ddbh3_lonlat_to: Convert longitude and latitude to H3 cell representations

In duckh3: H3 Extension of 'DuckDB'

Convert longitude and latitude to H3 cell representations

Description

Convert geographic coordinates (longitude and latitude) into H3 cell representations at a specified resolution, with different output formats

Usage

ddbh3_lonlat_to_spatial(
  x,
  lon = "lon",
  lat = "lat",
  resolution = 8,
  conn = NULL,
  name = NULL,
  overwrite = FALSE,
  quiet = FALSE
)

ddbh3_lonlat_to_h3(
  x,
  lon = "lon",
  lat = "lat",
  resolution = 8,
  new_column = "h3string",
  h3_format = "string",
  conn = NULL,
  name = NULL,
  overwrite = FALSE,
  quiet = FALSE
)

Arguments

x	Input data. One of: duckspatial_df A lazy spatial data frame via dbplyr. sf A spatial data frame. tbl_lazy A lazy data frame from dbplyr. data.frame A standard R data frame. character string A table or view name in conn. character vector A vector of values to operate on in vectorized mode (requires conn = NULL).
lon	The name of a column in x containing the longitude
lat	The name of a column in x containing the latitude
resolution	A number specifying the resolution level of the H3 string (between 0 and 15)
conn	A connection object to a DuckDB database. If NULL, the function runs on a temporary DuckDB database.
name	A character string of length one specifying the name of the table, or a character string of length two specifying the schema and table names. If NULL (the default), the function returns the result as an sf object
overwrite	Boolean. whether to overwrite the existing table if it exists. Defaults to FALSE. This argument is ignored when name is NULL.
quiet	A logical value. If TRUE, suppresses any informational messages. Defaults to FALSE.
new_column	Name of the new column to create on the input data. If NULL, the function will return a vector with the result
h3_format	Character. The format of the H3 cell index: string or bigint

Details

The three functions differ only in the output format of the H3 cell index:

• ddbh3_lonlat_to_h3() returns H3 cell indexes as strings (e.g. "8928308280fffff") or as unsigned 64-bit integers (UBIGINT)

• ddbh3_lonlat_to_spatial() returns H3 cells as spatial hexagon polygons

Value

One of the following, depending on the inputs:

tbl_lazy

If x is not spatial.

duckspatial_df

If x is spatial (e.g. an sf or duckspatial_df object).

TRUE (invisibly)

If name is provided, a table is created in the connection and TRUE is returned invisibly.

vector

If x is a character vector and conn = NULL, the function operates in vectorized mode, returning a vector of the same length as x.

Examples

## Load needed packages
library(duckdb)
library(duckh3)
library(duckspatial)
library(dplyr)

## Setup the default connection with h3 and spatial extensions
## This is a mandatory step to use duckh3 functions
ddbh3_default_conn(threads = 1)

## Load example data
points_tbl <- read.csv(
  system.file("extdata/example_pts.csv", package = "duckh3")
)

## Create a connection with spatial and h3 extensions
conn <- ddbh3_create_conn(threads = 1)

## TO H3 ------------

## Add h3 strings as a new column (res 5)
points_strings_5_tbl <- ddbh3_lonlat_to_h3(
  points_tbl,
  resolution = 5
)

## Add h3 UBIGINT as a new column (res 8 by default)
points_bigint_8_tbl <- ddbh3_lonlat_to_h3(
  points_tbl,
  new_column = "h3bigint",
  h3_format  = "bigint"
)

## If column names are different from lon/lat:
points_renamed <- rename(points_tbl, long = lon, lati = lat)

ddbh3_lonlat_to_h3(
  points_renamed,
  lon = "long",
  lat = "lati",
  resolution = 10
)


## Create a new table in the connection
ddbh3_lonlat_to_h3(
  points_tbl,
  conn = conn,
  name = "points_strings_8"
)

## Open the created table lazily
points_lazy <- dplyr::tbl(conn, "points_strings_8")

## Read it in memory
points_eager <- dbReadTable(conn, "points_strings_8")


## TO SPATIAL -----------

## Add h3 strings as a new column (res 5)
points_5_ddbs <- ddbh3_lonlat_to_spatial(
  points_tbl,
  resolution = 5
)

## Create a new table in the connection
ddbh3_lonlat_to_spatial(
  points_tbl,
  conn = conn,
  name = "points_strings_spatial"
)

## Open the created table lazily
as_duckspatial_df("points_strings_spatial", conn)

## Read it in memory as an sf object
ddbs_read_table(conn, "points_strings_spatial")

duckh3 documentation built on April 25, 2026, 1:07 a.m.