H3: Uber’s Hexagonal Hierarchical Spatial Index
H3 indexes points and shapes into a hexagonal grid. Coordinates can be indexed to cell IDs that each represent a unique cell.
Indexed data can be quickly joined across disparate datasets and aggregated at different levels of precision.
H3 enables a range of algorithms and optimizations based on the grid, including nearest neighbors, shortest path, gradient smoothing, and more.
Only 8 years late to the draw on this one.
Very neat, and looks like it has continued to evolve over time as well.
Hat tip to Simon Willison.