The surveying department of Saxony ordered the creation of high resolution DEM data. The airborne laser scans of about 18 415 km² will be finished in 2011. ATKIS-DGM2, a set of interpolated data with 2m-grid and an accuracy of +/- 0.2 m consists of over 4.6 billion points within about 5200 files. This treasure shall be provided for daily archaeological use.

While the methods are clear in theory, there are some challenges in processing large amounts of 3D-data in practice. The experiences using ESRI ArcGIS 10 software with 3D Extension are shown. Based on a description of the solution with ArcGIS Model Builder, problems and chances of the used tools are illustrated in the presentation. Results of this project part are hill-shades of all available DGM2 data and a terrain-model that supports the generation of TIN and 3D-views of dedicated regions.

Based on these data, combined with previously georeferenced historic maps and high resolution remote sensing data (DOP, CIR) it is possible to prospect large regions from the desktop. In this manner over 400 km of ancient roads where studied, assumed to be part of the Via Regia and the “Frühbußer Straße”. The Result is a documentation of visible preserved remains from ancient roads, just like hollow ways or crop-marks, for concerns of heritage protection.

Most details of the used methods are well known, but falling prices allow the application even with rather low budgets. The method supports the practice of heritage protection not only for small project regions but state wide for the entire region of Saxony.

(Poster)