Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103 121

www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

Global Positioning Systems and digital photogrammetry

for the monitoring of mass movements:
application to the Ca di Malta landslide
(northern Apennines, Italy)
Paolo Mora a, Paolo Baldi b, Giuseppe Casula c, Massimo Fabris d, Monica Ghirotti a,*,
Enrico Mazzini e, Arianna Pesci c
a

Dip. Scienze della Terra e Geologico-Ambientali, Universita` di Bologna, Via Zamboni 67, 40127 Bologna, Italy
b
Dip. Fisica, Settore Geofisica, Universita` Bologna, Via C. Berti Pichat 8, 40127 Bologna, Italy
c
Istituto Nazionale Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Rome, Italy
d
DAUR, Universita` di Padova, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padoua, Italy
e
Regione Emilia-Romagna, V.le Silvani 6, 40122 Bologna, Italy
Received 28 September 2001; received in revised form 17 April 2002; accepted 14 May 2002

Abstract
A combination of digital photogrammetry and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) surveying has been used to measure
landslide surface displacements and to estimate the volume involved in the movement. Ninety-eight percent of landslides
mapped as active in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy are reactivations of dormant mass movements. The Ca di
Malta landslide, south of Bologna, was chosen to test this integrated system. A 0.5-m cellsize Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
with vertical accuracy of 0.1 m was generated using digital photogrammetric techniques.
We have used a combination of digital photogrammetry and three GPS techniques to monitor landslide movement. Rapid
static surveying in which the survey observations are made for a period of minutes yielded sub-centimetre positions for several
marked points distributed on a longitudinal axis along the landslide. Kinematic surveying, in which the observations are carried
out continuously, in this case by a walking person, provided models of the surface (1  1 m grid) by measuring the position of
irregularly distributed points. Continuous observations over 7 months were made between two GPS receivers. One positioned
within the moving landslide body and the other at a fixed location outside the landslide. An automatic procedure was developed
to download, process and compute relative movement at constant time intervals. The accuracy achieved with the GPS
measurements ranges between several millimetres to a few centimetres for static and kinematic observations, respectively.
This integrated survey technique is a cost-effective method that could be applied to other structural and morphological settings.
The real-time monitoring could be coupled with a warning system for landslide hazard management and the repeated kinematic
GPS surveys derive precise DEMs of a landslide, providing information on geometry, volumes and evolution of the phenomenon.
D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Landslides; GPS; Digital photogrammetry; Real-time monitoring; DEM; Apennines

* Corresponding author. Fax: +39-51-2094522.

E-mail address: ghirotti@geomin.unibo.it (M. Ghirotti).
0013-7952/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 1 3 - 7 9 5 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 0 0 - 4

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

1. Introduction
The long-term monitoring of instability phenomena has become relatively inexpensive and affordable
due to the recent technological growth in the field of
data storage and transmitting. Measurements of landslide movements that integrate hydrological and geological data have greatly improved the knowledge of
landslide mechanics and the integration of different
techniques allows for a better understanding of this
kind of phenomena and thus better protecting human
settlements and infrastructures (e.g. Anderson and
Thallapally, 1996; Rentschler and Moser, 1996).
Monitoring surface displacements of a landslide is
a direct way to observe the state of activity of a slope;
it may be undertaken by means of photogrammetry
and geodetic methods. Photogrammetry is the measurement of shape, position, and dimension of objects
on a surface from stereo photographs. There is scant
literature describing photogrammetric applications to
landslides (Smith, 1996). Combined with surveying of
control points, photogrammetric techniques can be
applied to generate Digital Elevation Models (DEMs).
DEMs generated at different epochs can be differenced to determine displacements in active parts of a
landslide. Even if terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry requires expensive campaigns and the precision is
generally lower than a geodetic campaign, these
surveys give the possibility of defining the strain field
with high spatial resolution.
Highly accurate terrestrial geodetic methods, such
as triangulation and electronic distance measurements,
require a survey design based on a polygonal network
and time-consuming fieldwork procedures. However,
the deformation pattern can only be determined at a
limited number of survey points.
Global Positioning System (GPS) gives the possibility of determining the relative position of points at
centimetric or millimetric accuracy by means of fast
survey operations. The application of this technique in
the so-called kinematic mode, that is moving continuously one receiver with respect to a reference fixed
station, allows the description of the terrain surface
measuring the coordinates of points distributed on a
high density grid. Furthermore, the GPS system may
be simply automated both as regard hardware and
software in order to be used as a continuous monitoring device for some points on the landslide.

