An embodiment provides a method of identifying an object from three-dimensional data of the object. Such an embodiment obtains 3D data of an object and, in turn, flattens the 3D data to produce 2D data of the object. The produced 2D data of the object is then compared to a library of existing 2D data to identify matching 2D object data. The matching 2D object data corresponds to an object and as a result of the comparing, the object represented by the obtained 3D data is identified as being of kind as the matching 2D object. This can be performed iteratively and bi-directionally to identify unidentified objects contained in a 3D environment.