Systems and methods for traversing implied subdivision hierarchical level of detail content

A method for traversing hierarchical level of detail (HLOD) content for rendering on a display of a client computing device, the method performed by the client computing device, the method comprising:

• determining a lower subtree of a structured tree of nodes of different levels of detail of the HLOD content needed for rendering, wherein the lower subtree level is greater than one lower level of detail removed from a current level of nodes available to the client computing device;
• requesting the lower subtree from the server without requesting intermediate subtrees;
• and
• receiving a dummy file in response to the lower subtree not existing at the server, the dummy file indicating the lower subtree does not yet exist at the server.

A client computing device, comprising:

• a display;
• and
• a processor connected to the display, the processor configured to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a metadata structure indicating a structured tree of nodes of different levels of detail of hierarchical level of detail (HLOD) content, the metadate structure received over a network from a server;
• generating an object space representation of at least one level of the structured tree of nodes of the HLOD content based at least in part on the metadata structure;
• transforming a current camera sphere for a view of the HLOD content to be rendered into an object space to create a camera object space ellipsoid;
• determining nodes of the at least one level of the structured tree of nodes of the HLOD content required for rendering based on a comparison of the generated object space representation and the camera object space ellipsoid;
• and
• requesting data for the determined nodes of the at least one level of the structured tree of nodes of the HLOD content from the server.

A client computing device, comprising:

• a display;
• and
• a processor connected to the display, the processor configured to perform operations comprising:
• determining a lower subtree of a structured tree of nodes of different levels of detail of hierarchical level of detail (HLOD) content needed for rendering, wherein the lower subtree level is greater than one lower level of detail removed from a current level of nodes available to the client computing device;
• requesting the lower subtree from the server without requesting intermediate subtrees;
• and
• receiving a dummy file in response to the lower subtree not existing at the server, the dummy file indicating the lower subtree does not yet exist at the server.