Vertical refraction made it necessary to develop special methods for deriving the altitudes of the points of the Earth's surface, which are very different from those used to determine the planned coordinates. The immediate amount of leveling excesses due to shear deflections depends on the leveling path and has no physical meaning. Corresponding errors exceed the requirements of accuracy both in the development of extensive astronomical and geodetic networks, and in the construction of engineering structures. The features of elevation derivation due to the Earth's gravitational field are considered by different methods (trigonometric leveling, spatial geodetic networks , Geometric , barometric and hydrostatic leveling) to determine Cartesian or geodetic coordinates in a single system. The processing of geometric leveling. is considered in the most detail The principles of Molodeski's theory . Review of literature. The book is designed for engineers, researchers in the field of geodetic gravimetry and geometric leveling, undergraduate students of geodetic universities .