The Aggregation Framework in MongoDB

An introductory tutorial illustrating the flexible and versatile, multi-stage pipeline provided by the Aggregation Framework in MongoDB.

MongoDB’s find() method is useful for simple queries from a collection, but it does not have an equivalent to the “group by” clause of SQL, for aggregating data. However, MongoDB provides an aggregation framework that is far more powerful and flexible a way to aggregate and analyze data. The Aggregation Framework is essentially a multi-stage pipeline of data processing operations. Click this for more info https://teamtraceur.com/

Pipeline is a common concept in many platforms, such as Linux. For example, consider the following statement in Linux:
cat ‘filename’ | more
The output of one command (in this case, cat) becomes the input to the next command (more) in a pipeline. No command is aware of its predecessor or successor.

Let’s build an example to illustrate some of the features of MongoDB’s aggregation framework, in small, incremental steps. The Dataset We’ll use a public domain dataset of the ZIP codes in USA, provided by MongoDB on their website, available for download here. The dataset looks like this:

{ "_id" : "01001", "city" : "AGAWAM", "loc" : [ -72.622739, 42.070206 ], "pop" : 15338, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01002", "city" : "CUSHMAN", "loc" : [ -72.51564999999999, 42.377017 ], "pop" : 36963, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01005", "city" : "BARRE", "loc" : [ -72.10835400000001, 42.409698 ], "pop" : 4546, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01007", "city" : "BELCHERTOWN", "loc" : [ -72.41095300000001, 42.275103 ], "pop" : 10579, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01008", "city" : "BLANDFORD", "loc" : [ -72.936114, 42.182949 ], "pop" : 1240, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01010", "city" : "BRIMFIELD", "loc" : [ -72.188455, 42.116543 ], "pop" : 3706, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01011", "city" : "CHESTER", "loc" : [ -72.988761, 42.279421 ], "pop" : 1688, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01012", "city" : "CHESTERFIELD", "loc" : [ -72.833309, 42.38167 ], "pop" : 177, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01013", "city" : "CHICOPEE", "loc" : [ -72.607962, 42.162046 ], "pop" : 23396, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01020", "city" : "CHICOPEE", "loc" : [ -72.576142, 42.176443 ], "pop" : 31495, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01022", "city" : "WESTOVER AFB", "loc" : [ -72.558657, 42.196672 ], "pop" : 1764, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01026", "city" : "CUMMINGTON", "loc" : [ -72.905767, 42.435296 ], "pop" : 1484, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01027", "city" : "MOUNT TOM", "loc" : [ -72.67992099999999, 42.264319 ], "pop" : 16864, "state" : "MA" }

Download the dataset to your computer, and then use the mongoimport command to load the data in your database (replacing the path of the file with an appropriate value):

mongoimport –db tutorial –collection zips –file “c:\downloads\zips.json”

If the command is entered correctly by you, and is successfully executed, you should get the messages as shown below:

2017-07-30T17:10:45.419+0530 connected to: localhost 2017-07-30T17:10:48.036+0530 imported 29353 documents

Accessing the Dataset in MongoDB In the “mongo” client window, verify that the dataset is properly imported, by issuing the following command:

db.zips.count()

The output should be 29353. Have a look at the data, by issuing the following command:

db.zips.count()

The output should be like this:

> db.zips.find() 
{ "_id" : "01001", "city" : "AGAWAM", "loc" : [ -72.622739, 42.070206 ], "pop" : 15338, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01002", "city" : "CUSHMAN", "loc" : [ -72.51565, 42.377017 ], "pop" : 36963, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01005", "city" : "BARRE", "loc" : [ -72.108354, 42.409698 ], "pop" : 4546, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01007", "city" : "BELCHERTOWN", "loc" : [ -72.410953, 42.275103 ], "pop" : 10579, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01008", "city" : "BLANDFORD", "loc" : [ -72.936114, 42.182949 ], "pop" : 1240, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01010", "city" : "BRIMFIELD", "loc" : [ -72.188455, 42.116543 ], "pop" : 3706, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01011", "city" : "CHESTER", "loc" : [ -72.988761, 42.279421 ], "pop" : 1688, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01012", "city" : "CHESTERFIELD", "loc" : [ -72.833309, 42.38167 ], "pop" : 177, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01013", "city" : "CHICOPEE", "loc" : [ -72.607962, 42.162046 ], "pop" : 23396, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01020", "city" : "CHICOPEE", "loc" : [ -72.576142, 42.176443 ], "pop" : 31495, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01022", "city" : "WESTOVER AFB", "loc" : [ -72.558657, 42.196672 ], "pop" : 1764, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01026", "city" : "CUMMINGTON", "loc" : [ -72.905767, 42.435296 ], "pop" : 1484, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01027", "city" : "MOUNT TOM", "loc" : [ -72.679921, 42.264319 ], "pop" : 16864, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01028", "city" : "EAST LONGMEADOW", "loc" : [ -72.505565, 42.067203 ], "pop" : 13367, "state" : "MA" }
{ "_id" : "01030", "city" : "FEEDING HILLS", "loc"