Land Survey Research Articles

L. G. Stepanova. General Land Surveying and Land Development of the Southern Territories of the Russian Empire in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Krasnodar, Kuban State University, 2020. 225 p. ISBN 978-58209-1850-6]. Review

L. G. Stepanova. General Land Surveying and Land Development of the Southern Territories of the Russian Empire in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Krasnodar, Kuban State University, 2020. 225 p. ISBN 978-58209-1850-6]. Review

喀斯特石漠化区生态保护红线划定——以贵州省威宁县为例

科学划定喀斯特石漠化区生态保护红线，对于维护区域生态安全，促进经济社会可持续发展具有重要意义。选择水源涵养、水土保持、生物多样性维护3种生态系统服务功能以及水土流失、石漠化2种生态环境敏感性指标，构建喀斯特石漠化区生态保护红线划定方法。以贵州省威宁县为例，结合第二次全国土地调查数据和相关规划等数据，划定生态保护红线，并从生态用地、植被覆盖度与人类扰动指数三个方面评价划定效果。结果表明：（1）威宁县生态系统综合服务功能以极重要为主，占研究区总面积的40.57%。生态环境综合敏感性以敏感为主，占总面积的67.86%。优化调整后生态保护红线面积1496.13 km²，占全县面积的23.75%，红线内生态用地面积占比高于非生态用地面积占比20%以上。（2）近些年贵州省退耕还林、岩溶地区石漠化综合治理和草海自然保护区生态修复等工程的实施，威宁县植被覆盖显著增加，红线内NDVI基本不变区、轻微改善区和明显改善区面积占比达到88.42%，红线范围内植被覆盖呈增加趋势。（3）红线内人类扰动指数低于红线外人类扰动指数，雪山镇、麻乍镇需控制红线范围内人类扰动，确保生态用地性质不改变，加强生态保护和监管。威宁县生态保护红线划定研究可为其他石漠化地区红线划定及划定效果评价提供参考。;It's of great significance to scientifically delineate the ecological conservation redline (ECR) in karst rocky desertification areas for maintaining regionally ecological security, promoting sustainable economic and social development. Three kinds of ecosystem services such as water retention, soil conservation, and biodiversity conservation, as well as two kinds of ecological environment sensitivity indicators (soil loss and rocky desertification) were selected to construct an ECR delineation method for karst rocky desertification areas. Taking the karst rocky desertification area in Weining County of Guizhou Province as an example, combined with the Second National Land Survey data and related planning data, ECR was delineated. We analyzed the evaluation effect from three aspects:ecological land use, vegetation coverage and anthropogenic disturbance index (ADL). Results showed that the comprehensive ecosystem service function was extremely important, accounting for 40.57% of the research area. The comprehensive sensitivity level indicated that the ecological environment was sensitive, accounting for 67.86%. Finally, the area of optimized ECR in Weining County was determined to be 1496.13 km², accounting for 23.75%. The proportion of ecological land in the ECR is 20% higher than that of non-ecological land. In recent years, the implementation of the project of Grain for Green in Guizhou Province, the comprehensive control project of rocky desertification in the karst area of Weining County and the ecological restoration project in Caohai Nature Reserve, vegetation coverage increased significantly. The proportion of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) basic constant zone, slightly improved zone and obviously improved zone in the ECR reached 88.42%. It showed that the vegetation coverage is increasing in the ECR. The ADI in the ECR was much lower than the ADI outside the ECR. Xueshan Town and Mazha Town of Weining County need to control the ADI in the ECR, ensure that the property of ecological land within the ECR does not change, and strengthen ecological protection and supervision. The delineation of the ECR in Weining County can provide reference for the delineation and evaluation of the ECR in other rocky desertification areas.

