diff --git a/sanitiser/_geo_common.js b/sanitiser/_geo_common.js
index b88e9453..153128bc 100644
--- a/sanitiser/_geo_common.js
+++ b/sanitiser/_geo_common.js
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
  * helper sanitiser methods for geo parameters
  */
 var util = require('util'),
-    check = require('check-types');
+    check = require('check-types'),
+    _ = require('lodash');
 
 /**
  * Parse and validate rect parameter
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ function sanitize_rect( key_prefix, clean, raw, bbox_is_required ) {
  * @param {bool} circle_is_required
  */
 function sanitize_circle( key_prefix, clean, raw, circle_is_required ) {
+  // "boundary.circle", clean, raw, false
 
   // the names we use to define the centroid
   var mandatoryProps = [ 'lat', 'lon' ];
@@ -86,7 +88,7 @@ function sanitize_circle( key_prefix, clean, raw, circle_is_required ) {
   // radius was specified without lat or lon
   else if( raw.hasOwnProperty( key_prefix + '.radius' ) ){
     var format2 = 'missing circle param \'%s\' requires all of: \'%s\' to be present';
-    throw new Error( util.format( format2, key_prefix, mandatoryProps.join('\',\'') ) ); 
+    throw new Error( util.format( format2, key_prefix, mandatoryProps.join('\',\'') ) );
   }
   // fields required, eg. ( totalFieldsSpecified === 0 && bbox_is_required === true )
   else if( circle_is_required ){
@@ -140,13 +142,13 @@ function sanitize_point( key_prefix, clean, raw, point_is_required ) {
  *
  * @param {string} key
  * @param {object} clean
- * @param {string} param
+ * @param {string} rawValue
  * @param {bool} latlon_is_required
  */
-function sanitize_coord( key, clean, param, latlon_is_required ) {
-  var value = parseFloat( param );
-  if ( !isNaN( value ) ) {
-    clean[key] = value;
+function sanitize_coord( key, clean, rawValue, latlon_is_required ) {
+  var parsedValue = parseFloat( rawValue );
+  if ( _.isFinite( parsedValue ) ) {
+    clean[key] = parsedValue;
   }
   else if (latlon_is_required) {
     throw new Error( util.format( 'missing param \'%s\'', key ) );
diff --git a/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js b/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js
index 9de74fb0..fb77add3 100644
--- a/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js
+++ b/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 
 var geo_common = require ('./_geo_common');
+var check = require('check-types');
+var defaults = require('../query/defaults');
 var LAT_LON_IS_REQUIRED = true,
-    CIRCLE_IS_REQUIRED = false,
-    CIRCLE_MUST_BE_COMPLETE = false;
+    CIRCLE_IS_REQUIRED = false;
 
 // validate inputs, convert types and apply defaults
 module.exports = function sanitize( raw, clean ){
@@ -10,19 +11,31 @@ module.exports = function sanitize( raw, clean ){
   // error & warning messages
   var messages = { errors: [], warnings: [] };
 
+  // helper function to determine if raw has a boundary.circle property
+  var hasBoundaryCircleField = function(field) {
+    return raw.hasOwnProperty('boundary.circle.' + field);
+  };
+
+  if (['lat', 'lon', 'radius'].some(hasBoundaryCircleField)) {
+    messages.warnings.push('boundary.circle is currently unsupported');
+  }
+
   try {
+    // first verify that point.lat/point.lon are valid
     geo_common.sanitize_point( 'point', clean, raw, LAT_LON_IS_REQUIRED );
 
-    // this hack is to allow point.lat/point.lon to be used interchanagbly
-    // with boundary.circle.lat/boundary.circle.lon
-    if( !clean.hasOwnProperty('boundary.circle.lat') && clean.hasOwnProperty('point.lat') ){
-      raw['boundary.circle.lat'] = clean['point.lat'];
-    }
-    if( !clean.hasOwnProperty('boundary.circle.lon') && clean.hasOwnProperty('point.lon') ){
-      raw['boundary.circle.lon'] = clean['point.lon'];
+    // overwrite boundary.circle.lat/lon with point.lat/lon
+    raw['boundary.circle.lat'] = clean['point.lat'];
+    raw['boundary.circle.lon'] = clean['point.lon'];
+
+    // if no radius was passed, set the default
+    if (!check.assigned(raw['boundary.circle.radius'])) {
+      raw['boundary.circle.radius'] = defaults['boundary:circle:radius'];
     }
 
