Scientifically identifying regional hydro-ecological space and analyzing its distribution characteristics were of great significance to the planning of hydro-ecological space and the regulation of hydro-ecological space problems such as flood disasters. Taking Linli County, Hunan Province, as the research area, this study constructed a classification system of hydro-ecological space with the help of GIS and RS platform, regional explicit hydro-ecological space was identified, and the three types of recessive hydro-ecological spaces of regional water conservation, soil and water conservation and flood regulation were visualized. And the distribution characteristics of each water ecological space were quantitatively analyzed. Finally, explicit and recessive hydro-ecological spaces that were integrated were superposed with current land use map for analysis. The results showed that: (1) Explicit hydro-ecological space occupied 4.73% of total area of Linli County, which distributed in dots, patches, bands and branches in the county, and located in a low-altitude, relatively gentle slope area. (2) The area of recessive hydro-ecological space accounted for 49.97%, which was less than 69.68% of the total area of water conservation, soil and water conservation and flood regulation space, which accounted for 15.44%, 38.07% and 16.17%, respectively, showing the characteristics of "small concentration and large dispersion". The identification results intuitively reflected spatial distribution characteristics of maintaining regional hydro-ecological security. (3) Hydro-ecological space accounted for 49.99% of total area of Linli County, which mainly distributed in the areas around Daoshui, Lishui and its tributaries. Small and medium-sized reservoirs were scattered in patches. (4) The proportions of cultivated land and construction land in hydro-ecological space were 44.40% and 21.19%, respectively, indicating that there was an overlapping space between hydro-ecological space and non-ecological land types with intensive human activities. This study revealed that current land use was in conflict with the hydro-ecological space in Linli County. The non-ecological land types in the hydro-ecological space could be re-planned later, in order to efficiently protect hydro-ecological space and avoid safety issues of hydro-ecological.