by Justin Doughty
There are many ways to add satellite/map data to a Revit file, however with the latest release of FormIt, there is a very easy, very quick way.
1. Make sure you have the FormIt Revit Add-in:
https://formit.autodesk.com/page/formit-revit
2. Go to the FormIt Web App (or use the desktop version):
https://app.formit.autodesk.com/
Here, set Location then import satellite image and terrain. Finally turn on the terrain layer and you will see the model:
Then just Save or Export the FormIt .axm file.
3. In Revit use the Add-in to Import the .axm file and it will become a family. You can then move it into position:
There are a few limitations to this workflow. The terrain is just a plain family, not proper Revit Topography. You cannot make any edits to it with the Site Tools, (Building Pads etc) and you have to manually move it into position. You can cut the terrain in FormIt to create any pads beforehand and use a basic topography and pad to merge between them in Revit. To make things easier you can also setup levels in FormIt beforehand. The satellite image is stored in a folder in the same location as the .axm file.
This isn’t the best way of doing it, and won’t be as accurate as real data, but it is very quick and easy, especially if it is only needed for visuals.