An earthquake emergency thematic map highlights and, as exactly and in as much detail as possible, displays one or more thematic elements in an earthquake-stricken area. Compared with an ordinary map, an earthquake emergency thematic map shows not only the current status and distribution of various elements of the earthquake area but also illustrates the dynamic change and development laws of various elements during the earthquake emergency rescue such as the dynamic changes of relief efforts after the earthquake, the distribution of relief supplies, and changes in the geological disasters. Earthquake emergency thematic maps includes maps of the earthquake, population, economy, traffic, housing estates, schools, hospitals, and geological hazards. During an earthquake emergency rescue, the earthquake emergency thematic map acts as an important output that allows an earthquake emergency office to respond effectively. It serves as one of the main basic maps to aid the government to take control and make decisions playing an important role in earthquake emergency rescue operations. A standardized and clear thematic map plays an important role in earthquake emergency command and rescue management providing timely and effective basic and disaster-related information. Its advantages are in providing rapid, visual, and large quantities of data. The computer mapping process of the earthquake emergency map involves basic data processing, overall and symbol designing, cartographic generalization, and map printing. In Gansu province, the available earthquake emergency maps were not standardized resulting in no timely output. In this study, we first classified, sorted, and preprocessed data from the earthquake emergency basic database of Gansu province (data transformation, topology error check, attribution edit, and others). Next, using the earthquake emergency thematic map concept as the basis, we built databases of different scales (50000), drew 16 thematic maps, and designed a product catalog in accordance with actual seismic demand. Then, we drew the Gansu province thematic map by region and divided the template into eight different magnitudes according to the seismic intensity attenuation relationships in Gansu province. Finally, we used fast-drawing software to rapidly output earthquake emergency thematic map drawings of local areas. As such, the standardization and production of thematic maps in our province will serve to promote the region's capacity and computer response speed in earthquake emergency mapping. In this study, we describe the design and implementation of the earthquake emergency thematic map of Gansu province. The clarity of expression regarding different earthquake magnitudes remains a problem in generating automatic thematic maps. In the future, we will explore ways to adjust the format size of maps and display the content during the automatic drawing process. This will make the content produced in thematic maps more specific to the actual needs of the earthquake emergency. In addition, with the rapid development of computer graphics technology, the product catalog of the earthquake emergency thematic map must be continually revised regarding symbol design modifications and display effects as well as to produce a more attractive, information-rich display on the thematic map template.