The application of GPS and photogrammetric

techniques to landslides represents a powerful tool
for movement monitoring including small displacements preceding the failure phase (Cencetti et al.,
2000; Coe et al., 2000a,b; Gili et al., 2000). GPS
allows the obtainment of good results with a cost
lower than that required by repeated aerophotogrammetric surveys, and may substitute the usual topographic methods in many applications (Gili et al.,
2000; Malet et al., 2002).
The Ca di Malta landslide in the northern Apennine (Italy), because of its geologic and morphologic
settings, represents a suitable site for testing a combined monitoring system. At the Ca di Malta landslide, a combination of digital photogrammetry and
three GPS techniques has been applied to monitor
landslide movements. Static, rapid static and kinematic campaigns have given, respectively, ground
control points for photogrammetric applications, landslide displacement vectors and DEMs that have been
compared with the initial zero situation provided by
the photogrammetric survey.
Another aim of surface movement monitoring was
to continuously acquire the position of two fixed GPS
receivers positioned on the upper part of the landslide
body, respectively inside and outside the landslide
area. Such kind of real-time monitoring is suitable to
be coupled with an alert system.

2. Geological setting, morphological characteristics

and history of movement of the Ca di Malta
landslide
In Emilia-Romagna Region (northern Italy), over
32,000 landslides bodies have been identified, 26% of
them have been classified as active and the rest as
dormant. As for the state, distribution and style of
activity these phenomena should be always be considered as reactivated landslides (Regione EmiliaRomagna, 1999; Bertolini and Pellegrini, 2001).
Many of them are complex landslides (Cruden and
Varnes, 1996) including roto-translational and earthflow movements and often involving fissured clay
shales and scaly clays referred in the Italian literature
to as lithologically and/or structurally complex rock
types (Esu, 1977). These formations are characterised by geological complexity related to lithological

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

and/or structural features, that in turn causes geotechnical complexity such as large and unpredictable
variations in geotechnical properties. The high number, at a regional scale, of large and periodically
reactivated landslides depends primarily on geological
causes, i.e. rock mass quality and state of physical
weathering. Landslide reactivation generally occurs
following periods of intense and/or prolonged precipitation events, not necessarily exceptional as order of
magnitude, but also as triggering causes of the snow-

105

melt and earthquakes that have been demonstrated in

many cases (Carboni et al., 2001; Basenghi and
Bertolini, 2001).
The Ca di Malta landslide is located in the northern Apennines, 30 km south of Bologna, on the
eastern slope of the Reno River Valley (Fig. 1). The
average slope is about 13j and the landslide covers an
area of approximately 40 000 m2. The bedrock of the
landslide area is represented by the Palombini Shale
(lower Cretaceous Cenomanian) and Varicoloured

Fig. 1. Location map and geological section of Ca di Malta landslide: the map shows geognostic survey layout, boreholes, monitoring and GPS
base stations; the schematic section referred to 1976 and 2000 topography shows differences connected mainly to the reactivation of November
1998. The contact between landslide and bedrock was derived from seismic sounding data and boreholes stratigraphy.

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

Shale (Cenomanian Turonian?) Formations, belonging to the highest structural unit of the northern
Apennine chain, the so-called Ligurian nappe. The
formations are strongly deformed including completely disrupted strata. The assemblage of such
highly deformed units has been referred to the literature as argille scagliose (Pini, 1999) whose literal
translation is scaly clays. The composition of this
structurally complex clay formation is represented
by shale-calcareous deposits including mainly limestone beds, silicoclastic thin bedded turbidites and
blocks of ophiolitic rocks.
The landslide area hosts some decametric scale
(tectonic) inclusions (boudins) of the Varicoloured
Shale Formation. Landslide deformation occurs in
weathered clay-rich material including calcareous rock
fragments, derived from the in situ Palombini Shale
Formation. Field geomorphological observations and
inspection of a series of aerial photographs, taken in
1976 and 2000, allow to classify Ca di Malta landslide
as a complex type according to the Working Party on
World Landslide Inventory classification (WP/WLI,
1993a,b), with a style of activity characterized by
the temporal succession of different mechanisms. The
reactivations of the Ca di Malta landslide occur with
small roto-translational movements involving the
steepest portions of the main scarp, these minor slides
determine a retrogressing distribution of the activity in
the crown area. Subsequently, the displaced material
undergoes a quick decline of its mechanical properties
and is saturated with water up to the liquid state of
consistency thus giving way to an advancing translational earth-flow. This earth-flow can overlap the
accumulation zone forming a wide and flat fan with
average slope inclination lower than 10j. The global
reactivation of the landslide, from top to tip, occurs
with a mechanism of undrained loading, with increase
of porewater pressure, due to a sudden overlapping of
the basal accumulation material by earth-flow (Hutchinson and Bhandari, 1971; Hutchinson, 1988). This
mechanism of reactivation was observed directly during the event of 1998.
The activity of the landslide is known since 30
May 1914, when it moved damming part of the
Reno River. Following a long period of dormant
state, the landslide was completely reactivated in
October 1996, when it nearly completely dammed
the river. The local administration provided emer-

