-In mathematical analysis and computer science, *Z-order*, *Morton-order*, or a *Morton-code* is a function which maps multidimensional data to one dimension while preserving locality of the data points. It was introduced in 1966 by IBM researcher, *[G. M. Morton](https://domino.research.ibm.com/library/cyberdig.nsf/papers/0DABF9473B9C86D48525779800566A39/$File/Morton1966.pdf)*. *The z-value* of a point in multidimensions is calculated by interleaving the binary representations of its coordinate values. Once the data are sorted into this ordering, any one-dimensional data structure can be used, such as binary search trees, B-trees, skip lists, or hash tables. The resulting ordering can equivalently be described as the order one would achieve from a depth-first traversal of a quadtree,
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