After you link topography from the civil engineer, you can work with the topography to incorporate it into the building design.
This video demonstrates the following:
Topography surfaces created from a linked Civil 3D model are similar to topography created directly in Revit.
For example, the visibility is controlled with the toposolid category. To change the material of a linked site, hover over the link and press the Tab key to select a surface in the link, links may be made up of multiple surfaces, on the Properties Palette, change the material. When a section box is applied to the view, the topography link is cropped.
Pads, railings, and sub regions can be added to further define the site.
Annotations such as spot elevations, and contour labels are placed on the linked topography in the same way the are for native topography.
When the link is reloaded the elements placed in Revit retain their position and adapt to the updated surface.
Working with linked topography can speed the time it takes to develop and alter the site plans of your projects.