Patent ID: 8042056

Claim:
A method of visualizing geometric data for an object, comprising the steps of: querying a database to load an individual point cloud subset corresponding to a lower resolution point sampling of the geometric data sized to fit in resident memory, wherein each point of the individual point cloud subset is defined by a measured location in 3D space of a coordinate system; displaying the individual point cloud subset in a primary viewing window configured for displaying point cloud data and at least one auxiliary viewing window configured to display the individual point cloud subset from at least one of the x, y, or z directions; allowing a user to select a portion of the displayed individual point cloud subset in the at least one auxiliary window; displaying the selected portion in the primary viewing window using a first rendering and displaying an unselected remainder of the individual point cloud subset in the primary viewing window using a second rendering; and overlaying the individual point cloud subset with a primary grid in the primary viewing window and an auxiliary grid in each auxiliary viewing window, the auxiliary grid corresponding to a view of the primary grid in the respective auxiliary viewing window, the primary grid including rectilinear boxes that enclose isolated selectable regions of the geometric data, wherein the primary viewing window presents a three-dimensional representation of the individual point cloud subset, and each auxiliary window presents a two-dimensional representation of the point individual cloud subset; and allowing a user to apply at least one additional grid structure having a cell structure that is different from a cell structure of the primary grid, each additional grid structure further having a cell structure that is different from any other additional grid structure.