Build hexagonal lattice coverage

Hi All,

I'd like to make a hexagonal lattice (stored in a shapefile, ogr
coverage or postgis geometry). Is the general approach to make a
series of independent hexagons and place them in the plane such that
adjacent edges sit directly on top of each other? Or can one build a
mesh out of connected line segments? If it is the latter, how does one
associate a data value with each hexagon in the mesh? I'd like to
achieve something like the output of the hexbin package, but display
the result in ArcGIS or QGIS.

THK

Timothy H. Keitt, University of Texas at Austin
Contact info and schedule at http://www.keittlab.org/tkeitt/
Reprints at http://www.keittlab.org/tkeitt/papers/
ODF attachment? See http://www.openoffice.org/