A method for the recognition of spatial proximity relationships in a modular system having module assemblies, each module assembly having a transmitter and a receiver arranged so that the transmitter of a first module assembly corresponds to the receiver of a second module assembly, and each of the module assemblies having a network connection for connection via a communication network to other of the module assemblies, includes: automatically requesting and allocating a network address for each of the respective network connections via the communication network so as to enable an addressing of the module assemblies via the network; and determining spatial proximity relationships of the module assemblies by triggering and evaluating the transmitters and receivers using the communication network via the network connection.