Analysis of Landslide Hazard Impact Using the Landslide Database for Germany

The Federal Republic of Germany has long been among the few European countries that lack a national landslide database. Systematic collection and inventory of landslide data still shows a comprehensive research history in Germany, but only one focused on development of databases with local or regional coverage. This has changed in recent years with the launch of a database initiative aimed at closing the data gap existing at national level.

The present contribution reports on this project that is based on a landslide database which evolved over the last 15 years to a database covering large parts of Germany. A strategy of systematic retrieval, extraction, and fusion of landslide data is at the heart of the methodology, providing the basis for a database with a broad potential of application. The database offers a data pool of more than 4,200 landslide data sets with over 13,000 single data files and dates back to 12th century. All types of landslides are covered by the database, which stores not only core attributes, but also various complementary data, including data on landslide causes, impacts, and mitigation. The current database migration to PostgreSQL/PostGIS is focused on unlocking the full scientific potential of the database, while enabling data sharing and knowledge transfer via a web GIS platform.

In this contribution, the goals and the research strategy of the database project are highlighted at first, with a summary of best practices in database development providing perspective. Next, the focus is on key aspects of the methodology, which is followed by the results of different case studies in the German Central Uplands. The case study results exemplify database application in analysis of vulnerability to landslides, impact statistics, and hazard or cost modeling.