gency intervention aimed at stopping landslide

movement and began preparing the slope for permanent consolidation. Unfortunately, when consolidation was still incomplete, the slide began moving
again in November 1998: this movement was
limited to small rotational slides in the head that
stopped on the upper part of the main body.
Following this last reactivation, the public administration planned in 1999 a geognostic survey
including drilling of boreholes, seismic soundings,
installation of inclinometers and piezometers, geotechnical laboratory tests to define the landslide
geometry and the subsurface stratigraphy. Besides,
in order to estimate the potential enlargement of the
main scarp, two inclinometers and piezometers were
installed in the crown area (Fig. 1).
Deformations at inclinometer 1, located in the
accumulation zone, indicated before its shearing a
slip surface 5 6 m below ground level, at the contact
between the weathered clay-rich material and the
bedrock (Fig. 2). Mean velocity calculated at the head
of inclinometer 1 between October 1999 and February
2000 is approximately 9 mm/month. Inclinometer 2,
located on the southern flank of the landslide, showed
the presence of less-defined, moderate deformations.
Somewhat similar deformation trend was recorded in
inclinometer 3 (Fig. 2). Piezometric measurements
conducted during the same period indicated the presence of a groundwater level close to the topographic
surface.
The lack of information on the precise dates of
October 1996 and November 1998 reactivations does
not permit to verify a relationship between precipitation and landslide activity. As shown in Fig. 3, only
the October 1996 mass movement occurred after a
prolonged and intense period of precipitation; the
partial reactivation of November 1998 took place in
absence of exceptional rainfall and despite the partially completed consolidation works of February
March 1997. Fig. 3 presents also time sequences of
displacement rates, as measured by inclinometers
readings at the ground. The short period and the low
frequency of inclinometric measurements (with
respect to the history landslide) allow only to state
that: displacements of about 10 mm/month were
recorded at inclinometer 1, the only one located in
the landslide body; the mean velocity of deformation,
estimated for the monitoring period, at the head of

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

107

Fig. 2. Ca di Malta inclinometer data and stratigraphy: inclinometer readings versus time at inclinometer 1, located within the main slide body;
at inclinometer 2, located on the flank of the landslide; at inclinometers 3 and 4, located in the adjacent landslide of Ca del Bosco. Inclinometer
displacements are referred to the ground level (cumulative measures).

inclinometers 2 and 3 ranges between 1.2 and 3.0 mm/

month. The velocity of deformations at the crown area
is about one order of magnitude lower than those in
landslide body.
Finally, as shown in Fig. 3, the GPS monitoring
for the measurement of surface movements (from

October 2000 to July 2001) has coincided with a

period of scarce rainfall during which the displacement rates at inclinometers have been very low.
A conceptual model of Ca di Malta landslide
reactivation mechanism, based on field geomorphological features, on inspection of a series of aerial

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

Fig. 3. Daily rainfall from 1 January 1996 to 14 February 2002 compared to time sequences of displacement rates, as measured by
inclinometers; landslide reactivations and GSP survey monitoring time are also indicated. The daily rainfall referred to the near pluviometric
station of Sasso Marconi (16 km North to Vergato, 130 m a.s.l.).

photographs taken in different times, and on topographic evolution of the slope, is proposed in Fig. 4. It
shows how the main landslide body reactivates fol-

lowing occurrence of minor slides in the upper part of

the slope. This activates a sort of domino effect
propagating downslope. During the initiation phase,

Fig. 4. Conceptual model of Ca di Malta landslide reactivation: the main landslide body usually reactivates following occurrence of minor slides in
the crown area and the basal failure surface often propagates downhill as a slow-moving unsteady wave (from a to e in the sketch). Not to scale.

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

109

Fig. 5. (a) Aerial photograph of Ca di Malta landslide and surrounding area (April 2000). Courtesy of ENELHydro S.p.A.; authorization no. 1
340, 05/30/2000. Aerial photogrammetric survey by Alifoto S.R.L., Torino. (b) Shaded relief of the landslide derived from the photogrammetric
DEM: the boundary of landslide is shown as dashed line.

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

relatively small roto-translational movements (inset a

in Fig. 4), usually involving the steepest portions of
the main scarp, transfer their load on the main landslide deposit (inset b in Fig. 4), causing a series of
failures along the basal slip surface which propagate
downslope (inset c,d,e) (Hutchinson, 1988; Brundsen
and Ibsen, 1996; Leroueil et al., 1996).

3. Digital photogrammetry
Aerial photography at a scale of 1:4400 (colour
film) was taken over the Ca di Malta landslide in
April 2000 (Fig. 5a), giving us the reference images
(stereoscopic coverage) of the area.
Digital photogrammetry applies the same principles and methods as traditional analogic photogrammetry to obtain reliable information about the physical
objects and the environment (Chandler, 1999). The
products of recording, measuring and interpreting
digital images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant
energy and other phenomena are point coordinates,
graphic and/or numeric maps and rectified images
(Thomson and Gruner, 1980). The processing of the
images is done by matching well-defined shapes and

