Disclosed is a system and associated methods for generating a mutable tree to efficiently access data within a three-dimensional (“3D”) environment. The system generates the mutable tree with a root node defined at a root node position, a first branch with nodes for each of a first set of subdivided regions that are a first distance from the root node position, and a second branch with nodes for each of a second set of subdivided regions that are a second distance from the root node position. The system sorts the mutable tree in response to a request to access data from a first position within the 3D environment so that the first node in the first branch is the first subtree node that is closest to the first position, and the first node in the second branch is the second subtree node that is closest to the first position.