In this paper, the basic principles of distributed measurements for the needs of metrology and sensorics, carried out with the help of methods of optical time domain reflectometry and optical frequency domain reflectometry, are presented in popular science form. The article introduces the reader to the work of the Photonics laboratory of the Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics, abranch of the Perm Federal Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICMM UB RAS).