ddbh3_points_to: Convert spatial points to H3 cell representations

In duckh3: H3 Extension of 'DuckDB'

Convert spatial points to H3 cell representations

Description

Convert spatial point geometries into H3 cell representations at a specified resolution. Input must be an duckspatial_df, sf, or table with point geometries

Usage

ddbh3_points_to_spatial(
  x,
  resolution,
  conn = NULL,
  name = NULL,
  overwrite = FALSE,
  quiet = FALSE
)

ddbh3_points_to_h3(
  x,
  resolution,
  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).
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. Output format for the H3 cell index. Either "string" (default) or "bigint". Only used in ddbh3_points_to_h3().

Details

The two functions differ in the output format:

• ddbh3_points_to_h3() returns the H3 cell index containing each point, either as a string or UBIGINT depending on h3_format

• ddbh3_points_to_spatial() returns the H3 cell hexagon polygon containing each point as a spatial geometry

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(duckh3)
library(duckspatial)

## 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")
)

## Convert to duckspatial_df
points_ddbs <- ddbs_as_points(points_tbl)

## TO H3 strings/ubigint ------------

## Add column with h3 strings at resolution 8
points_strings_ddbs <- ddbh3_points_to_h3(points_ddbs, 8)

## Add column with h3 ubigint at resolution 10
points_bigint_ddbs <- ddbh3_points_to_h3(
  points_ddbs, 
  resolution = 8,
  new_column = "h3bigint",
  h3_format = "bigint"
)

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

## Convert from POINTS to H3 POLYGONS of res 8
polygons_8_ddbs <- ddbh3_points_to_spatial(points_ddbs, 8)

## Collect as sf
polygons_8_sf <- ddbs_collect(polygons_8_ddbs)

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