h3
Uber's hierarchical hexagonal geospatial indexing system
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. h3 is a mature, actively maintained library with zero known vulnerabilities, permissive licensing, and broad platform support via pre-built wheels. Install friction is moderate but well-managed. Use it if you need to bin geographic coordinates into a hierarchical hexagonal grid or perform spatial operations on location data.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python >=3.10; compiled C extension requires a compatible build environment or pre-built wheel for your platform.
- Medium install friction due to compiled C bindings, but well-mitigated by pre-built wheels for Python 3.10–3.14 across macOS, Linux, and Windows.
- Active maintenance with a recent release (76 days ago) and 1029 GitHub stars.
License · maintenance · safety
permissive license (permissive) — Apache License 2.0 is permissive; you may use, modify, and distribute h3 freely in commercial and private projects, provided you include a copy of the license and note any changes you make.
last release 2026-05-30 (76 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 1,029 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 12,058,587 downloads/mo, #1,347 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install h3
import h3
lat, lng = 37.769377, -122.388903
cell = h3.latlng_to_cell(lat, lng, resolution=9)
print(cell) # '89283082e73ffff'- Whether the package supports multiple input/output API formats beyond the basic lat/lng_to_cell example shown in the description.
- Performance characteristics (latency, throughput) for typical geospatial workloads at scale.
What it is and what it does
h3 is a Python binding to Uber's H3 geospatial indexing system, a C library that converts latitude/longitude coordinates into hierarchical hexagonal grid cells. It lets you discretize geographic space into a multi-resolution hexagonal hierarchy, making it straightforward to bin locations, compute spatial neighborhoods, and perform geospatial aggregations without writing C code yourself.
The package wraps the H3 core library with a Pythonic API, offering multiple input/output formats and maintaining version alignment with the underlying C library in major and minor version numbers. It has no runtime Python dependencies, installs via pre-built wheels on modern platforms, and supports Python 3.10 through 3.14. The library is actively maintained by Uber and widely used for location-based analytics, mapping, and spatial data processing.
Use it for
- Aggregate location data into hexagonal bins for heatmaps or regional analytics dashboards.
- Find neighboring geographic cells or compute distances between locations using the H3 hierarchy.
- Discretize GPS traces or sensor readings into a consistent spatial grid for deduplication and analysis.
- Build geofencing or location-based services that need efficient spatial indexing without database overhead.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
h3 is a mature, actively maintained library with zero known vulnerabilities, permissive licensing, and broad platform support via pre-built wheels. Install friction is moderate but well-managed. Use it if you need to bin geographic coordinates into a hierarchical hexagonal grid or perform spatial operations on location data.
Install
h3 on PyPI
Before you install
Medium install friction due to compiled C bindings, but well-mitigated by pre-built wheels for Python 3.10–3.14 across macOS, Linux, and Windows. Active maintenance with a recent release (76 days ago) and 1029 GitHub stars.
Requires Python >=3.10; compiled C extension requires a compatible build environment or pre-built wheel for your platform.
License in practice
Apache License 2.0 is permissive; you may use, modify, and distribute h3 freely in commercial and private projects, provided you include a copy of the license and note any changes you make.
Quickstart
pip install h3
import h3
lat, lng = 37.769377, -122.388903
cell = h3.latlng_to_cell(lat, lng, resolution=9)
print(cell) # '89283082e73ffff'Verify before relying
- Whether the package supports multiple input/output API formats beyond the basic lat/lng_to_cell example shown in the description.
- Performance characteristics (latency, throughput) for typical geospatial workloads at scale.
Package facts
| License | permissive license permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 76 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 12,058,587 / month, #1,347 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchLicense :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software LicenseOperating System :: MacOS :: MacOS XOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: POSIX :: LinuxProgramming Language :: CProgramming Language :: CythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: GIS |
Evidence: h3-4.5.0-cp310-cp310-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp310-cp310-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp311-cp311-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp311-cp311-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp311-cp311-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp311-cp311-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp311-cp311-win_arm64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp312-cp312-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp312-cp312-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp312-cp312-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp312-cp312-musllinux_1_2_x86_64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp312-cp312-win_arm64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp313-cp313-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp313-cp313-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; h3-4.5.0-cp313-cp313-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl
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See also h3-pyspark · placekey · s2sphere · py-geohex3 · python-geohash · geolib · rtree · pydeck · pygeohash · timezonefinder