Advice on creating a site plan in revit

[emmanuelbee]

Hi, currently at my company we use a combination of both Autocad and revit, we tend to use auto cad for the site plan etc and then Revit for the building. we are aiming to incorporate BIM in all our work flows so we plan on doing everything in revit soon.

At the moment for our site plan in AutoCAD we draw the whole thing out (road, paths, grass areas, gravel etc etc). And then put lots of different hatches over them to create different landscaping areas.

What is the best method of creating a site plan in revit?. In cad everything is obviously just lines so could i still use the same principle in revit? and just draw the site out in lines or should I use a toposurface with subregions etc or just use floors to create the site. Any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers.

[Anonymous]

Hey,

If you are looking for complete accuracy when drawing a site plan you can get accurate topography using the free sketchup tool and importing to Revit from a real address. Here is a quick easy Tutorial explaining the process. After that you can add shrubbery, roads, etc. using the site designer tab in Revit. This is if you want your site modeled in 3D. 

If you only need it in 2D you can use lines and filled regions but with that method you would have to copy those elements into each view you wish to see them in. 

Best wishes.

[Viveka_CD]

Hi @emmanuelbee

Check out a video with steps on how to create a Detailed Site Plan Setup in Revit Tutorial

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question. Likes welcome!

Regards,

[emmanuelbee]

I understand what you're saying, the only issue is the site plan that we normally receive from the client normally also show the surrounding buildings of the site and road names. its very important that we show the road names so if i import into revit, all that it will do is create an accurate toposurface like you're saying but it won't show the road names or surrounding buildings. see attached.. of what our site plans currently look like in cad when we create them. 

[barthbradley]

There's nothing to create a toposurface from. Did you attach the right dwg? The one you attached is all 2D linework.  

[Anonymous]

Oh I see your dilemma. A crude way would be to import as an image and scale to fit. (Only works in plan view)

Another way that I constantly use to bring in AutoCAD models that would be too tedious to recreate in Revit is linking them in as a Revit link AFTER I create a generic family with the AutoCAD file inserted. You would be able to dimension to/from that link and cut it. Let me know if that makes sense because its a bit difficult to explain without showing it. 

[emmanuelbee]

I probably should have been a bit clearer, when i say site plan, i mean site finishes plan, which we show different landscaping areas on the site, that is what the attached file was. the toposurface is something that we do later on i think i'll be a able to import that into revit fairly easily. My main thing is creating something like what was in the attached file in  revit which is 'Site Finishes'

[barthbradley · Accepted solution]

Just use the Pick Lines tool to trace over the imported CAD file linework with Revit linework, sketch boundaries, etc.  There's no other way to do it.  

[emmanuelbee]

Yeah that's what i would have initially done but i wanted to check if there was any other way. 

Thanks anyway!

[emmanuelbee]

Thanks for your help!