In Kohonen’s Self-Organising Maps (SOM) learning, preserving the map topology to simulate the actual input features appears to be a significant process. Misinterpretation of the training samples can lead to failure in identifying the important features that may affect the outcomes generated by the SOM model. Nonetheless, it is a challenging task as most of the real problems are composed of complex and insufficient data. Spiking Neural Network (SNN) is the third generation of Artificial Neural Network (ANN), in which information can be transferred from one neuron to another using spike, processed, and trigger response as output. This study, hence, embedded spiking neurons for SOM learning in order to enhance the learning process. The proposed method was divided into five main phases. Phase 1 investigated issues related to SOM learning algorithm, while in Phase 2; datasets were collected for analyses carried out in Phase 3, wherein neural coding scheme for data representation process was implemented in the classification task. Next, in Phase 4, the spiking SOM model was designed, developed, and evaluated using classification accuracy rate and quantisation error. The outcomes showed that the proposed model had successfully attained exceptional classification accuracy rate with low quantisation error to preserve the quality of the generated map based on original input data. Lastly, in the final phase, a Spiking 3D Growing SOM is proposed to address the surface reconstruction issue by enhancing the spiking SOM using 3D map structure in SOM algorithm with a growing grid mechanism. The application of spiking neurons to enhance the performance of SOM is relevant in this study due to its ability to spike and to send a reaction when special features are identified based on its learning of the presented datasets. The study outcomes contribute to the enhancement of SOM in learning the patterns of the datasets, as well as in proposing a better tool for data analysis
