The H3 Spatial Index (created by Uber) helps users aggregate point data using an easily reusable common grid. This allows you to maintain a consistent geometry across all your analyses, which makes them easier to compare. H3 uses highly-optimized math routines to assign lat/long coordinates an ID corresponding to a polygon (almost always hexes) at a given resolution rather than performing a much slower point-in-polygon geometrical operation. Once you've generated IDs for your points, you can use these polygons to aggregate them and display summary statistics on a map.

We used the H3 library to create the index polygons that cover the entire State of Utah at resolutions 5 through 9. You can find more information about how we created them, along with an example of how to use them, in our H3 blog post.

Like the rest of our SGID data, the spatial reference for these polygons is UTM Zone 12N, NAD83. However, remember that your points must be in WGS 84 lat/long in order to use the H3 API to assign them a hex ID. The polygons are copyright 2022 Uber Technologies, Inc and licensed under version 2.0 of the Apache License.

Related Resources

• Table of hexagon dimensions for different resolutions
• Our H3 blog post

Comments, questions, compliments, or concerns can be directed to Jacob Adams from UGRC at jdadams@utah.gov.