A subjective and objective integrated weighting method for landslides susceptibility mapping based on GIS

The purpose of this study is to present a weighting method, integrating subjective weight with objective weight, for landslides susceptibility mapping based on geographical information system (GIS). First, the landslide inventory, aspect, slope, proximity to streams of drainage network, proximity to railway, proximity to road, topography, elevation, lithology, tectonic activity and annual precipitation, including their subclasses, were taken as independent landslide causal factors. Second, objective weights of the causal factors were calculated according to the landslide area density based on entropy weighting method, and key factors were selected according to the rank of the objective weights. Third, trapezoidal fuzzy number weighting approach was used to assess the sub-classes of each key factor. Finally, a case study was carried out in Guizhou province, China. A landslide susceptibility map was created using weighted linear combination model based on GIS. Using a predicted map of probability, the study area was classified into four categories of landslide susceptibility: low, moderate, moderate-high, and high.