An optical method of measurement and an optical apparatus for determining the spatial position of at least one luminous object on a sample. A sequence of at least two compact luminous distributions of different topological families is projected onto the sample, and light re-emitted by the luminous object is detected. At least one optical image is generated for each luminous distribution on the basis of the light detected. The optical images are analyzed to obtain spatiotemporal information regarding the light re-emitted by the luminous object, or location of the luminous object.