Landslide Mapping

Any serious attempt at ascertaining landslide hazard or at evaluating landslide risk must begin with the collection of information on where landslides are located. This is the goal of landslide mapping. The simplest form of landslide mapping is a landslide inventory, which records the location and, where known, the date of occurrence and types of landslides that have left discernable traces in an area (Hansen, 1984; McCalpin, 1984; Wieczorek, 1984). Inventory maps can be prepared by different techniques, depending on their scope, the extent of the study area, the scales of base maps and aerial photographs, the quality and detail of the accessible information, and the resources available to carry out the work (Guzzetti et al., 2000). In this chapter, I first critically discuss the various types of landslide inventories and the methods and techniques used to prepare them. Then, I present landslide inventories of different types and scales prepared for Italy, the Umbria Region, and for selected areas in the Umbria Region, including the Collazzone area. ...