自然保护地整合优化的景观格局变化分析——以贵州省思南县为例

自然保护地整合优化是我国重构自然保护地体系、衔接三条控制线划定、完善国土空间规划的重要举措。利用自然保护地整合优化成果、国土三调数据，综合运用GIS空间分析、景观格局指数和保护地边界分析法，对贵州思南县自然保护地整合优化各阶段景观格局的变化特征及其合理性进行了分析。结果表明：（1）整合优化后土地利用/覆盖组成变化显著，耕地、建设用地显著减少，优势景观林地面积增加。（2）整合优化后，思南县自然保护地景观异质性降低、优势度增强、破碎度增加。（3）各斑块类型的复杂性和异质性降低，林地优势度增强，但耕地、园地的破碎度增加，整合优化未造成优势景观的破碎化。（4）整合优化后，自然保护地边界复杂度显著提高，自然保护区、地质公园变化最明显，将给自然保护地勘界定桩增加难度。（5）耕地、建设用地、林地变化是思南县自然保护地景观格局变化的主要因素，耕地、建设用地主要作为矛盾调出自然保护地，而林地则主要作为破碎化斑块伴随矛盾一并调出。本研究自然保护地整合优化方案围绕矛盾和问题开展调整，所反映的景观格局变化，与整合优化调整规则限定的内容相适应，整合优化方案总体可行、合理。由于存在的破碎化、边界复杂化、区域分离等问题，在整合优化过程中应进一步优化调整规则，统一数据精度，尽量避免此类问题的产生。景观格局指数变化所反馈的信息可为自然保护地整合优化的科学开展及其成果的合理性评价提供一定参考，引入成果评估机制对自然保护地整合优化工作具有重要意义。;The integration and optimization of natural protected areas (IONPA) is a significant way to reconstruct the system of natural protected areas, connect the delimitation of three control lines, and improve the project of land spatial plans in China. In this paper, while using the result of IONPA and the data of the third national land survey, we analyzed the pattern of variations and rationalities of the landscape in each stage following the practice of IONPA in Sinan County, Guizhou Province, with the methods of GIS spatial distribution, landscape pattern index, and boundary analysis. The results showed that after IONPA, (1) the composition of land use/cover varied significantly, the area of cultivated land and construction land decreased dramatically, and the area of forest land from the dominant landscape increased relatively. (2) The landscape heterogeneity decreased, but both the dominance and the fragmentation increased in the natural protected areas in Sinan County. (3) The complexity and heterogeneity of each patch type decreased, but the dominance of forest land increased, while the fragmentation for the cultivated land and garden land increased. The IONPA did not fragment the dominant landscape. (4) The boundary complexity of the natural protected areas increased significantly, where the nature reserve and geopark varied the most, which would increase the difficulties of delimiting and staking the boundaries. (5) The changes of the cultivated land, construction land and forest land were the main factors attributed to the variations of landscape pattern in Sinan County. The cultivated land and construction land were suggested to move out from the natural protected areas mainly due to conservation conflicts, while the forest land was also suggested to move out mainly as fragmentized patches along with conflicts. In this study, the scheme of IONPA was adjusted focused on resolving the contradictions and problems, therefore, the changes of landscape pattern reflected from the practice in this study were consistent with the specific contents of the adjustment rules of IONPA. In general, the scheme of IONPA in this study was feasible and reasonable. However, there are still some problems like fragmentation, boundary complexity and regional separation, which remind us to avoid the above-mentioned problems, and meanwhile, to further optimize the adjustment rules of IONPA and to unify the accuracies of all data in the future. The information coming from the changes of landscape pattern indexes can provide a certain reference to conduct IONPA scientifically and to assess the result rationally. Additionally, introduction of the achievement evaluation mechanism to IONPA was significantly important.

Research on the application of GIS technology in the spatial status grooming of village areas

The preparation of five levels and three categories of territorial spatial planning includes many aspects, and this article mainly deals with one of the levels and categories: detailed territorial spatial planning of village areas; it focuses on the preliminary work of planning preparation: the current situation combing of village territorial spatial areas. The article firstly outlines the basic application of GIS technology in the current situation combing; then introduces the relevant contents of the Third National Land Survey. Finally, with actual cases, we focus on the significant role played by GIS technology in the integration of land use data in the base period of village territorial space, the location of permanent basic farmland indicators, the location of ecological protection red line, and the statistics of conflicting patches of ecological environmental protection and basic farmland protection.

A 3D-2D Convolutional Neural Network and Transfer Learning for Hyperspectral Image Classification.

