About Adding Surface Data From a Point File

If you have point data files that you created either manually or by downloading a data collector, you can use the point data as surface data.

Any point file format that can be imported to create AutoCAD Civil 3D points can be used to add points to surfaces.

The following is an example of the PENZ space-delimited format, which is just one of the point file formats recognized by the surface Add Point File command.

A PENZ space-delimited point file contains: point number, easting (X), northing (Y), elevation (Z)). Within the file, the following syntax is used for each point:

[Point Number] [Easting (or X)] [Northing (or Y)] [Elevation (or Z)]

An example of the contents of a PENZ space delimited format point text file:

26303        315872.971714  4838799.938284      111.250000
26304        315876.474880  4838813.524640      111.280000
26305        315873.911320  4838829.056520      111.950000
26306        315861.792509  4838799.287159      112.060000
26307        315855.883079  4838798.942969      114.160000
26308        315855.585197  4838811.389822      114.080000
26309        315861.566272  4838812.001057      111.920000

There are several supported point file formats. If your point files use a format that is not recognized by the surface Add Point File command, you can convert the files to a supported format.

First, you create a point file format that describes the layout of the data in the point files. Then, using the point file format, you convert the files to a supported format using the Transfer Points utility.

You can manually create ASCII text files that contain point data.

Tutorial Exercise: Adding Point Data to a Surface