Expanded example using distance() function - orientdb

Question

Note, I'm aware of OrientDB geolocation (though I have some trouble with the poor formatting of the accepted answer, as it makes huge assumptions and in fact may be syntactically incorrect, but cannot yet submit edits).
I have a Vertex of Bank with a property of latLong as a comma-delimited string. I'm having some trouble using the provided distance() function with OrientDB. Since distance(x,y,lat,long) is expecting discrete values we wrote a split function that returns the latLong as an array:
{ ..., values: [xx.xxx,yy.yyy], ... }
However, I (we) can't seem to make either the provided answer or the document example to work. I suspect the answer is simple and we're over thinking it, but we're stuck.
split(input,delimiter)
return input.split(delimiter)`
Pretty simple really.
What's wrong in the original question?
In the cited question above, the query
select distance(x,y,originx,originy) <= 30 as distance from Bank order by distance
generates the below error
com.orientechnologies.orient.core.sql.OCommandSQLParsingException: Error on parsing command at position #0: Error parsing query: select distance(x,y,originx,originy) <= 30 as distance from Bank Encountered " "<=" "<= ""
and should be
select distance(x,y,lat,long) as distance from Bank where distance <= 30 order by distance;
which returns nothing.
If Bank were to have discrete properties for lat and long, how are they passed to distance()? Specifically, is OrientDB expecting specific property names?

Answer 1

You have to insert in Bank the properties lat and long like double