As one of the fast evolution of remote sensing and spectral imagery techniques, hyperspectral image (HSI) classification has attracted considerable attention in various fields, including land survey, resource monitoring, and among others. Nonetheless, due to a lack of distinctiveness in the hyperspectral pixels of separate classes, there is a recurrent inseparability obstacle in the primary space. Additionally, an open challenge stems from examining efficient techniques that can speedily classify and interpret the spectral-spatial data bands within a more precise computational time. Hence, in this work, we propose a 3D-2D convolutional neural network and transfer learning model where the early layers of the model exploit 3D convolutions to modeling spectral-spatial information. On top of it are 2D convolutional layers to handle semantic abstraction mainly. Toward simplicity and a highly modularized network for image classification, we leverage the ResNeXt-50 block for our model. Furthermore, improving the separability among classes and balance of the interclass and intraclass criteria, we engaged principal component analysis (PCA) for the best orthogonal vectors for representing information from HSIs before feeding to the network. The experimental result shows that our model can efficiently improve the hyperspectral imagery classification, including an instantaneous representation of the spectral-spatial information. Our model evaluation on five publicly available hyperspectral datasets, Indian Pines (IP), Pavia University Scene (PU), Salinas Scene (SA), Botswana (BS), and Kennedy Space Center (KSC), was performed with a high classification accuracy of 99.85%, 99.98%, 100%, 99.82%, and 99.71%, respectively. Quantitative results demonstrated that it outperformed several state-of-the-arts (SOTA), deep neural network-based approaches, and standard classifiers. Thus, it has provided more insight into hyperspectral image classification.

Automatic Recognition of ArUco Codes in Land Surveying Tasks

Automatic Recognition of ArUco Codes in Land Surveying Tasks

Estate and Land Structure of Nizhny Novgorod According to the Owners Catalog of the General Land Survey Period of the Late 18th Century

The study raises the problem of analyzing the class structure of the city of Nizhny Novgorod according to the General Land Survey of 1784. Based on the materials of the Catalog of Owners in the citywide plan, the distribution of urban citizenship, nobility, clergy, and military is studied in comparison with the all-Russian data on the class status of the cities at the end of the 18th century. A relational database was developed for the analysis. The conclusion is made about the flourishing of merchants and philistines, who made up 80 % of the population and an extremely small number of peasants-land owners (3 %). The novelty of the study, among other things, is to establish the fact of the predominance of private small-scale land ownership, which represented 95 % of the land ownership of the city. It was found that despite the leading industrial and commercial function of Nizhny Novgorod and strong citizenship, 53 % of land plots were associated with agriculture (commercial gardening), which confirms the well-known phenomenon of “vegetable gardens in the city” in the pre-reform period.

Potential Analysis of Inefficient Garden Land and Residual Forest Land Remediation in Comprehensive Land Remediation of the Whole Region—A Case Study of Zhemu Town, Guilin City, China

The remediation of inefficient garden land and defective forest land is one of the important sources and types of supplementary cultivated land in the comprehensive land remediation of the whole region. The remediation and development of inefficient garden land and defective forest land will effectively alleviate the multiple pressures faced by cultivated land at present. Taking Zhemu Town, Guilin City, China as an example, on that basis of the data of the third national land survey, using analytic hierarchy process, this paper selects six evaluation factors, including water source, traffic, slope, field concentration, farmland infrastructure and villagers’ will, to study the remediation potential of inefficient garden land and defective forest land in Zhemu Town, and delimits four potential divisions, in order to provide the basis for the arrangement of land remediation projects in Zhemu Town. The results show that the northern, central and western regions of Zhemu Town have great remediation potential.

A machine learning approach for modeling irregular regions with multiple owners in wind farm layout design

Wind farm development projects require a detailed survey of the eligible land. The land selected is often segmented into different region, each owned by different landowners with different land pricing. These regions are often complex shaped with irregular boundaries. Therefore, an efficient method for numerically modeling such irregular domains is needed. This work uses support vector data description (SVDD) to generate an analytical, continuous description of the irregular regions. Whereas other methods typically work well for modeling convex domains, the SVDD approach can be used to model irregular regions as a spherical boundary using various kernel mapping. It was demonstrated that the SVDD approach can be used to model any number of complex regions. An error analysis showed that the SVDD approach can construct accurate descriptions using a relatively small data set. The applicability of SVDD method in wind farm layout optimization is also demonstrated. The wind farm optimization study considered that the terrain is divided into several regions each owned by a different owner offering the land at a different price. Two different methods for considering the cost of the land are presented. The differences in optimal farm layouts using the two land cost models were also presented. In each case, the optimized wind farm layouts resulted in lower cost-of-energy relative to the reference wind farm. It was shown that the SVDD approach can also be used to restrict the placement of wind turbines in infeasible/restricted regions. The library for support vector data description was also made available to the public.

