This purpose of this study is a combined use of socio economic, remote sensing and GIS data for developing a technique for landslide susceptibility mapping using artificial neural networks and then to apply the technique to the selected study areas at Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu and to analyze the socio economic impact in the landslide locations. Landslide locations are identified by interpreting the satellite images and field survey data, and a spatial database of the topography, soil, forest, and land use. Then the landslide-related factors are extracted from the spatial database. These factors are then used with an artificial neural network (ANN) to analyze landslide susceptibility. Each factor's weight is determined by the back-propagation training method. Different training sets will be identified and applied to analyze and verify the effect of training. The landslide susceptibility index will be calculated by back propagation method and the susceptibility map will be created with a GIS program. The results of the landslide susceptibility analysis are verified using landslide location data. In this research GIS is used to analysis the vast amount of data very efficiently and an ANN to be an effective tool to maintain precision and accuracy. Finally the artificial neural network will prove it's an effective tool for analyzing landslide susceptibility compared to the conventional method of landslide mapping. The Socio economic impact is analyzed by the questionnaire method. Direct survey has been conducted with the people living in the landslide locations through different set of questions. This factor is also used as one of the landslide causing factor for preparation of landslide hazard map. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.