[Matplotlib-users] hexbin density plots in matplotlib?

[per f. <per...@gm...>]

hi all,

is there a way to make density plots using hexagonal bins in matplotlib?
what i mean is something like the hexbin package for R, where you can make
density plots where hexagons are plotted in size proportion to the number of
points in that hexagonal bin... see
http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/2.3/bioc/html/hexbin.html

alternatively, the hexgons can be of the same size but shaded in proportion
to their counts. i am more interested in the case where the hexagons are
sized differently, but in any case, both hexagonal density plots come with
an associated legend on the side that shows the bins:

http://bm2.genes.nig.ac.jp/RGM2/R_current/library/hexbin/man/gplot.hexbin.html

is there a way to do this in matplotlib? thanks for your help.