Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Topography and Building relationship

mbkarp

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I am adding a addition on an existing building.  The finished floor of the new building is going to be set to a project 0'-0" which is actually 386.81' on the survey.  I would like my floors and building to work off of the 0'-0" datum but I would like the site to be representated with the actual survey hieghts.  How can this be done?

 All of the tutorials I have found assume you are making a building in a vacant field where everything is based on a 0'-0" with no existing topography.

I am very new to this so take it easy on me. 

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Kardiff

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Joined: Fri, Nov 7, 2008
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If you want to keep level 0 at 0

Just -386.81 from your survey points

If you want to use your survey points make a new level at 386.81 and call it datum, then make your other levels an offset off that elevation

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mbkarp

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I would like to use my survey points so my contours can be labelled accurately to their absolute hieghts.  Can I make a level at 386.81' and set it to a relative 0'-0" elevation for the rest of the floors?

 Thanks.

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Kardiff

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Yes just label them and set them off

So exaple being :

level 0 : 386.81

level 1 : 2700+386.81 = 3086.81 (etc)

then just set everything relative to your floors, and it'll be fine and stress free

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TomDorner

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Joined: Sun, Apr 25, 2004
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Another way to handle this would be to use the Revit tool "relocate project". 

Vertically in Revit you can have to different datum points, Project and Shared.

I would model in the Project position as the real life above sea level elevation can move around during the course of a project.  Modeling at Project can mean the first floor is at 0 and all other levels relative to it.

In the project go to the properties of one of your levels.  Ensure that it is set to display Project positioning, if so then rename if "Level - Project" or similar.  Then duplicate it and name the new one "Level - Shared" and make sure to set the new level type to display the shared positioning.

Now relocate your project vertically using the relocate project tool.  Now you can choose do change the level indicators to either of the types you created or even intermix them.

Try and see if you can make it work for you.

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Tom

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mbkarp

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Thanks for the help.

 I have set the building to the absolute hieght above sea level.  Then I set the floors to be relative to the project.  I have also found how to label the contours of the toposurface with the "shared" setting under types so they show the correct above sea level hieght.

BUT here is the new burner.  The toposurface sets its own contours, and it is not putting the lines right where the survey contour lines are.  It is doing this because it is cutting the topos at even feet from the project 0'-0" rather then at even feet from the absolute above sea level hieghts.  Because 0'-0" is at 386.81' it is throwing the cut lines for the contours off their proper locations because it is ~3" off in hieght.   

Where are the controls for how it displays its contour lines on the toposurface?  I want to to cut the topo lines off of the absolute heights so I can hit my contours.  I feel like I am just a few clicks away but I cannot find the controls I need.

 Thanks.

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TomDorner

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Revit is not capable of Civil Engineering accuracy.  Whether the topo surface os set to shared or project will likely not make a difference.  Bottom line, never expect Revit to be able to replicate the topo from a civil file.  Instead, Revit's site should be looked at as a general context for rendering, 3D views, vegitation, parking counts.  I never count on it to take the place of civil engineering, landscape or site/surveys.

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mbkarp

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So this is not possible then?

I just want it to "not" move the topo lines it was given.  This is not replacing a civil or landscape plan but why would it show topo lines if you cannot control them?  It is a very basic task to show topography on drawings. 

 Thanks for your help.  It is just frusterating to run into these seemingly major flaws in the program right off the bat. 

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TomDorner

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Unfortunetly Revit does the calculations of the topo-surface with it's own internal algorithm and you cannot adjust the contour lines it creates from the CAD file.  It may be best to simply link in the CAD file and display the topo lines from it in Revit.  The Revit 3D topo can be turned on or off in views as needed.

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