Abstract: The basic conception of mathematical morphology is briefly introduced based onrelevant literature. Its definition, the basic operators of logical and morphological tran-slations and their functions are described with the help of some simple examples. Theapplicabilities of mathematical morphology in data analysis of binary images, such as inthe cases of the Chinese characters and the raster scanned map, are discussed. Thesediscussion are valuable for the establishment of the geodetic data base in GIS.