First Steps to a Topographic Information System of the next Generation

Laser scanning had a huge impact on topographic information systems (TIS) and geographic information systems (GIS). Compared to other data acquisition methods, airborne and terrestrial laser scanner systems have a high degree of automation and allow capturing surfaces in various scales. It turns out that laser scanners are both, efficient and economical measuring tools for cultural heritage objects, detailed city models but also country-wide digital terrain models (DTM), to a previously unknown degree of detail. The increase of available data sets leads to higher demands on interpolation algorithms and efficient spatial data structures of TISs. Whereas country or planet-wide surface models are typically described in 2.5D (the terrain heights are described by a bivariate function over the ground plan domain), models of bigger scaled objects (e.g. city models) are nowadays (or least in the near future) modelled by full 3D approaches. Consequently TISs of the future will have to combine both, 2.5D efficiency and 3D capability. Such a strategy including an efficient data handling, as currently developed for SCOP-NG (SCOP Next Generation), will be presented within this article.