Potato is one of the important food crops in Shangnan County, Shaanxi Province. Potato planting strategy in this region has great significance for potato planting, according to local conditions and for optimizing regional layout. The ecological suitability of potato cultivation in Shangnan County was evaluated by using geographic information system (GIS) technology, county cultivated land resource management information system and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The evaluation index system of ecological suitability of potatoes in Shangnan County was established by screening the evaluation index of each ecological factor with expert experience method. The AHP and fuzzy evaluation method were applied to the quantitative calculation of the weight of each index. The ecological suitability assessment map of potato planting in Shangnan County was obtained by using the overlay analysis function of ArcGIS 10.2. The results showed that highly suitable area for potato cultivation was 6974.04 hm2, accounting for 28.07％ of the cultivated land. The suitable area was 11205.75 hm2, accounting for 45.10％ of the cultivated land area. These two types of arable land mainly distributed in the shallow hilly area, the middle mountain landform and the river valley area. The remaining arable land in this region mainly distributed in the shallow hills and the mid-mountain landscapes, including the arable land which was reluctantly suitable for potato cultivation and unsuitable for potato cultivation, with 5646.15 and 1022.33 hm2, respectively, accounting for only 22.72％ and 4.11％ of the total arable land areas. Therefore, based on the statistics and analyses of potato planting environment in Shangnan County, the pattern of local ecological adaptability distribution was summarized and the spatial distribution map was drawn, thus providing scientific basis for rational distribution and planning of potato in Shangnan County.