Victoria Land, Antarctica: An Improved Geodynamic Interpretation Based on the Strain Rate Field of the Current Crustal Motion and Moho Depth Model

In Antarctica, the severe climatic conditions and the thick ice sheet that covers the largest and most internal part of the continent make it particularly difficult to systematically carry out geophysical and geodetic observations on a continental scale. It prevents the comprehensive understanding of both the onshore and offshore geology as well as the relationship between the inner part of East Antarctica (EA) and the coastal sector of Victoria Land (VL). With the aim to reduce this gap, in this paper multiple geophysical dataset collected since the 1980s in Antarctica by Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) were integrated with geodetic observations. In particular, the analyzed data includes: (i) Geodetic time series from Trans Antarctic Mountains DEFormation (TAMDEF), and Victoria Land Network for DEFormation control (VLNDEF) GNSS stations installed in Victoria Land; (ii) the integration of on-shore (ground points data and airborne) gravity measurements in Victoria Land and marine gravity surveys performed in the Ross Sea and the narrow strip of Southern Ocean facing the coasts of northern Victoria Land. Gravity data modelling has improved the knowledge of the Moho depth of VL and surrounding the offshore areas. By the integration of geodetic and gravitational (or gravity) potential results it was possible to better constrain/identify four geodynamic blocks characterized by homogeneous geophysical signature: the Southern Ocean to the N, the Ross Sea to the E, the Wilkes Basin to the W, and VL in between. The last block is characterized by a small but significant clockwise rotation relative to East Antarctica. The presence of a N-S to NNW-SSE 1-km step in the Moho in correspondence of the Rennick Geodynamic Belt confirms the existence of this crustal scale discontinuity, possibly representing the tectonic boundary between East Antarctica and the northern part of VL block, as previously proposed by some geological studies.

Changes in landscape‐scale tree biodiversity in the north‐eastern USA since European settlement

AbstractAimDespite global biodiversity losses, trends at local and regional scales are context dependent. Recent studies have been criticized for lacking baselines preceding human impacts, and few such studies have addressed the landscape scale. Our aim was to quantify temporal trends in landscape‐scale tree diversity during an unambiguous period of massively increased anthropogenic disturbance and to test the hypothesis that land use can increase landscape‐scale diversity via increased environmental heterogeneity.LocationEastern USA.Time period1620–2008.Major taxa studiedTrees.MethodsWe combined data from archival land surveys and modern‐day forest inventories in the north‐eastern USA to quantify tree genus diversity at the scale of towns (“landscapes”). We modelled change in diversity over time as a function of the proportion of the landscape historically converted to agriculture, historical temperature increases and nitrogen deposition, and other abiotic and spatial variables. We also tested for scale‐dependent changes in beta diversity.ResultsOverall, tree genus diversity (Shannon and Simpson indices) changed minimally over time on average, but the magnitude of change increased with the maximum historical percentage of the town in agriculture. Other predictor variables had minimal influence. Beta diversity increased over time for nearby pairs of towns and decreased over time for more distant towns.Main conclusionsForests have regrown on much former agricultural land, and our results support the hypothesis that increased landscape‐scale environmental heterogeneity, attributable to land use, increased tree diversity. Where agricultural land use was uncommon, declines in diversity might be attributable to effects of logging and fire suppression. Even the strongest driver of biodiversity loss at local and global scales (human land use) can lead to increases in biodiversity at the landscape scale, in addition to scale dependence of biotic differentiation versus homogenization.

Wędrówki młodego Caspara Davida Friedricha. Rugia

The article looks at the context in which young Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) developed his interest in the landscape of the Island of Rügen and the effects of this setting on the drawings the artist produced during his wanderings there.
 This article positions itself against the current scholarship which assumes that Friedrich’s fascination with Rügen had formed before the artist moved to Copenhagen to study at the Fine Arts Academy. Instead, this article shifts Friedrich’s attraction to the island forward, to his time in Copenhagen. The city was then the centre of European research into Ossian’s poetry and the Nordic past. The author points to the significance of the Island of Møn, popularized by Søren Abildgaard, whose son, Nicolai, Professor of Art at the Copenhagen Academy was one of the most active exponents of the cult of Ossian in Denmark. Another major figure connected with the Island of Møn was the poet and clergyman Christen Andersen Lund, promoter of English literature.
 The popularity of Rügen as a destination grew precisely at the time when Friedrich returned from Copenhagen to his native Greifswald. One of the major champions of the island’s beauties was Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten, pastor at the Rügen Altenkirchen and at the same time a close friend of Friedrich’s first drawing teacher in Greifswald Johann Gottfried Quistorp.
 Friedrich’s first three excursions to Rügen in 1801–1802 resulted in many sketches of the island’s landscapes. These years are regarded here as seminal in the formation of the artist’s method. Already the sketches show the traits characteristic of his later oeuvre, and especially the mathematical structure of the composition. We need to remember that Quistorp was principally educated as a mathematician, a builder, and a land surveyor. Copenhagen at the time of Friedrich’s studies was one of the European centres of cartography, and the courses in mathematics, geometry, and perspective were considered of special importance at the Academy. This article focuses on four drawings made by Friedrich during his trips to Rügen. The author points to their mathematical precision and interprets the drawings in the context of cartographic practices, as well as in the light of old treatises on perspective. Special consideration is given to the method of laying out a grid on paper before making the actual sketch.

