I am in the process of initiating a project involving laser scanning. The area to be scanned i s approximately 5000 km². We are initially going to use the data to create a solar potential application, but will also be obliged to use the raw data for DGM, Surface modelling, Flood risk assessments and even 3D City modelling.
We could order data with an accuracy of up to 10 points p/m². But usually for solar potential analysis not more than than 2 points p/m² is required. Having a more accurate data set sounds great, but I am also worried that my hardware won´t be able to handle these amounts of data.
I have recently created a DGM for the 5000km² with a point concentration of 1 point for 12m, and this was quite time consuming.
Has anyone had any experience working with similar data sets? what kind of hardware is able to handle these amounts of data? I have a new windows 7 machine with 12 cores and 8gb Ram...but is this enough?