Big data storage technologies: a case study for web-based LiDAR visualization

Big data technologies have been growing up quickly during past years. New storage and computing solutions appear while those already established in the market are improved with new features and better performance. Along with this growth also rises the number of applications and fields where the inclusion of big data technologies provides a large number of benefits, from the reduction in computational costs and economic resources to the improvement in the quality of the services provided which has a direct impact on the customers satisfaction. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data processing is one of the topics that could benefit from the adoption of these kind of technologies due to the massive datasets that are being gathered nowadays, with applications in archaeology, geography, geology or forestry, among many others. An efficient management of this volume of data becomes a key point especially in visualization, computing and analytic processes. In this paper, we analyse how web applications for the visualization of LiDAR data can benefit from the adoption of big data storage technologies, as well as the advantages and disadvantages that may determine the choice of one of them.