It is described the evolution of the instrumentation employed in cartography, starting from the photogrammetric methods from the beginning of the last century, based on angular measures and a topographic support. With the development of instruments capable of measuring distances efficiently (100 spots per second), photogrammetry evolved to a subject that, nowadays, includes the measuring of distances by itself. The combination of angular measures and distance by means of a laser scanner and photogrammetric instruments are a simple and affordable method for achieving trhee-dimensional models, as well as and other sort of representation with few limitations. However, the size of the archives generated, necessary for the optimization of the information, calls for the development of new applications that allow processing the desired information with low budget equipment.