I came across a slightly unusual issue today.  I was trying to place a simple Spot Elevation on a Topography surface in a Detail View that originated from a Plan view.  But it wouldn’t work!!

However, if you place the Spot Elevation in a normal Floor Plan view, you can then copy and ‘Paste Aligned’ into the Detail View.

The brief video below demonstrates this process:

Here is a good guide on how to install the Google Earth Extension in AutoCAD.

There is a workflow which allows the topography from Google to be placed into Revit. You could try:
AutoCAD with Google Earth Extension – Export DWG – Import/Link into Revit
OR
Sketchup – Save SKP – Import/Link into Revit

Installing the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD-based products – It is Alive in the Lab

Updating AutoCAD and Revit can be difficult for a few reasons.  If you are not on subscription, there can be tension between the users and the purchasers of the software – when do we outlay $$$ to do the upgrade?

In that situation, there is often lengthy discussion related to the cost vs benefits of any particular upgrade.

After that discussion is resolved, the next question is – can our current hardware run this new software?

The following comic from Architexts draws on these themes…

http://architexts.us/2011/01/14/updating-autocad/