Systems and techniques are described for transparently editing physical data in hierarchical IC designs. Some embodiments allow a user to access objects at any level of the physical hierarchy and to specify a particular editing operation (move, rotate, delete, cut, split, etc.) relative to the top-level block. The embodiments can automatically transform and apply the editing operations in the context of the block where the edited object resides. Systems and techniques for automatic context selection, logical connection analysis, cross hierarchical routing, transparent hierarchical routing, and maintaining physical connectivity across hierarchy boundaries are also described.