Digital Rock-Fall and Snow Avalanche Susceptibility Mapping of Norway

Norway is prone to a variety of different landslide types. Despite this fact, inferior efforts have been undertaken to establish a national overview of which areas can be considered safe and which have a potential landslide hazard. As a consequence, many municipalities have allowed construction of buildings and infrastructure in landslide hazardous areas. In 2007, Geological Survey of Norway initiated a project to develop susceptibility maps for rock-fall and snow avalanche, on the basis of a 25 × 25 m digital terrain model covering the whole country. The GIS algorithms were developed in a consensus driven approach involving universities, research institutes, consultancies and several public authorities. The produced maps aim to raise awareness of possible landslide hazards in municipality land-use planning.