Unified Global Landslide Catalogue (UGLC): A single, standardised global-scale landslide dataset

Abstract. Landslides are a serious threat to all communities due to their potential for property damage and loss of life. Triggered by different natural, climatic and anthropogenic factors, landslides are complex phenomena and difficult to identify, monitor, and manage (Kirschbaum et al., 2015) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.03.016. Accurate and comprehensive data are essential in the mitigation of landslide risk, where both the likelihood and impact of landslides on communities must be quantified. Robust datasets allow for the development of dependable prevention strategies such as land use planning and early warning systems. These proactive measures play a crucial role in landslide risk mitigation(Gomez et al., 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-05848-8.

This study presents a single global scale standardised landslide catalogue, the Unified Global Landslide Catalogue (UGLC), which is intended as a powerful tool for land risk assessment and management. UGLC integrates multiple open data landslide datasets and reports spatiotemporal data with trigger factors for landslides. Landslide occurrence data are collected from extensive field surveys, GPS data, GIS techniques, satellite imagery, and historical records sourced from government agencies, universities, and researchers.

UGLC contains more than 1 million landslide events as point and polygonal data, from the period spanning circa 1700 to 2023. The catalogue is standardised across 18 field attributes, and systematically grouped into seven main categories: (1) UGLC Reference – a unique event identifier; (2) Source Reference that enables back-tracing to the original data source; (3 and 4) Spatial Accuracy and Temporal Accuracy – precisely describe the geographic location and temporal resolution of recorded events, respectively; (5) Geological Information, including triggering factors; (6) Reliability, which assigns a trustworthiness value to the data; and (7) Notes and Information containing supplementary details such as source links, authorship, scientific publications, and other relevant metadata.

UGLC is intended as a robust catalogue of standardised landslide information worldwide. The aim is to provide a reliable and user-friendly source for the characterisation of landslide occurrence. Uniquely, it presents a comprehensive range of data for global analysis and thus compensates for the shortcomings of small-scale heterogeneous datasets. UGLC will facilitate a deeper understanding of landslide phenomena in relation to the surrounding landscape, climate, and impact on human populations and the built environment (Kirschbaum et al., 2015) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.03.016.