The study on land use change is a frontier and hotspot in global environmental change study. Taking land use change of Xiji County in 1980s as an example, the methods of researching land use change are discussed. The result shows that applying land use maps with different scale and different land use classification system studies land use change is feasible. Main processes of operation are as follows: (1) conversion of land use classification system; (2) spatial overlay analysis; (3) determining probability conversion matrix of land use change; (4) attribute database analysis.