Is higher resolution always better? A comparison of open-access DEMs for optimized slope unit delineation and regional landslide prediction

Ahmed, Mahnoor; Titti, Giacomo; Trevisani, Sebastiano; Borgatti, Lisa; Francioni, Mirko

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2519-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2519-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2519-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 7

Research article

|

28 Jul 2025

Research article |

| 28 Jul 2025

Is higher resolution always better? A comparison of open-access DEMs for optimized slope unit delineation and regional landslide prediction

Mahnoor Ahmed, Giacomo Titti, Sebastiano Trevisani, Lisa Borgatti, and Mirko Francioni

Data sets

Slope Units delineation for Marche region in Italy Mahnoor Ahmed and Giacomo Titti https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13769103

ALOS World 3D 30 meter DEM, V3.2 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency https://doi.org/10.5069/G94M92HB

Copernicus Global Digital Elevation Model European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.5069/G9028PQB

FABDEM V1-2 J. Neal and L. Hawker https://doi.org/10.5523/bris.s5hqmjcdj8yo2ibzi9b4ew3sn

TINITALY, a digital elevation model of Italy with a 10 m cell size, Version 1.1 S. Tarquini, I. Isola, M. Favalli, A. Battistini and G. Dotta https://doi.org/10.13127/tinitaly/1.1

Short summary

Elevation models are compared with a true dataset for terrain characteristics, which selects a better-ranking model to compare with different parameters to partition the terrain. The partitioning of the terrain is measured by how well a partitioned unit can support the mapped landslide area and number of landslides. The effect of this relationship is reflected with different metrics in the susceptibility maps.