colour levels in corresponding zones of the images

(Kraus, 1993; Heipke, 1995). Three-dimensional
reconstruction is obtained by applying digital image
processing and pattern recognition. Matching algorithms based on different techniques (image matching,
object space matching) automatically compute a DEM
from the oriented digital photographs (Rottensteiner,
1996). The precision of the computation of threedimensional coordinates of points depends mainly on
the scale and the resolution of the image or photo.
Other factors that affect the final precision of the
digital products are the capacity of the correlation
algorithms to work at sub-pixel level, the quality of
the original image, the presence of shadows and the
morphology of the surface (Achilli et al., 1997). The
operator can introduce necessary corrections to the
model by comparing the automatically generated
DEM with the oriented digital images. This process
can be laborious in presence of discontinuities and
irregularities in the relief surface.
For the April 2000 photogrammetric survey (Table
1), one strip including three photos (scale of 1:4400)
was analysed using Helava (Miller et al., 1992) and
LH Systems workstations (LH Systems, LLC, 1999).
The images were scanned using the Helava Digital

Table 1
Photogrammetric survey: data acquisition and processing systems

Aerial
photography

Softcopy
photogrammetry

Item

Designation

Manufacturer

Specifications

Settings

Aircraft

P68C-TC

Engine: TIO 360 C1A6D;

marks: I-GRAD

Camera

RC 8

Partenavia
Costruzioni
Aeronautiche SpA
Wild Heerbrugg AG

Flight height above

mean ground;
elevation: 670 m
Installation: vertical

Film

Aviphot
Color
H100

Agfa-Gevaert N.V.

Digital scanning
system

DSW 100

Helava Associates Inc.

Digital
photogrammetric
system

SOCET
SET
4.2.1
Ultra 60
Workstation

LH System, LLC

Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Focal length: 151.946 mm;

lens aperture: f/5.6;
format size: 23  23 cm;
AWAR: 43 lp/mm
Type: colour negative;
RMS granularity: 8;
TOC 1000/1: 115 lp/mm;
TOC 1.6/1: 50.3 lp/mm

Solaris 2.6 OS; HD: 20 GB;

RAM: 256 MB

Resolution: 1016 dpi;

reproduction: colour;
pixel size: 25.4 mm;
file size: 245 MB
Automatic image
correlation module:
adaptive method low
smoothing high
precision

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

Scanning Workstation (DSW) 100 at a resolution of

1016 dpi, which results in a pixel size of 25.4 Am,
corresponding to 11 cm on the ground. Each resulting
image file was of about 245 MB. Images were
processed by means of a digital photogrammetric
workstation using Sun hardware and LH Systems
SoftCopy Exploitation Tool Set (SOCET SET) software. This software, planned to support image-based
softcopy applications such as map-making, mission
rehearsal and photo-interpretation, generates databases and products such as DEMs, reports, vector
databases, orthophotos, image maps and image
mosaics.
The digital images were oriented to 24 ground
control points, univocally identifiable in the images.
The locations of the points were surveyed to
centimetric accuracy with GPS. The internal bundle
adjustment program allows the adjustment of image
parameters so that the position of a point in one
image corresponds to the same point position in the
other and was used to perform the aerial triangu-

111

lation of the strip. The root mean square of

residuals of control and pass points, i.e. tie points
connecting exactly two overlapping images, was on
the order of a few centimetres. Accuracy of the
registration was 4 cm in the x y plane and 2 cm in
elevation. The automatic correlation algorithm
works at sub-pixel level, even for 1/3 pixel, corresponding to a ground resolution of about 4 cm, and
a DEM accuracy of 10 cm can be obtained (Achilli
et al., 1997; Baldi et al., 2000).
Using the automatic image correlation module, a
0.5-m regular spaced grid DEM of the area was
generated to define the shape of the landslide at
high spatial resolution and the topography of the
surrounding area. The DEM was edited to remove a
ridge over the Reno River, the buildings and the
trees and to edit out the river and the roads. All the
areas not correctly correlated by the automatic
process (about 15% of the study area) were
removed by visually adding breaklines that correspond to abrupt changes in topography. Fig. 5b

Table 2
GPS surveys: data acquisition and processing systems

Permanent
stations

Static and
rapid static
campaigns

Kinematic
campaigns

Automatic
data
downloading

Component

Designation

Manufacturer

Specifications

Settings

Receivers

4000 SSI

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Sampling rate: 15 s

Antennas
Receivers

Compact
4700

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Antennas

Micro-Centered GP

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Receivers

4700

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Antennas

Micro-Centered GP

Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Modems

A2D-I

FALCOM GmbH

12 channels; L1 C/A code;

L1/L2 P-code; LI/L2 full
cycle carrier
L1/L2
24 channels; L1/L2 code;
L1/L2 P-code; L1/L2 full
cycle carrier
L1/L2; micro-centered;
Ground Plane
24 channels; L1/L2 code;
L1/L2 P-code; L1/L2 full
cycle carrier
L1/L2; micro-centered;
Ground Plane
GSM, 9600 bps

ODi-SVD
Auto-GPS 4000
GPLoad
Bernese GPS 4.2

Legato Electronics Ltd.

