parsePosition

Signature

parsePosition(pattern)

Description

Parses a string containing two coordinate values separated by a delimiter (,, ;, or |) and returns a GeoJSON position [longitude, latitude]. Each part is parsed independently using parseCoordinate, and the axis of each value is inferred using guessCoordinateAxis.

If both axes can be determined unambiguously, the coordinates are reordered to [longitude, latitude] regardless of the input order. If neither axis can be determined (both values are in the [-90, 90] range with no direction hint), two candidate positions are returned.

Returns null if the pattern cannot be parsed.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
pattern	string	yes	A non-empty string containing two coordinate values separated by ,, ;, or `

Returns

Type	Description
number[]	A GeoJSON position [longitude, latitude]
number[][]	Two candidate positions if the axis of both values is ambiguous
null	If the pattern cannot be parsed or does not contain exactly two values

Throws

Throws if pattern is not a non-empty string.

Examples

// Latitude, longitude with direction symbols
parsePosition('48.8566N, 2.3522E')
// [2.3522, 48.8566]

// Longitude first
parsePosition('2.3522E, 48.8566N')
// [2.3522, 48.8566]

// Plain decimal, unambiguous — one value > 90 is treated as longitude
parsePosition('48.8566, 120.5')
// [120.5, 48.8566]

// Semicolon delimiter
parsePosition('48.8566N; 2.3522E')
// [2.3522, 48.8566]

// Pipe delimiter
parsePosition('48.8566N | 2.3522E')
// [2.3522, 48.8566]

// South and West directions produce negative values
parsePosition('34.6037S, 58.3816W')
// [-58.3816, -34.6037]

// Ambiguous — both values in [-90, 90], no direction hint
parsePosition('45, 12')
// [[45, 12], [12, 45]]

// Invalid — only one part
parsePosition('48.8566')
// null

// Invalid — unparseable coordinate
parsePosition('abc, def')
// null