Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity
Objectives: To assess the relative accuracy and usefulness of web tools in evaluating and measuring street-scale built environment characteristics. Methods: A well-known audit tool was used to evaluate 84 street segments at the urban edge of metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, using on-site visit...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103940 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-7830 |
| _version_ | 1826209485313540096 |
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| author | Ben-Joseph, Eran Lee, Jae Seung Cromley, Ellen K. Laden, Francine Troped, Philip J. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Ben-Joseph, Eran Lee, Jae Seung Cromley, Ellen K. Laden, Francine Troped, Philip J. |
| author_sort | Ben-Joseph, Eran |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Objectives:
To assess the relative accuracy and usefulness of web tools in evaluating and measuring street-scale built environment characteristics.
Methods:
A well-known audit tool was used to evaluate 84 street segments at the urban edge of metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, using on-site visits and three web-based tools. The assessments were compared to evaluate their relative accuracy and usefulness.
Results:
Web-based audits, based-on Google Maps, Google Street View, and MS Visual Oblique, tend to strongly agree with on-site audits on land-use and transportation characteristics (e.g., types of buildings, commercial destinations, and streets). However, the two approaches to conducting audits (web versus on-site) tend to agree only weakly on fine-grain, temporal, and qualitative environmental elements. Among the web tools used, auditors rated MS Visual Oblique as the most valuable. Yet Street View tends to be rated as the most useful in measuring fine-grain features, such as levelness and condition of sidewalks.
Conclusion:
While web-based tools do not offer a perfect substitute for on-site audits, they allow for preliminary audits to be performed accurately from remote locations, potentially saving time and cost and increasing the effectiveness of subsequent on-site visits. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:23:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/103940 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:23:15Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1039402022-10-01T21:02:12Z Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity Ben-Joseph, Eran Lee, Jae Seung Cromley, Ellen K. Laden, Francine Troped, Philip J. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Massachusetts Institute of Technology. School of Architecture and Planning Ben-Joseph, Eran Ben-Joseph, Eran Objectives: To assess the relative accuracy and usefulness of web tools in evaluating and measuring street-scale built environment characteristics. Methods: A well-known audit tool was used to evaluate 84 street segments at the urban edge of metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts, using on-site visits and three web-based tools. The assessments were compared to evaluate their relative accuracy and usefulness. Results: Web-based audits, based-on Google Maps, Google Street View, and MS Visual Oblique, tend to strongly agree with on-site audits on land-use and transportation characteristics (e.g., types of buildings, commercial destinations, and streets). However, the two approaches to conducting audits (web versus on-site) tend to agree only weakly on fine-grain, temporal, and qualitative environmental elements. Among the web tools used, auditors rated MS Visual Oblique as the most valuable. Yet Street View tends to be rated as the most useful in measuring fine-grain features, such as levelness and condition of sidewalks. Conclusion: While web-based tools do not offer a perfect substitute for on-site audits, they allow for preliminary audits to be performed accurately from remote locations, potentially saving time and cost and increasing the effectiveness of subsequent on-site visits. 2016-08-16T18:49:23Z 2016-08-16T18:49:23Z 2013-01 2012-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 13538292 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103940 Ben-Joseph, Eran, Jae Seung Lee, Ellen K. Cromley, Francine Laden, and Philip J. Troped. "Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity." Health & Place 19 (January 2013) pp. 138-150. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-7830 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.11.001 Health & Place Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier Prof. Ben-Joseph |
| spellingShingle | Ben-Joseph, Eran Lee, Jae Seung Cromley, Ellen K. Laden, Francine Troped, Philip J. Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| title | Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| title_full | Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| title_fullStr | Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| title_short | Virtual and actual: Relative accuracy of on-site and web-based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| title_sort | virtual and actual relative accuracy of on site and web based instruments in auditing the environment for physical activity |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103940 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3581-7830 |
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