Nikon Instruments SpA
Trimble Navigation Ltd.
Astronomical Institute
University of Berne
Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Softwares
Data
processing

Softwares

Trimble
Geomatics
Office

PSTN, 33600 bps

Windows 2000 OS
Windows 2000 OS
Linux OS
Windows 2000 OS

Sampling rate: 15 s

Sampling rate: 1 s

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

shows the shaded relief surface derived from the

photogrammetric process.

4. GPS surveys
GPS surveys are an efficient and precise means to
determine the location of a point and its movement
through time. Data may be collected rapidly and at
low costs with respect to ground-base topographical
methods. Particularly, the relative positioning between
points closely located may be obtained with an
observation period of a few minutes (Gili et al., 2000).
Static surveying methods require GPS receivers to
be stationary throughout the measurement session and
produce the highest possible precision with GPS
(Malet et al., 2000). Static occupation times depend
on network characteristics and may be reduced to
about 10 min for baselines shorter than a few kilometres (rapid static method) on condition that at least
five GPS satellites per epoch are visible and a sophisticated post-processing using all the GPS observables
is applied (Langley, 1998). The achievable precision
is sub-centimetre for the planimetric coordinates,
while altimetric values may be strongly influenced

by tropospheric conditions, giving lower precision on

the order of a few centimetres.
Conversely, kinematic methods allow data acquisition with a moving receiver and it is possible to
collect many data points in a short period of time with
reduced precision (a few centimetres in planimetry
and several centimetres in altimetry).
Two GPS permanent stations (Trimble dual-frequency receivers equipped with L1/L2 antennas;
Table 2) were installed to provide continuous observation of landslide movement: station OLISTO was
set up on a decametric block at the head of landslide
(Fig. 6) and station MASTER, the reference station,
was installed on a pillar built outside the landslide
area, at a distance of about 300 m (Fig. 1). The
stability of this point has been checked by means of
repeated GPS surveys on a local array defined by six
stations of the IGM95 National Geodetic Network
(Surace, 1997).
Continuous data observations of the two stations,
sampled at 15-s intervals, were automatically downloaded by means of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN) modems from the remote receivers
to a server in our Local Area Network. Nikon

Fig. 6. Location of the OLISTO permanent GPS station on a decametric block (boudin) at the head of the landslide.

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

113

Fig. 7. Map of GPS measured points in the landslide area (UTM coordinates). The marked points (monumented on large boulders) are located
along the direction of steepest slope of the landslide; the pegged points are distributed along three profiles.

Fig. 8. Increase in the length of the baseline between the two GPS permanent stations (MASTER and OLISTO). The daily solutions, computed
with the aid of an automatic procedure, are shown: the mean velocity and its standard deviation have been obtained by a linear regression. Power
failure problems occurred in OLISTO station causing some gaps in daily data acquisition.

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

Auto_GPS4000 and Trimble GPLoad softwares

(Table 2) were used to download the data and twice
a day 2-h sessions data were automatically elaborated
by a script of the Linux Bourne shell based on the
Bernese GPS software using L1 frequency (Beutler et
al., 2001).
In September October 2000, 13 monuments
(marked points) were installed. We set up the markers

on large boulders, partially plunged into the weathered

clay-rich landslide material, selected along the direction of steepest slope of the landslide; other points,
distributed along three profiles, were pegged out to
extend the area of investigation (Fig. 7). Rapid static
surveys were performed periodically over marked and
pegged points to measure surface movements obtaining accurate coordinate time-series. The GPS data

Table 3
Results of rapid static surveys: adjusted UTM coordinates of marked points (N = North + 4 906 000 m; E = East + 668 900 m; H = Height),
together with errors derived from the adjustments (95% confidence level), are given
Rapid static surveys

10

11

12

N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H
N
E
H

24 October 2000

23 November 2000

13 December 2000

15 January 2001

19 February 2001

9 July 2001

170.705 F 0.003
121.967 F 0.003
234.689 F 0.006
164.659 F 0.003
154.696 F 0.003
240.217 F 0.006
154.460 F 0.003
81.044 F 0.002
245.316 F 0.005
152.206 F 0.006
228.796 F 0.003
256.278 F 0.011
152.206 F 0.006
228.796 F 0.003
256.278 F 0.011
140.389 F 0.004
243.594 F 0.002
259.201 F 0.007
139.380 F 0.004
285.372 F 0.002
269.157 F 0.007
130.915 F 0.003
304.601 F 0.002
275.577 F 0.005
105.187 F 0.004
350.516 F 0.002
293.513 F 0.005
77.877 F 0.004
371.624 F 0.002
304.401 F 0.005
53.420 F 0.003
392.761 F 0.002
313.773 F 0.005
194.008 F 0.013
53.243 F 0.006
225.705 F 0.017
190.622 F 0.009
81.127 F 0.003
229.627 F 0.009

