Articles | Volume 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-6-47-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/agile-giss-6-47-2025
09 Jun 2025
 | 09 Jun 2025

Point Cloud Data Management for Analytics in a Lakehouse

Balthasar Teuscher and Martin Werner

Keywords: point cloud, data management system, lakehouse architecture, query processing

Abstract. Over time, the peculiarities of point clouds brought forth ample dedicated and specialized solutions for analyzing and managing point cloud data. However, providing analytical capabilities and visualization at scale remains challenging. We present a next-generation point cloud data management approach inspired by the Lakehouse pattern. It is exemplified by combining point clouds stored in raw files with a query engine, which instantly gives us an analysis-ready database management system with an SQL and DataFrame interface.We further demonstrate how to simplify and optimize this system through conversion to a columnar file format and a novel versatile repartitioning approach. Compared to existing solutions, the evaluation exhibits compelling performance, extraordinary flexibility, and exceptional simplicity.

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