i seem to be having great difficulty with this simple task... please help!
 
i need to create a 3d model of an area of land to show how flat (or not flat) it is.  I have point data covering the area of interest that has the 'z' value already entered so all i need to do is create a 3d surface from this information right?
 
how does one do this?
 
Many thanks for any help

It's not a simple task. To do it properly, accuratetly, that would stand up in court, you need information provided by a registered surveyor; a ground model created using industry-standard/approved software such as Civil 3D, eaglepointe, several others; performed by someone with the necessary training.



 
OK if you just want a 3d representation you can manually draw elevation contours through the points, make polylines, use methods (autocad commands) to convert to a surface or solid.
 
More accurately & automated & cheap, download program from www.sitetopo.com
 
 

thanks for the reply.
 
we did actually used to use civil 3d but had to get rid of it due to lack of use (hence the question) but i think i've found the solution now. 
 
It was only a small area of a site that needs to be modeled so i simply added the z value to the relevant points and used a plugin called 'Point Cloud' that effectively droops a mesh over the points to create the surface. Bit of a ball ache though as i had to manually input the z data, but got there in the end!

 
Cheers