Abstract. The localization characters of the first-order rogue wave (RW) solution u of the Kundu-Eckhaus equation is studied in this paper. We discover a full process of the evolution for the contour line with height c 2 + d along the orthogonal direction of the (t, x)-plane for a first-order RW |u| 2 : A point at height 9c 2 generates a convex curve for 3c 2 ≤ d < 8c 2 , whereas it becomes a concave curve for 0 < d < 3c2 , next it reduces to a hyperbola on asymptotic plane (i.e. equivalently d = 0), and the two branches of the hyperbola become two separate convex curves when −c 2 < d < 0, and finally they reduce to two separate points at d = −c 2 . Using the contour line method, the length, width, and area of the RW at height2 ) , i.e. above the asymptotic plane, are defined. We study the evolutions of three above-mentioned localization characters on d through analytical and visual methods. The phase difference between the Kundu-Eckhaus and the nonlinear Schrodinger equation is also given by an explicit formula.