1. A computer implemented method for managing hierarchical layout data, comprising: using at least one processor to perform a process, the process comprising: configuring a set of hierarchical grids, wherein the set of hierarchical grids comprise different sizes of grid-cells at different levels of the hierarchy, and the set of hierarchical grids corresponds to equal-sized physical partitions at each level; assigning a set of layout objects to at least some of the grid-cells within the set of hierarchical grids based at least in part upon one or more sizes or locations of the set of layout objects by using one or more canonical assignments, wherein the set of grid-cells comprises multiple levels of granularity including a finest level of granularity that is greater than a smallest feature size in the hierarchical layout data; and dividing at least some of the set of layout objects assigned to a grid-cell into multiple logical partitions to achieve balanced performance in processing the grid-cells, wherein the logical partitions act as a stack of sieves and do not correspond to equal-sized physical partitions.