Point cloud data hierarchy

1 . A system for presenting multi-resolution views of a point data set, comprising:

means for storing data on a storage system that is representative of a point cloud comprising a number of associated points;

means for storing a resolution gradient on the storage system:

octree mesh resolution data sectors on the storage system;

means for organizing the data into an octree hierarchy of data sectors, each of which is representative of one or more of the points at a given octree mesh resolution, wherein the data sectors have different mesh resolution levels wherein data sectors of the same octree mesh resolution are stored such that they have the same retrieval latencies from the storage system and wherein data sectors of different octree mesh resolution are stored such that they have different retrieval latencies from the storage system;

means for retrieving the resolution gradient and the octree mesh resolution data sectors from the storage system;

means for receiving a command from a user of a user interface to present an image based at least in part upon a viewing perspective origin of the frustum, a vector of the frustum originating at the origin of the frustum and a field of view of the frustum;

means for assembling the image based at least in part upon the selected origin and vector originating at the origin, the image comprising a plurality of data sectors pulled from the octree hierarchy, the plurality of data sectors being assembled such that sectors representative of points closer to the selected viewing origin have a higher octree mesh resolution than that of sectors representative of points farther away from the selected viewing origin along the vector, wherein the image is based on the resolution gradient retrieved from the storage system and the resolution gradient is selected to form a first gradient with a descending resolution in a direction outward from the selected viewing perspective origin along the vector; and

means for tuning, by an operator, the resolution gradient between at least two of (i) to have linear change in resolution from back to front, (ii) to be nonlinear and (iii) to be stepwise at certain distance thresholds.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the resolution gradient has linear change in resolution from back to front.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the resolution gradient is nonlinear change in resolution from back to front.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the resolution gradient is stepwise at certain distance thresholds.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the resolution gradient is tunable by an operator based upon at least one of (i) computing resources and (ii) bandwidth resources.

6 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for presenting the user interface to the user within a web browser.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is configured such that the user may adjust the selected origin and vector using an input device, causing the means for assembling the image to assemble a new image based at least in part upon the adjusted origin and vector.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the number of associated points is greater than 1 billion points.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the point cloud has a uniform point pitch.

10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the point cloud has a point pitch that is less than one meter.

11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the point cloud has a point pitch that is less than 1 centimeter.

12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the point cloud represents data that has been collected based upon distance measurement scans of objects.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the point cloud represents at least one LIDAR scan.

14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the octree hierarchy of data sectors is configured such that an N level sector represents a centroid of points at an N+1 level below.

15 . The system of claim 14 , wherein each associated point is weighted equally in determining the centroid.

16 . The system of claim 14 , wherein the points comprising the point cloud are not all weighted equally in determining the centroid.

17 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising means for using a controller means to store data sectors of similar octree mesh resolution in similar accessibility configurations on the storage system.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the controller means is configured to store data sectors of similar octree mesh resolution on a common storage device.