm not sure where to see a listing of layers, but the response is 200, so I'm assuming everything works as expected here.

The following step is where I am stuck:

POST /db/data/index/node/ HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:7474
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-cache

{ 
    "name" : "geom", 
    "config" : { 
        "provider" : "spatial", 
        "geometry_type" : "point", 
        "lat" : "lat", 
        "lon" : "lon" 
    } 
}

I have the json above in a file tmp.json and I run

cat tmp.json | http :7474/db/data/index/node

This generates the following message:

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Content-Length: 6887
Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2016 18:14:18 GMT
Server: Jetty(9.2.9.v20150224)

{
    "errors": [
        {
            "code": "Neo.DatabaseError.General.UnknownError", 
            "message": "No index provider 'spatial' found. Maybe the intended provider (or one more of its dependencies) aren't on the classpath or it failed to load.", 
            "stackTrace": "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No index provider 'spatial' found. Maybe the intended provider (or one more of its dependencies) aren't on the classpath or it failed to load.\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.NeoStoreDataSource$1.apply(NeoStoreDataSource.java:386)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.NeoStoreDataSource$1.apply(NeoStoreDataSource.java:378)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.index.LegacyIndexStore.findIndexConfig(LegacyIndexStore.java:105)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.index.LegacyIndexStore.getOrCreateIndexConfig(LegacyIndexStore.java:171)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.index.LegacyIndexStore.getOrCreateNodeIndexConfig(LegacyIndexStore.java:64)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.api.StateHandlingStatementOperations.nodeLegacyIndexCreateLazily(StateHandlingStatementOperations.java:1475)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.api.OperationsFacade.nodeLegacyIndexCreateLazily(OperationsFacade.java:1195)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.coreapi.IndexProviderImpl.getOrCreateNodeIndex(IndexProviderImpl.java:52)\n\tat org.neo4j.kernel.impl.coreapi.IndexManagerImpl.forNodes(IndexManagerImpl.java:81)\n\tat org.neo4j.server.rest.web.DatabaseActions.createNodeIndex(DatabaseActions.java:381)\n\tat org.neo4j.server.rest.web.RestfulGraphDatabase.jsonCreateNodeIndex(RestfulGraphDatabase.java:845)\n\tat sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)\n\tat sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)\n\tat sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)\n\tat java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.spi.container.JavaMethodInvokerFactory$1.invoke(JavaMethodInvokerFactory.java:60)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.model.method.dispatch.AbstractResourceMethodDispatchProvider$ResponseOutInvoker._dispatch(AbstractResourceMethodDispatchProvider.java:205)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.model.method.dispatch.ResourceJavaMethodDispatcher.dispatch(ResourceJavaMethodDispatcher.java:75)\n\tat org.neo4j.server.rest.transactional.TransactionalRequestDispatcher.dispatch(TransactionalRequestDispatcher.java:144)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.HttpMethodRule.accept(HttpMethodRule.java:302)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.RightHandPathRule.accept(RightHandPathRule.java:147)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.ResourceClassRule.accept(ResourceClassRule.java:108)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.RightHandPathRule.accept(RightHandPathRule.java:147)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.uri.rules.RootResourceClassesRule.accept(RootResourceClassesRule.java:84)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl._handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:1542)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl._handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:1473)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl.handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:1419)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.server.impl.application.WebApplicationImpl.handleRequest(WebApplicationImpl.java:1409)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.WebComponent.service(WebComponent.java:409)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:558)\n\tat com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:733)\n\tat javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:790)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHolder.handle(ServletHolder.java:808)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1669)\n\tat org.neo4j.server.rest.web.CollectUserAgentFilter.doFilter(CollectUserAgentFilter.java:69)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler$CachedChain.doFilter(ServletHandler.java:1652)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doHandle(ServletHandler.java:585)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doHandle(SessionHandler.java:221)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doHandle(ContextHandler.java:1127)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.ServletHandler.doScope(ServletHandler.java:515)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.session.SessionHandler.doScope(SessionHandler.java:185)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler.doScope(ContextHandler.java:1061)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ScopedHandler.handle(ScopedHandler.java:141)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerList.handle(HandlerList.java:52)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.HandlerWrapper.handle(HandlerWrapper.java:97)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.handle(Server.java:497)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.HttpChannel.handle(HttpChannel.java:310)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.server.HttpConnection.onFillable(HttpConnection.java:257)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.io.AbstractConnection$2.run(AbstractConnection.java:540)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread.QueuedThreadPool.runJob(QueuedThreadPool.java:635)\n\tat org.eclipse.jetty.util.thread.QueuedThreadPool$3.run(QueuedThreadPool.java:555)\n\tat java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)\n"
        }
    ], 
    "exception": "IllegalArgumentException", 
    "fullname": "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException", 
    "message": "No index provider 'spatial' found. Maybe the intended provider (or one more of its dependencies) aren't on the classpath or it failed to load.", 
    "stackTrace": [
        "org.neo4j.kernel.NeoStoreDataSource$1.apply(NeoStoreDataSource.java:386)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.NeoStoreDataSource$1.apply(NeoStoreDataSource.java:378)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.index.LegacyIndexStore.findIndexConfig(LegacyIndexStore.java:105)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.index.LegacyIndexStore.getOrCreateIndexConfig(LegacyIndexStore.java:171)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.index.LegacyIndexStore.getOrCreateNodeIndexConfig(LegacyIndexStore.java:64)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.api.StateHandlingStatementOperations.nodeLegacyIndexCreateLazily(StateHandlingStatementOperations.java:1475)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.api.OperationsFacade.nodeLegacyIndexCreateLazily(OperationsFacade.java:1195)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.coreapi.IndexProviderImpl.getOrCreateNodeIndex(IndexProviderImpl.java:52)", 
        "org.neo4j.kernel.impl.coreapi.IndexManagerImpl.forNodes(IndexManagerImpl.java:81)", 
        "org.neo4j.server.rest.web.DatabaseActions.createNodeIndex(DatabaseActions.java:381)", 
        "org.neo4j.server.rest.web.RestfulGraphDatabase.jsonCreateNodeIndex(RestfulGraphDatabase.java:845)", 
        "java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)", 
        "org.neo4j.server.rest.transactional.TransactionalRequestDispatcher.dispatch(TransactionalRequestDispatcher.java:144)", 
        "org.neo4j.server.rest.web.CollectUserAgentFilter.doFilter(CollectUserAgentFilter.java:69)", 
        "java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)"
    ]
}

I'm not sure where to go from here. I am assuming the 'provider' is the plugin. I am not a JAVA person, so I'm not sure how to deal with classpaths. Has anyone encountered this error before \ know how to deal with this problem?

Answer 1

The spatial library is in a bit of flux at the moment with the introduction of user defined procedures in Neo4j 3.0. Specifically:

1. Procedures are becoming the recommended way to interact with spatial, and

2. The index provider has been removed from the spatial library (causing the error you encountered)

With procedures you now have access to spatial functionality from Cypher:

Create layer

CALL spatial.addPointLayer('cities');

Add all cities to the layer

MATCH (c:City)
WITH collect(c) AS cities
CALL spatial.addNodes('cities',cities) YIELD node
RETURN count(*)

Find cities within distance

MATCH (c:City {name:"Berlin"}) WITH c
CALL spatial.distance('cities', c , 200) YIELD node, distance
RETURN node.name AS name, round(distance) AS dist

See this for more info.