170.685 F 0.019
121.967 F 0.011
234.684 F 0.005
164.644 F 0.007
154.693 F 0.006
240.172 F 0.008
154.463 F 0.013
81.003 F 0.036
245.290 F 0.013
152.235 F 0.012
228.783 F 0.010
256.255 F 0.012
152.235 F 0.012
228.783 F 0.010
256.255 F 0.012
140.400 F 0.008
243.562 F 0.012
259.167 F 0.008
139.387 F 0.006
285.350 F 0.009
269.152 F 0.006
130.931 F 0.006
304.618 F 0.022
275.648 F 0.006
105.194 F 0.005
350.493 F 0.011
293.503 F 0.005
77.905 F 0.013
371.600 F 0.009
304.417 F 0.013
53.479 F 0.004
392.731 F 0.020
313.753 F 0.005
193.994 F 0.005
53.252 F 0.012
225.679 F 0.005
190.632 F 0.005
81.113 F 0.043
229.658 F 0.005

170.694 F 0.008
121.959 F 0.005
234.684 F 0.019
164.661 F 0.003
154.684 F 0.002
240.212 F 0.007
154.488 F 0.001
81.031 F 0.001
245.304 F 0.002
152.223 F 0.003
228.764 F 0.001
256.277 F 0.004
152.223 F 0.003
228.764 F 0.001
256.277 F 0.004
140.390 F 0.002
243.550 F 0.001
259.187 F 0.003
139.392 F 0.002
285.362 F 0.002
269.148 F 0.004
130.928 F 0.003
304.595 F 0.002
275.632 F 0.005
105.210 F 0.002
350.486 F 0.002
293.505 F 0.004
77.888 F 0.002
371.591 F 0.002
304.400 F 0.006
53.507 F 0.002
392.724 F 0.001
313.745 F 0.004
194.017 F 0.001
53.224 F 0.000
225.691 F 0.001
190.635 F 0.011
81.104 F 0.007
229.637 F 0.023

170.706 F 0.004
121.970 F 0.002
234.680 F 0.006
164.660 F 0.007
154.694 F 0.003
240.195 F 0.008
154.476 F 0.008
81.025 F 0.003
245.310 F 0.011
152.219 F 0.003
228.784 F 0.003
256.272 F 0.007
152.219 F 0.003
228.784 F 0.003
256.272 F 0.007
140.403 F 0.003
243.552 F 0.003
259.178 F 0.007
139.391 F 0.003
285.355 F 0.003
269.143 F 0.007
130.945 F 0.003
304.598 F 0.002
275.625 F 0.006
105.210 F 0.004
350.511 F 0.002
293.499 F 0.008
77.897 F 0.004
371.573 F 0.002
304.392 F 0.008
53.509 F 0.004
392.726 F 0.002
313.720 F 0.007
194.021 F 0.005
53.237 F 0.003
225.691 F 0.008
190.624 F 0.005
81.112 F 0.003
229.637 F 0.009

170.703 F 0.005
121.978 F 0.003
234.682 F 0.009
164.644 F 0.003
154.707 F 0.003
240.194 F 0.007
154.463 F 0.005
81.028 F 0.004
245.303 F 0.009
152.224 F 0.001
228.774 F 0.001
256.264 F 0.001
152.224 F 0.001
228.774 F 0.001
256.264 F 0.001
140.403 F 0.002
243.568 F 0.002
259.173 F 0.004
139.389 F 0.001
285.373 F 0.001
269.145 F 0.002
130.933 F 0.001
304.616 F 0.001
275.625 F 0.002
105.198 F 0.009
350.503 F 0.005
293.495 F 0.019
77.906 F 0.010
371.583 F 0.007
304.389 F 0.022
53.523 F 0.002
392.728 F 0.001
313.703 F 0.004
194.009 F 0.002
53.244 F 0.002
225.686 F 0.016
190.627 F 0.001
81.112 F 0.001
229.635 F 0.003

170.683 F 0.002
121.972 F 0.001
234.671 F 0.004
164.649 F 0.010
154.707 F 0.008
240.183 F 0.021
154.471 F 0.002
81.020 F 0.001
245.306 F 0.013
152.242 F 0.004
228.689 F 0.003
256.244 F 0.009
152.242 F 0.004
228.689 F 0.003
256.244 F 0.009
140.424 F 0.005
243.459 F 0.004
259.123 F 0.011
139.418 F 0.003
285.306 F 0.003
269.095 F 0.006
130.984 F 0.003
304.552 F 0.003
275.560 F 0.006
105.322 F 0.002
350.304 F 0.003
293.449 F 0.006
78.009 F 0.002
371.396 F 0.002
304.372 F 0.005
53.804 F 0.002
392.590 F 0.002
313.511 F 0.004
194.001 F 0.008
53.244 F 0.006
225.694 F 0.004
190.628 F 0.006
81.091 F 0.005
229.618 F 0.013

