What is H3 and how does it work in geospatial analysis
Blog post from Felt
H3 is an innovative hexagon-based, hierarchical spatial indexing system designed to transform the Earth's surface into a grid of hexagons, each with a unique ID, facilitating the aggregation and analysis of location data in a consistent format. Created by Uber to support large-scale marketplace analysis and operational decisions, H3 allows users to choose from 16 resolution levels, enabling detailed or broad patterns without changing the analytical approach. Hexagons are favored over squares due to their consistent neighbor relationships, reducing quantization errors and sampling bias. The system is particularly effective for aggregating large datasets, density analysis, and cross-regional comparisons, as it provides a stable, neutral comparison layer. H3's design turns spatial questions into tabular form, allowing for efficient data processing, grouping by cell, and analysis without heavy geometry operations. Tools like Felt enhance H3's utility by enabling interactive visualization and exploration of H3 data, allowing users to seamlessly integrate and analyze H3 results with other data layers for informed decision-making.