A method of relocating a portable articulated arm
coordinate measuring machine (AACMM) from a first location to a second location, wherein the AACMM has, at the first location, a first origin point and a first
frame of reference and, at the second location, a second origin point and a second
frame of reference, the method including the steps of: measuring an amount of tilt of the portable AACMM along two perpendicular directions, each of which are approximately perpendicular to a gravity vector, with the portable AACMM in each of the first and second locations; measuring a first target and a second target with the portable AACMM in the first location to obtain, in the first
frame of reference, a first set of x, y, and z coordinates and a second set of x, y, and z coordinates; measuring the first target and the second target with the portable AACMM in the second location to obtain, in the second frame of reference, a third set of x, y, and z coordinates and a fourth set of x, y, and z coordinates; and finding x, y, and z coordinates of the second origin point with respect to the first frame of reference, wherein the x, y, and z coordinates of the second origin point are found using the first, second, third, and fourth sets of x, y, and z coordinates but without using additional x, y, and z coordinates of a third target measured with the AACMM at the first location and at the second location.