A new approach to derive profile information for different atmospheric trace gases from ground-based UV/vis measurements is described. The instrument, referred to as the MAX-DOAS, is based on the well-known UV/vis instruments, which use the sunlight scattered in the zenith sky as light source and the method of Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) to derive column amounts of absorbers like ozone and nitrogen dioxide. Substantial enhancements have been applied to this standard setup to use different line of sights near to the horizon as additional light sources (MAX - multi axis). Results from measurements at Ny-Alesund from 2002 are presented and interpreted with the full-spherical radiation transport model SCIATRAN. Results demonstrate the capability to realize a long term UV/vis setup to derive not only column amounts of different trace gases but also some information about the location of these absorbers.