Utilizing crowdsourcing to enhance the mitigation and management of landslides

Landslides are mainly triggered by earthquakes and rainfall and have poor temporal predictability. Landslides pose significant threats to settlements and infrastructure in mountainous regions around the world. To mitigate this natural hazard, a new paradigm of landslide mitigation and management is required. Increasing smartphone ownership around the world, especially in developing countries, offers scientists an opportunity to embrace crowdsourcing so as to improve landslide research. This paper presents a new landslide information system (LIS) comprising a smartphone app and an administrative interface and database. The mobile app has been published for both iPhone and Android platforms. The interface of the smartphone app is powered by the highly-customizable Google Maps platform, which is overlaid with real-time landslide data. Users can choose between visualizing “known sites” and “contribution” of landslide data. The visualization option shows published landslides and areas that are susceptible. Users can contribute their GPS coordinates and multimedia to enhance landslide reports. A comparison with similar systems, potential applications, and challenges of using smartphone technology for mitigating landslides are also discussed.

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