PROPOSED LANDSLIDE MAPPING PROTOCOL AND SCHEMA FOR THE UNITED STATES AND TERRITORIES

Landslide inventories are spatial catalogs of landslide locations that typically include one or more additional observations of landslide characteristics; they can be used to better understand landslide occurrence and, in turn, inform landslide risk reduction efforts. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) currently maintains a national landslide inventory compilation, but using this database for national-scale analyses has proven challenging due to disparities among the constituent inventories. The new USGS Cooperative Landslide Hazard Mapping and Assessment Grant Program provides financial assistance to state, local, Tribal and territorial governments seeking projects to reduce landslide risk, which can include building landslide inventories. For grant funded inventories, the USGS will require standardized data collection for consistency and rapid ingestion into the USGS national landslide inventory compilation. Here, we solicit feedback on our proposed landslide mapping protocols and schemas for program participants. Our protocol and schema are guided by a framework from which to ensure that digital data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Inventories developed by program participants will be findable and accessible because they will be ingested into the national landslide inventory compilation that is hosted on a trusted digital repository (ScienceBase). To ensure interoperability, we are developing geographic information system geodatabases that contain mapping schemas. Each schema corresponds to a particular inventory type, with carefully defined fields and attributes (for example, Field: Landslide Material, {Potential attribute: Debris}). We present an example of schemas meant to be used for landslide mapping from light detection and ranging elevation data and historic orthoimagery. To ensure that data are reusable, we also provide suggestions for best practices regarding quality control and advocate for transparency regarding data sources, quality, and mapping extent. To summarize, our goal is to receive feedback on our effort to incentivize development of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable landslide inventories within the U.S.