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This is an experimental gridded product designed to provide a unified, multi-use binning system for aggregating essential data and enhancing the quality of emergency response information. The current version includes summarized residential (nighttime) and daytime population data from LandScan 2020. The concept was created at FEMA R9
The goal of this feature service is to centralize critical data from various sources into a single layer, ensuring consistent feature geometry and scale. This product aims to deliver more accurate and precise information at a high level of granularity, while also ensuring performance in online applications. Tailored for Region 6 disaster response, the HexGrid uses a hybrid cellular geometry of hexagons, where each hexagon measures 35,000 square meters in densely populated areas and 140,000 square meters in all other areas.
Methodology Overview
The HexGrid is implemented as a single feature layer stored locally in a geodatabase and also published as a feature service to ArcGIS Online. It is created using the ArcGIS Pro analysis tool Generate Tessellation. The layer is then enhanced with LandScan (2020) population data. In future releases it might include other important variables such as USA Structure building counts and parcel data .
Use of Hexagonal Grid Cells
The hexagonal grid cell design was chosen for its simplicity and ability to approximate a circular area, which is better suited for the natural patterns of disaster-related phenomena. This design aligns with industry standards for spatial analytics, as seen in Uber’s H3 indexing system and the Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) Discrete Global Grid System (DGGS) specification OGC 15-104r5: AS Topic 21: DGGS.
Created by Recovery GIS