+    // santize the boundary.circle
     geo_common.sanitize_circle( 'boundary.circle', clean, raw, CIRCLE_IS_REQUIRED );
+
   }
   catch (err) {
     messages.errors.push( err.message );
diff --git a/test/unit/run.js b/test/unit/run.js
index a95764e5..977c1c58 100644
--- a/test/unit/run.js
+++ b/test/unit/run.js
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ var tests = [
   require('./middleware/confidenceScoreReverse'),
   require('./sanitiser/_size'),
   require('./sanitiser/_single_scalar_parameters'),
+  require('./sanitiser/_geo_reverse'),
 ];
 
 tests.map(function(t) {
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js b/test/unit/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e03e7ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/sanitiser/_geo_reverse.js
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+var sanitize = require('../../../sanitiser/_geo_reverse');
+var defaults = require('../../../query/defaults');
+
+module.exports.tests = {};
+
+module.exports.tests.sanitize_boundary_country = function(test, common) {
+  test('raw with boundary.circle.lat should add warning about ignored boundary.circle', function(t) {
+    var raw = {
+      'point.lat': '12.121212',
+      'point.lon': '21.212121',
+      'boundary.circle.lat': '13.131313'
+    };
+    var clean = {};
+    var errorsAndWarnings = sanitize(raw, clean);
+
+    t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.lat'], 12.121212, 'should be set to point.lat');
+    t.deepEquals(errorsAndWarnings, {
+      errors: [],
+      warnings: ['boundary.circle is currently unsupported']
+    }, 'no warnings/errors');
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  test('raw with boundary.circle.lon should add warning about ignored boundary.circle', function(t) {
+    var raw = {
+      'point.lat': '12.121212',
+      'point.lon': '21.212121',
+      'boundary.circle.lon': '31.313131'
+    };
+    var clean = {};
+    var errorsAndWarnings = sanitize(raw, clean);
+
+    t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.lon'], 21.212121, 'should be set to point.lon');
+    t.deepEquals(errorsAndWarnings, {
+      errors: [],
+      warnings: ['boundary.circle is currently unsupported']
+    }, 'no warnings/errors');
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  test('raw with boundary.circle.radius should add warning about ignored boundary.circle', function(t) {
+    var raw = {
+      'point.lat': '12.121212',
+      'point.lon': '21.212121',
+      'boundary.circle.radius': '17'
+    };
+    var clean = {};
+    var errorsAndWarnings = sanitize(raw, clean);
+
+    // t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.radius'], 12.121212, 'should be set to point.lat')
+    t.deepEquals(errorsAndWarnings, {
+      errors: [],
+      warnings: ['boundary.circle is currently unsupported']
+    }, 'no warnings/errors');
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  test('boundary.circle.lat/lon should be overridden with point.lat/lon', function(t) {
+    var raw = {
+      'point.lat': '12.121212',
+      'point.lon': '21.212121',
+      'boundary.circle.lat': '13.131313',
+      'boundary.circle.lon': '31.313131'
+    };
+    var clean = {};
+    var errorsAndWarnings = sanitize(raw, clean);
+
+    t.equals(raw['boundary.circle.lat'], 12.121212, 'should be set to point.lat');
+    t.equals(raw['boundary.circle.lon'], 21.212121, 'should be set to point.lon');
+    t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.lat'], 12.121212, 'should be set to point.lat');
+    t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.lon'], 21.212121, 'should be set to point.lon');
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+  test('no boundary.circle.radius supplied should be set to default', function(t) {
+    var raw = {
+      'point.lat': '12.121212',
+      'point.lon': '21.212121'
+    };
+    var clean = {};
+    var errorsAndWarnings = sanitize(raw, clean);
+
+    t.equals(raw['boundary.circle.radius'], defaults['boundary:circle:radius'], 'should be from defaults');
+    t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.radius'], parseFloat(defaults['boundary:circle:radius']), 'should be same as raw');
+    t.end();
+
+  });
+
+  test('explicit boundary.circle.radius should be used instead of default', function(t) {
+    var raw = {
+      'point.lat': '12.121212',
+      'point.lon': '21.212121',
+      'boundary.circle.radius': '3248732857km' // this will never be the default
+    };
+    var clean = {};
+    var errorsAndWarnings = sanitize(raw, clean);
+
+    t.equals(raw['boundary.circle.radius'], '3248732857km', 'should be parsed float');
+    t.equals(clean['boundary.circle.radius'], 3248732857.0, 'should be copied from raw');
+    t.end();
+
+  });
+
+};
+
+module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {
+  function test(name, testFunction) {
+    return tape('SANTIZE _geo_reverse ' + name, testFunction);
+  }
+
+  for( var testCase in module.exports.tests ){
+    module.exports.tests[testCase](test, common);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js b/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
index 818829f9..b92896e7 100644
--- a/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
+++ b/test/unit/sanitiser/reverse.js
@@ -4,11 +4,13 @@
 var reverse  = require('../../../sanitiser/reverse'),
     sanitize = reverse.sanitize,
     middleware = reverse.middleware,
+    defaults = require('../../../query/defaults'),
     defaultError = 'missing param \'lat\'',
     defaultClean =  { 'point.lat': 0,
                       'point.lon': 0,
                       'boundary.circle.lat': 0,
                       'boundary.circle.lon': 0,
+                      'boundary.circle.radius': parseFloat(defaults['boundary:circle:radius']),
                       types: {
                       },
                       size: 10,