[Bedon292]

Is it primarily useful just for data visualization? Would there be an potential performance benefits for something like searching a database for nearby data?

[pheelicks]

Yes, such indices (S2 & H3) are widely used for providing a index in databases, so geospatial features that are close by in the world and stored in nearby databases rows. https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/grid-systems-spatial-...

[Bedon292]

Thanks. I always enjoy when geospatial topics show up on here. My background it geo, but unfortunately I have slowly drifted away. Geohash is about where I left off in the same general realm of concepts, so S2 / H3 are essentially new to me as well.