diff --git a/src/main/java/au/org/ala/biocache/dao/SolrIndexDAOImpl.java b/src/main/java/au/org/ala/biocache/dao/SolrIndexDAOImpl.java
index 1a32c580e..bbe3a9f24 100644
--- a/src/main/java/au/org/ala/biocache/dao/SolrIndexDAOImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/au/org/ala/biocache/dao/SolrIndexDAOImpl.java
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ public class SolrIndexDAOImpl implements IndexDAO {
             "lastAssertionDate"
     );
 
+    /*
+     * The field types to exclude from the index/fields JSON
+     */
+    @Value("${index.fields.skipFieldTypes:location,geohash,quad,packedQuad}")
+    private final List<String> skipFieldTypes = new ArrayList<>();
+
     /*
      * This structure holds field properties
      * Values in the list are:
@@ -671,10 +677,11 @@ private IndexFieldDTO formatIndexField(String fieldName, String fieldType, Strin
 
             f.setName(fieldName);
 
-            if (fieldType != null) {
-                f.setDataType(fieldType);
+            if ((fieldType != null && skipFieldTypes.contains(fieldType)) || fieldName.startsWith("_")) {
+                // Skip fields we don't want to expose
+                return null;
             } else {
-                f.setDataType("string");
+                f.setDataType(Objects.requireNonNullElse(fieldType, "string"));
             }
 
             if (distinctCount != null) {