They’re one of the go-to softwares for creating beautiful maps, so it’s no surprise that they support thematic hexagonal mapping. If you’re a part of the GIS community, you need no introduction to ArcGIS. The internet is full of stunning hexagonal analyses made with ArcGIS, Tableau, R, and most recently Unfolded. This means there are plenty of options available for you to learn about and make use of.

Hex-ifying DataĪs you can tell, using hexagons for tiling maps and spatial analysis is nothing new. Learn more about this heatmap presenting piracy hotspots using hexagons in this demo. Extrude into 3D hexagonal columns, or make heatmaps – the choice is yours, and the tools are ready and plentiful. However, if you have the right math and you define a global multi-resolution grid of hexagons, then you can just make a call to a library, such as Uber’s H3, and get back an ID for the hexagon containing your data.īut one way or the other, once you have your hexagons and you have accumulated your values, you are ready to visualize your results. This is often done by pre-generating (or downloading) a coverage of hexagon polygons to cover your area of interest and using spatial overlay operations to map each data point into its hexagon container. Once you’ve decided that you want to partition your space and aggregate your data for analysis and presentation (and you’re convinced that hexagons are the way to go), you need a way to assign each point to a containing hexagon. How to Use Hexagons for Hexagonal Tiling and Hex Grids Similar to choosing a coordinate system, choosing a tiling method for your map is entirely dependent on the work that you’re doing, the area you’re presenting, and who you intend to share your work with.

Hexagon analytics