Conventional formal analysis based on Cartesian coordinates is often insufficient to explain terrestrial-celestial observational relationships in spatial layout, as it detaches the positioning from its original astronomical context. The research proposes a spatial layout analysis method grounded in traditional terrestrial-celestial positioning logic: (1) Returning to the Chinese astronomical context, interpreting the basic concepts of traditional measurement and positioning; (2) Based on the traditional astronomical schema, the spherical coordinate system and the polar coordinate system are introduced to establish the analysis framework for the spatial layout of traditional cities. The study takes the ancient city of Quanzhou in southern Fujian as a typical case—a representative Tang‒Ming (618–1644) coastal ancient city. Through multi-source data analysis combining literature review, spatial illustration, and astronomical simulation, it is preliminarily found that there is an observational correlation between the topological structure of public buildings and local tidal, solar term, wind, and rain phenomena. indicate that the terrestrial-celestial positioning logic helps to explore regional differences in the relative distance and azimuth among traditional architectural clusters, providing a reference for point position analysis of topological structure. The analysis method translates empirical positioning practices into a scientific basis for cross-scale spatial designs for contemporary locality architectural clusters, offering an astronomical perspective for the overall protection of cultural heritage.
Chen et al. (Fri,) studied this question.