Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest

Landslides are one of the most destructive natural hazards; they can drastically alter landscape morphology, destroy man-made structures, and endanger people’s life. Landslide susceptibility maps (LSMs), which show the spatial likelihood of landslide occurrence, are crucial for environmental managem...

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Main Authors: Khaled Taalab, Tao Cheng, Yang Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-04-01
Series:Big Earth Data
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2018.1472392
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author Khaled Taalab
Tao Cheng
Yang Zhang
author_facet Khaled Taalab
Tao Cheng
Yang Zhang
author_sort Khaled Taalab
collection DOAJ
description Landslides are one of the most destructive natural hazards; they can drastically alter landscape morphology, destroy man-made structures, and endanger people’s life. Landslide susceptibility maps (LSMs), which show the spatial likelihood of landslide occurrence, are crucial for environmental management, urban planning, and minimizing economic losses. To date, the majority of research into data mining LSM uses small-scale case studies focusing on a single type of landslide. This paper presents a data mining approach to producing LSM for a large, heterogeneous region that is susceptible to multiple types of landslides. Using a case study of Piedmont, Italy, a Random Forest algorithm is applied to produce both susceptibility maps and classification maps. These maps are combined to give a highly accurate (over 85% classification accuracy) LSM which contains a large amount of information and is easy to interpret. This novel method of mapping landslide susceptibility demonstrates the efficacy of Random Forest to produce highly accurate susceptibility maps for a large heterogeneous region without the need for multiple susceptibility assessments.
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spelling doaj.art-a8044df9dfa4490b8f80abd586ccf0da2022-12-22T00:42:47ZengTaylor & Francis GroupBig Earth Data2096-44712574-54172018-04-012215917810.1080/20964471.2018.14723921472392Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random ForestKhaled Taalab0Tao Cheng1Yang Zhang2University College LondonUniversity College LondonUniversity College LondonLandslides are one of the most destructive natural hazards; they can drastically alter landscape morphology, destroy man-made structures, and endanger people’s life. Landslide susceptibility maps (LSMs), which show the spatial likelihood of landslide occurrence, are crucial for environmental management, urban planning, and minimizing economic losses. To date, the majority of research into data mining LSM uses small-scale case studies focusing on a single type of landslide. This paper presents a data mining approach to producing LSM for a large, heterogeneous region that is susceptible to multiple types of landslides. Using a case study of Piedmont, Italy, a Random Forest algorithm is applied to produce both susceptibility maps and classification maps. These maps are combined to give a highly accurate (over 85% classification accuracy) LSM which contains a large amount of information and is easy to interpret. This novel method of mapping landslide susceptibility demonstrates the efficacy of Random Forest to produce highly accurate susceptibility maps for a large heterogeneous region without the need for multiple susceptibility assessments.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2018.1472392Landslide susceptibilitylandslide typerandom forest
spellingShingle Khaled Taalab
Tao Cheng
Yang Zhang
Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest
Big Earth Data
Landslide susceptibility
landslide type
random forest
title Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest
title_full Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest
title_fullStr Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest
title_full_unstemmed Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest
title_short Mapping landslide susceptibility and types using Random Forest
title_sort mapping landslide susceptibility and types using random forest
topic Landslide susceptibility
landslide type
random forest
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2018.1472392
work_keys_str_mv AT khaledtaalab mappinglandslidesusceptibilityandtypesusingrandomforest
AT taocheng mappinglandslidesusceptibilityandtypesusingrandomforest
AT yangzhang mappinglandslidesusceptibilityandtypesusingrandomforest