A geodetic instrument, comprising: an alidade, a base and a center unit having an instrument optical axis, the center unit being mounted on the alidade for rotation about a first axis and the alidade being mounted on the base for rotation about a second axis intersecting the first axis, and a distance measurement module operative to transmit optical radiation from an optical transmission point to a target along a transmit path, and to receive optical radiation from the target at an optical reception point along a receive path, said geodetic instrument being characterized in that it further comprises: a splitter having a stationary splitting point, the splitter being configured to merge the transmit path and the receive path from the stationary splitting point of the splitter to the target, and to separate the transmit path and the receive path from the stationary splitting point of the splitter to the distance measurement module, and a deflection module located optically between the distance measurement module and the splitter and operative to aim the transmit path and the receive path at the stationary splitting point of the splitter and to deflect at least one of the transmit path and the receive path across the instrument optical axis so as to provide for a scanning function, wherein the optical transmission point, the optical reception point, the splitter and the deflection module are located in the center unit. an alidade, a base and a center unit having an instrument optical axis, the center unit being mounted on the alidade for rotation about a first axis and the alidade being mounted on the base for rotation about a second axis intersecting the first axis, and a distance measurement module operative to transmit optical radiation from an optical transmission point to a target along a transmit path, and to receive optical radiation from the target at an optical reception point along a receive path, said geodetic instrument being characterized in that it further comprises: a splitter having a stationary splitting point, the splitter being configured to merge the transmit path and the receive path from the stationary splitting point of the splitter to the target, and to separate the transmit path and the receive path from the stationary splitting point of the splitter to the distance measurement module, and a deflection module located optically between the distance measurement module and the splitter and operative to aim the transmit path and the receive path at the stationary splitting point of the splitter and to deflect at least one of the transmit path and the receive path across the instrument optical axis so as to provide for a scanning function, a splitter having a stationary splitting point, the splitter being configured to merge the transmit path and the receive path from the stationary splitting point of the splitter to the target, and to separate the transmit path and the receive path from the stationary splitting point of the splitter to the distance measurement module, and a deflection module located optically between the distance measurement module and the splitter and operative to aim the transmit path and the receive path at the stationary splitting point of the splitter and to deflect at least one of the transmit path and the receive path across the instrument optical axis so as to provide for a scanning function, wherein the optical transmission point, the optical reception point, the splitter and the deflection module are located in the center unit.