A GIS method for obtaining geologic bedding attitude

Landslide susceptibility assessment at different scales and in different physiographic environments requires quantitative information on multiple thematic environmental data. Information on bedding attitude proves necessary to define the structural and geological setting of an area. In this study, we developed a procedure to obtain bedding attitude data exploiting aerial photo-interpretation and a GRASS GIS script. Results show that our procedure provides bedding attitude information in good agreement with data acquired during field surveys. We foresee the possibility to generate dense spatial distributions of bedding attitude data, useful for spatial interpolation and landslide susceptibility assessments. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.