Investigation of landslide detection using radial basis functions: a case study of the Taşkent landslide, Turkey.

This paper investigates landslide detection over flat and steep-slope areas with large forest cover using different radial basis function interpolation methods, which can affect the quality of a digital elevation model. Unmanned aerial vehicles have been widely used in landslide detection studies. The generation of image-based point clouds is achievable with various matching algorithms from computer vision systems. Point cloud-based analysis was performed by generating multi-temporal digital elevation models to detect landslide displacement. Interpolation methodology has a crucial task to fill the gaps in insufficient areas that result from filtered areas or sensors that do not generate spatial information. Radial basis function interpolations are the most commonly used technique for estimating the unknown values in survey areas. However, the quality of the radial basis function interpolation methods for landslide studies has not been thoroughly investigated in previous studies. In this study, radial basis function interpolation methods are investigated and compared with the global navigational satellite systems, which provide high accuracy for geodetic measurement systems. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the various radial basis function models to detect landslides using a point cloud-based digital elevation model and determine the quality of detection with global navigational satellite systems. As a result of this study, each of the radial basis function-generated digital elevation models was found to be statistically compatible with global navigational satellite systems, resulting in displacements from the ground truth data.