Methods and apparatus are provided for processing of data representing points in space wherein each is represented by components defining its position in a coordinate system and at least one parameter. For each point, the data are separated into a layer per component, and each component is assigned to a cell of a two-dimensional grid of cells such that corresponding cells of multiple layers contain the components of a point. A component of a point is retrieved by reference to a grid position corresponding to the point and to a layer corresponding to the component. Each layer is segmented into patches of cells such that a component of a point can be retrieved by reference to a grid position of a patch within a layer and to a grid position of a cell within a patch. A layer is compressed using an associated codec.