Abstract: The water conservancy industry tends to be increasingly refined and intelligent since the rapid development of spatial information technology has driven the modernization of water conservancy. In this paper we made a comprehensive review on the application scenarios and development status of spatial information technology in the water conservancy industry, and analyzed the development trends and prospects of traditional 3S technology and a new generation of information technology in the water conservancy industry. Furthermore, we summarized the findings and typical cases of applying spatial information technology to many fields made by the Spatial Information Technology Application Department of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River Scientific Research Institute over the past two decades. Such application fields include: flood control, drought relief, disaster reduction, full-life cycle management of water conservancy projects, monitoring and assessment of the influence of water conservancy projects on ecological environment, river and lake management, dynamic monitoring of water and soil erosion. We also dissected future research topics, especially those regarding three-dimensional perception of water conservancy elements, comprehensive use of water conservancy-related big data, and the profound integration of artificial intelligence and water conservancy business.

Key words: spatial information technology, new generation information technology, water conservancy modernization, intelligent water conservancy, eco-environment