A large‐nanostructure probe with optically guided macroscopic scanning has been developed for high‐resolution imaging and characterization of nanostructures. The novel optical viewing system allows placement of the imaging tip to within 1 &mgr;m of a desired site on the sample during coarse positioning. Fine positioning and imaging are accomplished with nanometer‐scale resolution using a segmented‐tube piezoelectric scanner. High‐resolution images of identifiable quantum dots have been obtained to demonstrate the efficacy of the method.