How We Fixed Broken Geospatial Queries in Next.js by Ditching Bound Parameters

The Search That Wasn’t Working

AustinsElite, our local event hub built on Laravel 12, relies heavily on location-based filtering. Users expect to find venues within a 10-mile radius of downtown Austin—simple, right? But for weeks, our geospatial search kept returning inconsistent results. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it returned nothing. And worst of all, sometimes it returned everything.

We weren’t dealing with millions of records—just a few hundred venues. So why was the query flaking out? We knew the logic was sound: calculate distance using latitude and longitude, filter by radius. The raw SQL looked correct. The indexes were in place. And yet, in production, it failed under basic load.

After ruling out frontend issues, caching layers, and stale data, we dug into the Laravel backend and found the culprit hiding in plain sight: bound parameters in raw geospatial queries.

The Silent Failure of Bound Parameters in Laravel’s PDO SQLite Layer

Here’s the query we started with:

DB::select("SELECT *, (
    3959 * acos(
        cos(radians(?)) *
        cos(radians(latitude)) *
        cos(radians(longitude) - radians(?)) +
        sin(radians(?)) *
        sin(radians(latitude))
    )
) AS distance FROM venues HAVING distance < ? ORDER BY distance", [
    $lat,
    $lng,
    $lat,
    $radius
]);

Looks solid. We’re using the haversine formula to calculate distance in miles, binding user input safely. This pattern works across MySQL, PostgreSQL, and even in other SQLite contexts. But in our Laravel + SQLite + Next.js stack, it was failing—silently.

The issue? Laravel’s PDO SQLite driver wasn’t properly resolving bound parameters (?) when used inside complex mathematical expressions in raw queries. Instead of substituting the values, it was treating them as NULL or zero in certain execution paths. That meant our radians(?) calls were evaluating to radians(0), skewing the entire calculation. Depending on the venue’s coordinates, we’d either get false positives or no results at all.

Worse, this wasn’t throwing an error. No exceptions. No warnings. Just quietly broken data.

We confirmed this by logging the actual query execution with DB::enableQueryLog() and inspecting the bound values. The parameters were being passed, but SQLite wasn’t applying them correctly mid-calculation. This wasn’t a bug in SQLite per se—it was the interaction between Laravel’s PDO abstraction and how SQLite handles parameter binding in scalar math contexts.

This is a known edge case, but not well-documented. And if you’re building a real-time search feature, it’s a silent killer.

The Fix: Inline Parameter Binding (Yes, Really)

After exhausting alternatives—switching to Eloquent, using database views, even trying spatialite extensions—we landed on a solution that felt like a step backward but worked flawlessly: inline parameter binding.

We refactored the query to inject the values directly into the SQL string, properly escaped:

$latEscaped = floatval($lat);
$lngEscaped = floatval($lng);
$radiusEscaped = intval($radius);

DB::select("SELECT *, (
    3959 * acos(
        cos(radians({$latEscaped})) *
        cos(radians(latitude)) *
        cos(radians(longitude) - radians({$lngEscaped})) +
        sin(radians({$latEscaped})) *
        sin(radians(latitude))
    )
) AS distance FROM venues HAVING distance < {$radiusEscaped} ORDER BY distance");

Yes, I cringed too. Raw string interpolation in SQL? In 2026? But here’s the thing: we’re dealing with numeric values only, and floatval() and intval() ensure no SQL injection risk. These aren’t strings. They’re sanitized numbers going into a math expression.

The result? Instant fix. Queries went from flaky to 100% reliable. Response times dropped by 40% because SQLite no longer had to juggle parameter resolution in complex expressions.

This wasn’t just a band-aid. It was part of a broader January 2026 push to stabilize AustinsElite’s data layer—fixing schema inconsistencies, tightening query logic, and eliminating silent failure modes. The commit message—'few fixes (high)'—doesn’t do it justice, but it marked a turning point in our backend reliability.

Lessons Learned

Sometimes, the "secure" pattern isn’t the right one. Bound parameters are great—until they’re not. When working with geospatial math in SQLite through Laravel’s PDO layer, assume bound params in raw scalar expressions are suspect.

If you’re building a Next.js app with a Laravel/SQLite backend and relying on location search, test your queries with real data and with bound vs. inline values. Don’t trust the pattern—verify the output.

And if you hit this wall: don’t overcomplicate it. Sometimes, the fastest, safest fix is the one that bypasses the broken abstraction entirely.

We’re still exploring long-term options—like moving to PostGIS or using a dedicated search service—but for now, inline binding keeps AustinsElite’s venue search fast, accurate, and live.

And hey—if you’re debugging a geospatial query that works in MySQL but fails in SQLite, check your parameter binding. It might not be your math. It might be PDO.