For analyzing displacement-vector fields in mechanics, for example to characterize the properties of 3D printed mechanical metamaterials, routine high-precision position measurements are indispensable. For this purpose, nanometer-scale localization errors have been achieved by wide-field optical-image cross-correlation analysis. Here, we bring this approach to atomic-scale accuracy by combining it with well-defined 3D printed marker arrays. By using an air-lens with a numerical aperture of $$0.4$$
0.4
and a free working distance of $$11.2\, \mathrm{mm}$$
11.2
mm
, and an $$8\times 8$$
8
×
8
array of markers with a diameter of $$2\, \upmu\mathrm{m}$$
2
μ
m
and a period of $$5\,\upmu \mathrm{ m}$$
5
μ
m
, we obtain 2D localization errors as small as $$0.9\, \AA$$
0.9
Å
in $$12.5\, \mathrm{ms}$$
12.5
ms
measurement time ($$80\, \mathrm{frames}/\mathrm{s}$$
80
frames
/
s
). The underlying experimental setup is simple, reliable, and inexpensive, and the marker arrays can easily be integrated onto and into complex architectures during their 3D printing process.