A terrain model can look perfectly credible in Revit, Rhino, or SketchUp while being inaccurate enough to compromise a drainage route, retaining-wall height, or accessible ramp slope. For site models, LiDAR accuracy is not a single number you check before downloading a file. It is the combination of the
A site model can look convincing while being wrong in the ways that matter. A coarse mesh may hide a drainage swale, a misplaced coordinate system can put the survey kilometres from the building, and an unfiltered point cloud can make Revit slow before the design work has started. GIS
A Grasshopper terrain from elevation data is only as useful as the coordinate logic behind it. A visually convincing mesh can still be wrong by several metres, sit at the wrong datum, or become too heavy to support a workable Rhino file. For site analysis, grading studies, drainage checks and
A Rhino NURBS terrain from points is useful when the site model needs to do more than look convincing in a rendering. It needs to carry dependable spot levels, support section studies, inform drainage decisions and sit in the same coordinate logic as the wider project. The quality of the
ArchiCAD's Mesh is the native element for site topography. Built from real survey points rather than traced contours, it carries accurate levels, stays editable, and exports cleanly to IFC under IfcSite. This is how to get an X, Y, Z point file into a Mesh, and how to
A site model becomes misleading the moment it extends beyond the land you are actually designing. A broad terrain surface may look convincing in an early rendering, but it can hide the levels that matter: the pavement fall at an entrance, the low point beside a retaining wall, or the