[Objective] We aimed to analyze the spatial distribution and its change of air temperature based on GIS technology in rugged terrain, in order to provide basis for the study of regional ecological environment, agriculture regionalization, and climate change.[Methods] Taking Chongqing City as a case study, we collected annual temperature data from 1971 to 2010 in 34 meteorological stations in Chongqing City, and constructed the air temperature spatial distribution model according to the correlation between air temperature and topographic factors(longitude, latitude, altitude, slope, and aspect) based on GIS and DEM(digital elevation model) with high resolution(100 m×100 m).[Results] (1) Correlation coefficient between different inter-decadal air temperature and topographical factors were all greater than 0.8. (2) The annual temperature decreased initially and then increased. In 1970s and 1980s, it showed a downward trend, while from 1990s, it showed a significant increase. (3) Temperature in most areas of Chongqing City tended to increase, and the increasing range was:southeast > northeast > west.[Conclusion] In rugged terrain, the spatial distribution of air temperature has strong correlations with topographical factors. Moreover, three-dimensional display of air temperature in ArcScene based on GIS can clearly reflect the spatial distribution of air temperature.