The diversity of habitats in water bodies like rivers is characterised by the status of morphological and hydrological conditions. The good ecological status of water bodies is claimed in the EuropeanWater Framework Directive. For the assessment of this status the hydro-morphology is one of the most important supporting components for the classification of the ecological status of water bodies. Therefore the periodical monitoring is a mandatory measure in the scope of the European Water Framework Directive. Regarding the so called overview-method of the LAWA (German Working Group on water issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government represented by the Federal Environment Ministry) the use of remote sensing data and remote sensing methodologies becomes more important. Therefore remote sensing data on different scales (satellite, aerial photographs) as well as other topographic information (ATKIS) and a high resolution DTM are merged into an integrative process of analysis using remote sensing and GIS methodology. The analyses ared focused on two parameters. First, a detailed landuse classification based on LANDSAT satellite data is performed for whole catchment of a small river. The results show significant increase of urban areas close to the river. The second analyses deals with the determination of river curvature and introduces the use of a quasi-continously representation of the river. An additional challenge is the chosen study area of a low mountain range river. While large rivers are clear visible in remote sensing data, the usability and transformation of the well-established algorithms and work ows to small rivers need a further substantial research.