Hybrid machine learning approach for landslide prediction, Uttarakhand, India

Natural disasters always have a damaging effect on our way of life. Landslides cause serious damage to both human and natural resources around the world. In this paper, the prediction accuracy of five hybrid models for landslide occurrence in the Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand (India) was evaluated and compared. In this approach, the Rough Set theory coupled with five different models namely Bayesian Network (HBNRS), Backpropagation Neural Network (HBPNNRS), Bagging (HBRS), XGBoost (HXGBRS), and Random Forest (HRFRS) were taken into account. The database for the models development was prepared using fifteen conditioning factors that had 373 landslide and 181 non-landslide locations that were then randomly divided into training and testing locations with a ratio of 75%:25%. The appropriateness and predictability of these conditioning factors were assessed using the multi-collinearity test and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator approach. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F-Measures, and the area under the curve (AUC)-receiver operating characteristics curve, were used to evaluate and compare the performance of the individual and hybrid created models. The findings indicate that the constructed hybrid model HXGBRS (AUC = 0.937, Precision = 0.946, F1-score = 0.926 and Accuracy = 89.92%) is the most accurate model for predicting landslides when compared to other models (HBPNNRS, HBNRS, HBRS, and HRFRS). Importantly, when the fusion is performed with the rough set method, the prediction capability of each model is improved. Simultaneously, the HXGBRS model proposed shows superior stability and can effectively avoid overfitting. After the core modules were developed, the user-friendly platform was designed as an integrated GIS environment using dynamic maps for effective landslide prediction in large prone areas. Users can predict the probability of landslide occurrence for selected region by changing the values of a conditioning factors. The created approach could be beneficial for predicting the impact of landslides on slopes and tracking landslides along national routes.