The Alaska Landslide Intelligence Layer
A future layer for landslide susceptibility—where steep terrain, precipitation, and geology converge.
Landslides in Alaska are a real hazard—in coastal communities, along highways, and in the backcountry. A landslide intelligence layer would help planners, engineers, and backcountry users understand relative risk.
The Concept
Combine:
- Slope (from 3DEP)
- Lithology (weak rock vs. competent)
- Precipitation (where water concentrates)
- Historic slide locations (if available)
Output: a susceptibility map—not a prediction, but a relative ranking of "higher" vs. "lower" risk.
The Data Challenge
Alaska landslide inventories are spotty. State and federal agencies have mapped some events, but coverage is uneven. We're researching what's available and whether we can build a useful layer from existing data.
If this becomes a TrueTopo layer, it will follow our philosophy: show the data, explain the methodology, let the user decide. No black-box risk scores. Transparency over false precision.
Status
This is on the roadmap, not in production. If you work in landslide mapping or have dataset leads, we'd like to hear from you.