Hexagons

Programming tools and algorithms for hexagonal rasters was the first thing I ever did resembling research. It was the topic of my MSc thesis, and while a MSc at the time was much closer to a modern day PhD, hexagons took me well beyond that. An application to hydrography resulted in one of my first peer-reviewed publications, that still gets cited now an then.

During my stint at EAWAG n Switzerland I applied hexagonal rasters yet again, then to flood modelling. A new suite of tools and accompanying literature emerged from that work that has kept evolving since. Further tools and publications remain in the offing, much to the drive of the Urban Water Systems department at EAWAG.

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The presentation below outlines some of the peculiarities and advantages of hexagons that make them so fascinating.

Beyond their advantages in tiling the Euclidian space, hexagons are also a useful means to partition the rounded surface of the Earth. I keep interest open on this specific topic through the application of Discrete Global Grid Systems (DGGS) to raster modelling.

Tools

Selected Literature