Optical individual-point measurement

A distance measuring method for a point to be measured on an object, comprising:

• emitting measurement radiation, wherein, when an optical measurement axis of the measurement radiation is aligned with the point to be measured, an optical measurement point region is defined by the beam cross section of the radiation on the object;
• receiving measurement radiation that has been reflected from the object;
• and
• determining the distance to the point on the object from the received measurement radiation, wherein:
• emitting the measurement radiation includes at least once, altering an emission direction of the measurement radiation with respective emission and reception of the measurement radiation.

A measuring apparatus for determining the distance to a point to be measured on an object, comprising:

• a distance measuring unit having a radiation source for generating a measurement radiation and a detector for receiving the measurement radiation reflected at the object;
• alignment means for setting a measurement direction defined by the measurement radiation, wherein, when an optical measurement axis defined by the measurement radiation is aligned with the point to be measured, an optical measurement point region is defined by the steel cross section of the measurement radiation on the object by a cross section corresponding to a maximum of ten times the standard deviation of a Gaussian steel profile of the measurement radiation;
• alignment determining means for determining the measurement direction defined by the measurement radiation;
• and
• a control and processing unit having a distance determining functionality, upon the performance of which the distance to the point is determined from the received measurement radiation, wherein:
• upon the performance of the distance determining functionality in a manner controlled by the control and processing unit the following are carried out:
• setting of the measurement direction for aligning the measurement radiation with the point to be measured;
• emission of the measurement radiation and reception of measurement radiation reflected at the object;
• and
• alteration at least once of the measurement direction with respective emission and reception of the measurement radiation, wherein the alteration of the measurement direction is carried out in each case such that respective area centroids defined by the beam cross section on the object lie within the measurement point region.