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

were acquired with a sampling rate of 15 s using four

Trimble dual-frequency receivers together with L1/L2
antennas (Table 2).
In November 2000, a kinematic survey was performed to obtain a DEM of the landslide surface. The
moving GPS receiver was carried by an operator
walking along the landslide, recording the GPS signal
at a sampling rate of 1 s (Table 2). The walking tracks
were planned to cover the whole active area, with a
density of about 1 point per square metre, and to

115

define the landslide perimeter. More than 20 000

coordinates positions were collected over the area of
the landslide (about 40 000 m2) in 6 h. In October
2001, a new kinematic survey was carried out adopting the same procedure.
Phase observables were processed using Trimble
Geomatics Office software that works through an
ordered sequence of solutions for each baseline or
occupation (Trimble Navigation Limited, 1999). The
On-The-Fly initialisation was used to resolve ambi-

Fig. 9. Planimetric (North and East) and altimetric (Height) movements of several marked and pegged points obtained by the adjustment of the
subsequent surveys. Squares, up-triangles and circles represent the northern, eastern and vertical components, respectively.

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

guities in kinematic applications (Hofmann-Wellenhof

et al., 1992).

5. Surveying results
Between December 2000 and June 2001 the rate of
relative movement between MASTER and OLISTO
was about 10 cm/year in a northwesterly direction
(Fig. 8). The maximum scattering of the single daily
solutions with respect to the mean value is 5 mm.
The state of activity of the landslide is confirmed
by the monitoring of the marked and pegged points;
they were measured once a month from October 2000
to February 2001 and in July 2001, in a rapid static
mode. Two permanent stations (MASTER and
OLISTO) were adopted as base, while two
receivers have been moved from point to point. The
high number of visible satellites (7 8) allowed reducing the observation time at each station to about 10
min. The coordinates of the base stations are derived
by the solution of continuous monitoring observations, and consequently assumed with negligible

errors in the three components. The coordinates of

the marked and pegged points, derived by the adjustment of all the independent baselines, are estimated
with horizontal errors of a few millimetres; in particular cases, precision of the altimetric coordinates is on
the order of 1 2 cm (Table 3). In November 2000,
marked and pegged points were surveyed in the frame
of the kinematic campaign; occupation times were
reduced to 1 2 min with a sampling rate of 1 s. In this
case, the precision of the results is degraded: the mean
value of the coordinate errors is 0.011 m, while the
corresponding values of the other rapid static surveys
range between 0.004 and 0.005 m.
In Fig. 9, the measured displacements of several
points are shown; while in many cases the velocity
ranges between 1 and 2 cm/month, some pegged
points, located on the main scarp, show acceleration
probably due to local displacements. The total movement (October 2000 July 2001) is shown in Fig. 10.
A velocity of about 1 2 cm/month (based on 9
months time span) characterizes the central part of
the accumulation zone. At the foot and in the southern
part of the head the displacements are negligible.

Fig. 10. Total displacement vectors of the monitored points obtained by the comparison of the first (October 2000) and the last (July 2001) GPS
rapid static surveys (UTM coordinates).

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

117

Fig. 11. Results of the crossover error analysis of GPS kinematic measurements. The histogram shows the distribution of the differences in
elevations at the crossover points.

At a point located at the southern flank of the

landslide the GPS results have been checked against
inclinometric measurement. At the marked point
located on top of inclinometer 2 (Fig. 1), the GPS
results were compared with inclinometric readings.
Measured displacements by GPS of inclinometer 2 (in
Fig. 7), from April 2000 to July 2001, give a mean
velocity of 1.63 mm/month. For the period from May
2000 to April 2001 inclinometric readings at the
ground indicate a mean velocity of 1.57 mm/month
(Fig. 3). The comparison shows how GPS values fit
well with inclinometric measurements.
Using the irregularly distributed point grid
defined by each kinematic survey, interpolated
DEMs (1  1 m grid) were computed. In order to
check the internal precision of GPS kinematic data
set, a crossover error analysis was performed, based
on the computation of the differences in elevations
calculated at the intersections of independent track
lines (Baldi et al., 2000). The elevation values
along a given track at a crossover point are
obtained by linear interpolation of the data. Statistics of the first survey (November 2000) shows a
standard deviation of 0.17 m calculated on 330
events (Fig. 11). The crossover analysis of the
second kinematic survey (October 2001) gives a

standard deviation of 0.10 m computed on 370

events.
The volumes involved in landslide activity have
been obtained by comparing elevation values of successive DEMs (Table 4). Accounting for DEMs accuracy, this comparison confirms that no substantial mass
movements occurred in the studied area in the time
interval between April 2000 and October 2001. Fig. 12
shows in more detail the nature of the small movements
that affected the area. The higher portion of the slope,
including the main scarp and the upper part of the
landslide body, was mainly subjected to a lowering
with respect to the raising measured at the toe. Differences between negative and positive volumes are
ascribable both to human activity and to erosion

Table 4
Results of DEMs comparisons: accumulation and depletion areas
and corresponding volumes

Positive areas (m2)

Positive volumes (m3)
Negative areas (m2)
Negative volumes (m3)

