Abstract: In this article, the necessity of ground pressure observation is discussed; the contents of observation such as surrounding rock deformation and pressure are introduced, as well as the observation methods. What is more, the deficiencies of the observation instrument, data processing software and the observation management are analyzed, and the improvement measures which are targeted at the deficiencies in question are put forward, which points out that the direction of efforts lies in the institutionalized and standardized of ground pressure observation and the development of observation equipment and data processing software.