The invention provides a surveying instrument, which comprises a surveying instrument main unit having a machine reference point already known, a telescope unit installed on the surveying instrument main unit and for sighting a measuring point, a leveling unit for leveling the surveying instrument main unit, a laser pointer projecting unit for projecting a laser pointer beam in a downward direction along a vertical axis of the surveying instrument main unit and for performing distance measurement, a rotation driving unit for rotating the telescope unit in a direction as desired, a horizontal angle detecting unit for detecting a horizontal angle of the surveying instrument, main unit, a vertical angle detecting unit for detecting a vertical angle of the telescope unit, a tilt angle detecting unit for detecting a tilt angle of the surveying instrument main unit, and a control device, wherein the control device calculates relative space coordinates of the machine reference point of the surveying instrument main unit with respect to a projecting point of the laser pointer beam based on a distance measurement value obtained by the laser pointer projecting unit and on a tilt angle at the time of distance measurement.