A spatial database for landslides in northern Bavaria: A methodological approach

Landslide databases provide essential information for hazard modeling, damages on buildings and infrastructure, mitigation, and research needs. This study presents the development of a landslide database system named WISL (Wurzburg Information System on Landslides), currently storing detailed landslide data for northern Bavaria, Germany, in order to enable scientific queries as well as comparisons with other regional landslide inventories. WISL is based on free open source software solutions (PostgreSQL, PostGIS) assuring good correspondence of the various softwares and to enable further extensions with specific adaptions of self-developed software. Apart from that, WISL was designed to be particularly compatible for easy communication with other databases. As a central pre-requisite for standardized, homogeneous data acquisition in the field, a customized data sheet for landslide description was compiled. This sheet also serves as an input mask for all data registration procedures in WISL. A variety of “in-database” solutions for landslide analysis provides the necessary scalability for the database, enabling operations at the local server. In its current state, WISL already enables extensive analysis and queries. This paper presents an example analysis of landslides in Oxfordian Limestones in the northeastern Franconian Alb, northern Bavaria. The results reveal widely differing landslides in terms of geometry and size. Further queries related to landslide activity classifies the majority of the landslides as currently inactive, however, they clearly possess a certain potential for remobilization. Along with some active mass movements, a significant percentage of landslides potentially endangers residential areas or infrastructure. The main aspect of future enhancements of the WISL database is related to data extensions in order to increase research possibilities, as well as to transfer the system to other regions and countries.

[1]  R. Soeters,et al.  Use of Geomorphological Information in Indirect Landslide Susceptibility Assessment , 2003 .

[2]  S. L. Kuriakose,et al.  Spatial data for landslide susceptibility, hazard, and vulnerability assessment: An overview , 2008 .

[3]  Thomas Glade,et al.  Landslide Hazard and Risk: Issues, Concepts and Approach , 2012 .

[4]  K. Allstadt,et al.  Landslide mobility and hazards: implications of the 2014 Oso disaster , 2015 .

[5]  Fausto Guzzetti,et al.  Tier-based approaches for landslide susceptibility assessment in Europe , 2013, Landslides.

[6]  C. J. Westen.  The Modelling Of Landslide Hazards Using Gis , 2000 .

[7]  Regina O. Obe,et al.  PostGIS in Action , 2011 .

[8]  Fausto Guzzetti,et al.  Information system on hydrological and geomorphological catastrophes in Italy (SICI): a tool for managing landslide and flood hazards , 2004 .

[9]  Harmonised Approaches for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in Europe , 2010 .

[10]  Albert K. W. Yeung,et al.  Spatial Database Systems , 2007 .

[11]  D. Turcotte,et al.  Landslide inventories and their statistical properties , 2004 .

[12]  R. Soeters,et al.  Landslide hazard and risk zonation—why is it still so difficult? , 2006 .

[13]  B. Neuhäuser,et al.  GIS-based assessment of landslide susceptibility on the base of the Weights-of-Evidence model , 2012, Landslides.

[14]  Comparing the predictive capability of landslide susceptibility models in three different study areas using the Weights of Evidence technique , 2013 .

[15]  P. Reichenbach,et al.  Landslide hazard evaluation: a review of current techniques and their application in a multi-scale study, Central Italy , 1999 .

[16]  Farrokh Nadim,et al.  Statistical modelling of Europe-wide landslide susceptibility using limited landslide inventory data , 2012, Landslides.

[17]  Bodo Damm,et al.  Spatial databases and GIS as tools for regional landslide susceptibility modeling , 2014 .

[18]  D. Varnes.  SLOPE MOVEMENT TYPES AND PROCESSES , 1978 .

[19]  C. Chung,et al.  Systematic procedures of landslide hazard mapping for risk assessment using spatial prediction models , 2012 .

[20]  Approaches for Delineating Areas Susceptible to Landslides in the Framework of the European Soil Thematic Strategy , 2008 .

[21]  José I. Barredo,et al.  Comparing heuristic landslide hazard assessment techniques using GIS in the Tirajana basin, Gran Canaria Island, Spain , 2000 .

[22]  Javier Hervás,et al.  State of the art of national landslide databases in Europe and their potential for assessing landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk , 2012 .

[23]  W. Z. Savage,et al.  Guidelines for landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk zoning for land-use planning , 2008 .

[24]  Fausto Guzzetti,et al.  The AVI project: A bibliographical and archive inventory of landslides and floods in Italy , 1994 .

[25]  Daniele Spizzichino,et al.  Quality assessment of the Italian Landslide Inventory using GIS processing , 2010 .

[26]  Bodo Damm,et al.  The landslide database for Germany: Closing the gap at national level , 2015 .

[27]  David M. Cruden,et al.  LANDSLIDE TYPES AND PROCESSES , 1958 .