Quality Control Method for Results of the Third National Land Survey Project

In the process of carrying out land survey, scientific control of the quality of project results can ensure higher investigation accuracy in the specific work process, and create good conditions for the orderly development of its work. this paper first analyzes the technical characteristics of three adjustments, and then based on this, further explores the project results quality control strategy.

Formación y cultura escrita: los libros del agrimensor Francisco Falcón (1764)

This article approaches the study of the private library of the Murcian land surveyor Francisco Falcón de los Reyes, from the first half of the eighteenth century, which constitutes a clear example of the relationship between education and written culture. From the data extracted from a postmortem inventory and the subsequent appraisal and partition of goods among the heirs, we carried out a quantitative and qualitative analysis of said library. First, the text provides a biographical profile of this geometer, a descendant of slaves (new Christians), and describes the formative precariousness of these professionals in their time. The quantitative analysis of the bibliographic collection and its comparison with other private collections from similar socioeconomic fields indicate the importance of this particular collection. The qualitative study of authors and titles shows, on one hand, the high degree of mathematical training of the subject, who is shown to be a recipient of the fundamentally Valencian pre-illustrated reformist scientific mainstream, and, on the other hand, the purpose with which those books were incorporated into the funds of the collection. Together with the library, which we could call professional, due to its scientific nature, the inventoried religious matter in the form of printed documents makes up another interesting part of the collection, one of a catechetical nature in its various formative levels

Land reclamation in the Jewish Autonomous region

Based on the materials of the survey of unused lands of the TRANS-Baikal territory on the area of 205 824 hectares., their expert assessment was carried out for the meliorative state, economic suitability and nature of land use. We used satellite geocards, as well as photo and video reports of field sites obtained using quadrocopters. Due to the monsoon climate on a flat territory, the economic suitability of land is largely determined by its reclamation state. Mineral and organic (peat) soils, which are complex objects of drainage, are subject to waterlogging. The introduction of fallow lands into circulation will double the area of arable land, up to 300 thousand hectares, which creates prerequisites for the intensification of crop production, the creation of a feed base and the development of the livestock industry.

An empirical study on challenges to the adoption of the Internet of Things in the Nigerian construction industry

Internet of Things is a model in which computing and networking abilities are inserted into any sort of possible object. These abilities are utilized to inquire about the condition of the object and to change its state if feasible. This study assessed the challenges faced in the adoption of the Internet of Things in the construction industry in Nigeria, with the view of increasing the awareness and usage level for the benefits of stakeholders in the industry. The quantitative research method was adopted for this study and the adopted questionnaire was structured on a five-point Likert scale to elicit the opinion of respondents on the challenges of the application of the Internet of Things in the Nigerian construction industry. The respondents included builders, quantity surveyors, land surveyors, architects and engineers in the study area. Mean item score, pie chart, bar chart, percentiles, ANOVA and post-hoc test were used in analyzing the retrieved data. The results show that power supply, cost, limited consumer demand, and challenges in online security and data volume are the major challenges that are faced by construction stakeholders in the adoption of the Internet of Things in the industry. The study concludes that most professionals are aware of and have knowledge of the Internet of Things but the principles are not effectively utilized because of the constraints listed above; in addition, some organizations think the Internet of Things is not necessary. It is therefore recommended that the government should help in promoting and motivating the construction industry by regulating and subsidizing the cost of supply of IoT materials. This will improve the standard of living of people and thereby increase the country’s economy through enhanced productivity and performance in the construction industry.

