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 Autodesk 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.
