Hexbins in Tableau allow you to group together neighboring data points on a 2 dimensional plane. In practice it’s similar to binning in Tableau but this time you’re factoring in 2 measures rather than just one. The value of doing this in visualization is that with data sets where you have many data points binning allows you to focus in on the density and critical mass allowing you to quickly generalize information.
In the video tutorial, I take you through how to create Hexbins in Tableau on a 2 dimensional plane and on a map. If you want to geek out, you might want to read the linked paper on hex-binning with maps produced by Tableau research and last but not least, hit the button below to suggest a topic for the next video.
Tableau workbook & 32 image hexbin shape pack
Now you know how to create hexbins, you’re going to need a shape pack because Tableau currently doesn’t ship with a shape pack that sports hexagons. To that end, I spent some time creating a range of shapes that you can use for your hex-binning. The pack has 32 hexagons, 16 with a flat edge and 16 with a pointed edge in 4 different styles. Why so many? it’s easier to just show you the subtle differences. You can download them here
Click image to download the shape pack
