With the development of limnological researches, lake mapping has made rapid progresses as mainly shown as follows:1.Lake mapping has been developed toward thematic atlas or comprehensive atlas from some simple illustrations;2.Mapping areas have been extended to lake's surrounding areas or a whole lake drainage from lake water body;3.Mapping elements have been extended to interrelated elements of lake's surrounding areas from some elements of water body; 4.The main contents of lake mapping have been varied from physical elements to economic elements;5.Attention should be paid to lake environmental quality;6.Origin and evolution of a lake are also included in the map contents;7.Map subjects selected aims at serving national economy and environment protection;8.Comprehensive mapping is commonly adopted.