November 2000,
April 2000

October 2001,
November 2000

20 418
2595
17 386
2598

12 328
1289
16 945
2684

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

Fig. 12. Differential elevation maps obtained by comparing successive DEMs (UTM coordinates). Areas of anomalous elevation differences are
indicated with arrows. The difference between areas covered by the two maps was due to practical problems (bee swarms) that occurred during
the second GPS kinematic survey.

phenomena (superficial runoff). Zones 1 and 2 (Fig. 12)

were affected by slope reshaping due to the maintenance of a road crossing on the foot of the landslide (1)
and to the excavation of drainage channels (2). The
same figure shows also the topographic lowering

occurred on the steepest portions of the flanks of the

landslide (zone 3). The DEMs comparisons also evidence the agreement between the anomalous acceleration of some marked and pegged points and the
corresponding areas involved in local movements.

P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

6. Discussion and conclusions

Digital photogrammetry and GPS techniques have
been applied and compared in the context of monitoring landslide surface movements. The results of the
different monitoring methodologies applied in this
study indicate that the rate of movement (in the
landslide body) is on the order of a few centimetres
per month. Particularly, excluding some points that
show an anomalous velocity due to localised movements, the results of continuous GPS monitoring and
rapid static surveys indicate a total displacement at the
upper and central parts of the landslide ranging
between 5 and 10 cm in 6 months, interval of time
characterised by scarce precipitation. The precision
achieved with the GPS measurements ranges from
several millimetres to a few centimetres for static and
kinematic observations, respectively.
The analysis of the field data demonstrates that
GPS technique can be adopted in the frame of an
integrated monitoring system of areas involved in
mass movements. Continuous observation of landslides surface displacements may be performed by
means of GPS permanent stations monitored from a
remote control centre. The possibility of automating
the main GPS operational steps (observations collection; data downloading and processing) makes it
possible to substantially reduce fieldwork operations
and to control landslide activity in real-time. The
achievable precision is of the same order of that
obtainable by an automated geodetic station (Feng et
al., 2001; Sharma et al., 2001) but with a lower
temporal resolution.
GPS offers several advantages: intervisibility between stations is not necessary; anomalous weather
conditions do not prevent the observations; distances
between points are not critical (in the range of a few
kilometres). On the other hand, GPS approach requires
the use of a receiver for every monitored point, increasing the cost with respect to ground geodetic techniques.
Nevertheless, the present satellite configuration allows
reducing observation times also of rapid static
approach that can be extensively used in the periodical
monitoring of series of critical landslide points.
Kinematic surveying may be applied to rapidly
describe landslides surface by means of high spatial
resolution DEMs. Even if the intrinsic precision of the
method is at centimetre-level, the data acquired in a

119

walking mode, with the antenna mounted on a telescopic pole or on the operators backpack, are affected
by greater errors especially due to difficulty in
describing the surface roughness. The crossover error
analysis indicates a repeatability of the elevation
evaluations ranging between 10 and 17 cm. DEMs
characterized by precision of the same order of
magnitude are also obtainable by means of aerial
photogrammetric surveys, but the sequence of operations needed for DEMs production (project management, work planning, fieldwork logistics, data
processing) and the cost are obstacles to the routine
utilisation of this approach for monitoring surface
movements of landslides.
The search for a cost- and time-effective method
that takes into account several factors, including
DEMs accuracy, indicates that GPS kinematic technique is suitable for periodical monitoring of accessible
areas. A reference DEM can be obtained by using
aerial photogrammetry that maintains the advantage of
allowing the correct environmental and geomorphological framing of the phenomenon. More particularly,
high-resolution digital cameras and sophisticated softcopy photogrammetric techniques (Fryer and McIntosh, 2001) represent the preferable tools.
The applied methodology is an efficient and costeffective tool to determine and monitor surface displacements of landslides characterised by slow to very
slow rate of movement. The kinematic GPS technique
represents a practical method to integrate aerial photogrammetry and to rapidly define landslide topography
or changes in site morphology by generating precise
DEMs of the area. The real-time monitoring is well
suited for integration with an alert system for landslide hazard management and for monitoring displacements of slow landslides in urbanized areas and sites
of high societal value.

Acknowledgements
The research was funded by the National Research
Council Group for Hydrogeological Disaster Prevention (CNR-GNDCI); publication CNR-GNDCI no.
2351 and by the MURST 2000 National Research
Program: Soil stress-strains analysis in order to study
the occurrence of local instabilities and their amplifications at global scale.

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P. Mora et al. / Engineering Geology 68 (2003) 103121

The authors would like to thank Massimo Bacchetti

(Dip. Fisica, Settore Geofisica, Univ. Bologna) for the
GPS network monumentation and for the assistance
during the GPS surveys; we are also grateful to
ENELHydro S.p.A. and to Alifoto SRL for the aerial
photogrammetric survey. Special thanks to Nikon
Instruments SpA (Sesto Fiorentino, Italy) for providing
GPS hardware and software support.
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