Abstract: Application of tomography methods makes geophysical techniques become more simple, efficient and economical. This paper introduces the basic concepts of the resistivity tomography and discuses the principle of this technology, and also elaborates the technical elements of this method applied to coal excavated-empty area investigation, including the mode of operation, observation equipment, data processing, and so on. Combining with engineering practice of a coal excavated-empty area survey, the paper introduced the survey area and cabling in the coal mining area detection. Through the seven test line data interpretation. We made detailed analysis on the measurement results, and discussed the prospects of the resistivity tomography technology.