Point data is conceptually simple however, it is often advantageous to attach a large number of attributes to each point, in which case, the file structure can become very cumbersome very quickly. Point CloudĮlevation data can be a simple collection of XYZ points, often called a point cloud when the points are numerous and very densely spaced, as with lidar data.
For each one of these data types, there are multiple file formats that can be used to save and exchange them. As you have seen, there are a number of inherently different ways of representing elevation data: grids, points, TINS, contours, etc.
