Incremental updating is one of the most frequently used methods in spatial databases updating and the detection of changed objects is the crucial technology. Change detection is of great significance for improving the efficiency of spatial database updating. This paper refines the object-traversing method and proposes a new change detection method based on quad-tree. Considering the principle of spatial index

this method divides the region of the corresponding layers based on quad-tree. By calculating the vertex-edge changed index of the objects in the region

this method can evaluate the changed situation of the region. The method can filter out the unchanged areas and rapidly locate the change areas in an iterative way. The experimental result showed that this method can reach high computational efficiency and properly recognize the change information. Comparing with the traditional change detection algorithm

this method can improve the efficiency of GIS database updating significantly.