In order to investigate effects of DEM resolution on soil-landscape models and their application in predictive soil mapping,multi-factor linear soil-landscape models were built up based on DEMs,varying in resolution,5 m,10 m, 15 m,20 m,25 m,and 30 m,of the studied zone(4 km×3 km)a typical subtropical hilly area,and then applied to predictive mapping of organic matter content in top soil.Results indicated,slope,curvatures,natural logarithm of specific catchment area tended to concentrate with the decrease in DEM resolution.The variation of terrain attributes didn't affect much on the simulation coefficients of the models,but it did accuracy of the models in predictive mapping.All the indexes demonstrate that the model was higher in mapping accuracy when the DEM resolution was 10～25 m than when it was others. The findings may be extrapolated to other subtropical hilly areas.