In order to examine spatio-temporal characteristics of coastal water quality, we applied GIS spatial analysis to the water quality data collected from observation points located on Korean coastal area during 1997$sim$2004. The water quality parameters measured included: chlorophyll-a, pH, DO, COD, SS, dissolved inorganic nitrogen, dissolved inorganic phosphorous, salinity, temperature. The water quality data used in this paper was obtained only at selected sites even though they are potentially available at any location in a continuous surface. Thus, it is necessary to estimate the values at unsampled locations so as to analyze spatial distribution patterns of coastal water quality, Owing to this reason, we applied IDW(inverse distance weighted) interpolation method to water quality data and evaluated the usefulness of IDW method. After IDW interfolation method was applied, we divided the Korean coastal area into 46 sections and examined spatio-temporal patterns of each section using GIS visualization technique. As a result of evaluation, we can blow that IDW interpolation and GIS are useful for understanding spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of coastal water quality data which is collected from a wide area far many years.