Application of 3S Technology in the Third National Land Survey

Application of 3S Technology in the Third National Land Survey

Building a Spatial Information System to Support the Development of Agriculture in Poland and Ukraine

The space of rural areas is subject to constant changes in terms of structure and development. The area structure of rural areas, especially in the south and east of Poland, remains unsatisfactory. The weakness of Polish agriculture is the fragmentation of the area structure of its farms; this was due to historical, natural, economic and social factors and, to a large extent, tradition. Therefore, the current status of agricultural land in Poland requires carrying out many arrangement and agricultural operations. In Ukraine, there is also no coherent IT system that would allow for the efficient management of rural space and agriculture. In order to conduct a coherent rural development policy in the region, the self-governments in Poland and in Ukraine are facing the need to expand the existing spatial information infrastructure system. This study is a proposal to expand the spatial information system with elements related only to agricultural surveying. To this end, the concept of building the Agricultural Geodesy Module was created as an element of the region’s spatial information system. The Agricultural Land Surveying Module will be an information repository and will enable powering the region’s database. Data supplying the repository will be divided into source data, operational data, metadata and final studies, such as analyses or reports. These data will not only be used by the local government of the region, but will also be made available to external users.

Soil and soil breathing remote monitoring: A short review

The efficiency of agricultural use of soils depends directly on their quality indicators, which include an extended set of characteristics: from data of the environmental situation to the component composition of the soil air. Therefore, for a more complete survey of agricultural land in order to determine their qualitative indicators and subsequent application, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive monitoring while simultaneously studying the characteristics of soils and their air composition. The article is devoted to the literature analysis on the remote monitoring of soils and soil air. Particular attention was paid to the relationship between soil type and soil air composition and it was found that the soil air composition (in the combination with pH and humidity parameters) can assess the type, quality and environmental condition of soils. Since when developing a remote monitoring system of soil air soil moisture and soil structure significantly affect the processes occurring in soils, and ultimately the quantitative composition of soil air, it is very important to know the dependence of the soil air composition on the type and quality of the soil itself, the influence of moisture, structure and other parameters on it. It was shown that the use of sensors is a promising direction for the development of the soils and soil air remote monitoring. It was indicated that soil and soil air remote monitoring in real time will provide reliable, timely information on the environmental status of soils and their quality. Commercial sensors that can be used to determine CO2, O2, NOx, CH4, CO, H2 and NH3 were considered and the technique for sensor signal processing was chosen. A remote monitoring system with the use of existing commercial sensors was proposed, the movement of which can be realized with the help of quadcopter, which will allow parallel scanning of the soils and the land terrain. Such a system will make it possible to correctly assess the readiness of soils for planting, determine their intended use, correctly apply fertilizers, and even predict the yield of certain crops. Thereby, this approach will create a modern on-line system for full monitoring of soil, land and rapid response in the case of its change for the agro-industrial sector.

Dimensioning Method of Floating Offshore Objects by Means of Quasi-Similarity Transformation with Reduced Tolerance Errors.

The human activities in the offshore oil and gas, renewable energy and construction industry require reliable data acquired by different types of hydrographic sensors: DGNSS (Differential Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning, attitude sensors, multibeam sonars, lidars or total stations installed on the offshore vessel, drones or platforms. Each component or sensor that produces information, unique to its position, will have a point that is considered as the reference point of that sensor. The accurate measurement of the offsets is vital to establish the mathematical relation between sensor and vessel common reference point in order to achieve sufficient accuracy of the survey data. If possible, the vessel will be put on a hard stand so that it can be very accurately measured using the standard land survey technique. However, due to the complex environment and sensors being mobilized when the vessel is in service, this may not be possible, and the offsets will have to be measured in sea dynamic conditions by means of a total station from a floating platform. This article presents the method of transformation by similarity with elements of affine transformation, called Q-ST (Quasi-Similarity Transformation). The Q-ST has been designed for measurements on such unstable substrates when it is not possible to level the total station (when the number of adjustment points is small (4–6 points)). Such situation occurs, among others, when measuring before the offshore duties or during the jack up or semi-submersible rig move. The presented calculation model is characterized by zero deviations at the adjustment points (at four common points). The transformation concerns the conversion of points between two orthogonal and inclined reference frames. The method enables the independent calculation of the scale factor, rotation matrix and system translation. Scaling is performed first in real space, and then both systems are shifted to the centroid, which is the center of gravity. The center of gravity is determined for the fit points that meet the criterion of stability of the orthogonal transformation. Then, the rotation matrix is computed, and a translation is performed from the computational (centroid) to real space. In the applied approach, the transformation parameters, scaling, rotation and translation, are determined independently, and the least squares method is applied independently at each stage of the calculations. The method has been verified in laboratory conditions as well as in real conditions. The results were compared to other known methods of coordinate transformation. The proposed approach is a development of the idea of transformation by similarity based on centroids.