turf.randomPosition
What is turf.randomPosition?
turf.randomPosition returns a bare [longitude, latitude] array — not a Feature — picked uniformly from inside a bounding box. It is the primitive that the other random helpers build on.
turf.randomPosition(bbox?) → PositionParameters:
bbox—[minX, minY, maxX, maxY](default[-180, -90, 180, 90])
When would you use turf.randomPosition?
Use turf.randomPosition when you need a single raw coordinate pair — for picking a random seed location, jittering existing coordinates, or building custom random generators on top. If you want a Feature, wrap the result with turf.point; if you want many at once, call turf.randomPoint.
1const [lng, lat] = turf.randomPosition([-122.6, 37.6, -122.3, 37.9]);
2const pin = turf.point([lng, lat], { spawnedAt: Date.now() });FAQs
How do I install Turf.js to use this function?
Install npm install @turf/random and import with import { randomPosition } from '@turf/random'. It is also on the umbrella @turf/turf package.
Does it return a Point Feature?
No. It returns a bare coordinate array (Position). Wrap it in turf.point if you need a Feature for downstream Turf calls.
Is the distribution uniform on the sphere?
No, it is uniform in [lng, lat] rectangle space. At global scales the poles are heavily over-represented. For equal-area sphere sampling you must apply your own latitude correction.
When should I prefer turf.randomPoint?
If you need a Feature or many points at once, turf.randomPoint(count, { bbox }) is more convenient and returns a FeatureCollection. Use randomPosition only when you need raw coordinates or a single value.
