To create surface, the drawing file must have Civil 3D settings defined. Such a drawing file can be created by either using the INSERT command to insert a Civil template into a Utility Design drawing or by opening a Civil template and importing a Utility Design industry model with the AUDINDUSTRYMODELADD command.
You can create a civil surface from points, lines, or blocks, and then inserting Utility Design features can get elevations from the surface. The command MAPIMPORT can be used for generating point entities from survey or GPS point data.
To configure the styles and settings for surfaces, see Civil Options.
Here is an alternative workflow.