The actual Spot Elevation tool (on the Annotation ribbon), is most useful when providing spots for a Floor/ Hardscape. As mentioned in Part 1, a Generic Annotation might be better for annotating Topo, but if a Hardscape has accurate elevations, then the Spot Elevation is quicker and more effective.

Like many things in Revit, the main hurdle to using the Spot Elevation is simply getting the graphics to behave as desired. After some tweaking, this is what my Spot looks like:

As a System Family, the graphics and structure of the Spot Elevation is controlled almost entirely from its Type Properties.

Since Spot Elevations are used across all disciplines, they have a number of parameters that I find less useful in a typical site/grading plan spot, including the Symbol (Graphics) and all of the Indicators (Text). The ones that will most quickly adjust the family are: Leader Arrowhead, Units Format, Text Location, and Elevation Origin.

The Symbol parameter will only enable if the Text Location parameter is changed from not ‘In-line’ (thus forcing you to choose either Above or Below Leader). This is better used in an elevation Spot (which will typically have a crosshairs symbol) and is not typical in plan.

While using Spot Elevations pairs well with Modifying Hardscape Sub Elements, be careful when offsetting Floors. If a Floor is hosted to Sea Level and has no Height Offset, the modified sub element points will match the annotated Spot Elevation (as shown below).

However, if the Height Offset is anything but zero (0), the sub elements will no longer be accurate relative to Sea Level. As shown below, when the Floor is offset by 1, the Spot Elevations display the true spot, which is offset + sub element value (1 + 6.97 = 7.97).

An easy rule would simply be to not offset a Floor if its sub elements have been modified.