To perform 3D inspection, the most common digitizing system is a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) equipped with a touch trigger probe. Because of their large time consuming, a large number of industrial digitizing systems presenting different characteristics have recently emerged, but collected data quality strongly depends on the sensor technology combined with the associated displacement system. The works presented here focus on a novel approach that help users to select the most appropriate digitizing system in regard of the specification to be verified. This selection is performed in two steps: an ability selection that removes non convenient systems and a performance selection to select the system that provides sufficient data quality in the minimum time. This quality can be noise, trueness, density, depending on the specification to be verified. To store all necessary information, databases that contain intrinsic and qualified information have been developed. An example with GPS specifications is treated.© 2012 ASME