To meet the urgent needs of updating 1：10 000 scale and 1 ：50 000 scale topographic map for the whole territory of China, an integrated techinique for key elements revision is proposed, in which the topographic map is updated in raster mode through overlaying the precisely geo-rectified aerial or satellite image on the digitized map. The following issues are specially presented： 1) The scanning resolution of topographic map digitization in raster mode, which is not the same as the one in vector mode. 2) The concept of image array and graphic control point, instead of traditional pinpoint control point. 3) A local registration and adjustment method for rectifying aerial and space image using DRG without DEM. 4) Quantitative image interpretation by the guide of qualitative analysis. 5) The semi-automatic metrod for extraction of structural information from remote sensing image. Finally, a software developed on the basis of the proposed technique and its function are described, at the same time, an experiment result of 600 scenes of 1-50 000 scale topographic maps revision using the developed softwarte is presented.