Chiang Yen-Cheng, Sullivan William, Larsen Linda
Department of Landscape Architecture, National Chiayi University, Chiayi 60004, Taiwan.
Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Jun 3;14(6):593. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14060593.
Multiple studies have revealed the impact of walkable environments on physical activity. Scholars attach considerable importance to leisure and health-related walking. Recent studies have used Google Street View as an instrument to assess city streets and walkable environments; however, no study has compared the validity of Google Street View assessments of walkable environment attributes to assessments made by local residents and compiled from field visits. In this study, we involved nearby residents and compared the extent to which Google Street View assessments of the walkable environment correlated with assessments from local residents and with field visits. We determined the assessment approaches (local resident or field visit assessments) that exhibited the highest agreement with Google Street View. One city with relatively high-quality walkable environments and one city with relatively low-quality walkable environments were examined, and three neighborhoods from each city were surveyed. Participants in each neighborhood used one of three approaches to assess the walkability of the environment: 15 local residents assessed the environment using a map, 15 participants made a field visit to assess the environment, and 15 participants used Google Street View to assess the environment, yielding a total of 90 valid samples for the two cities. Findings revealed that the three approaches to assessing neighborhood walkability were highly correlated for traffic safety, aesthetics, sidewalk quality, and physical barriers. Compared with assessments from participants making field visits, assessments by local residents were more highly correlated with Google Street View assessments. Google Street View provides a more convenient, low-cost, efficient, and safe approach to assess neighborhood walkability. The results of this study may facilitate future large-scale walkable environment surveys, effectively reduce expenses, and improve survey efficiency.
多项研究揭示了适宜步行的环境对身体活动的影响。学者们高度重视与休闲和健康相关的步行。最近的研究使用谷歌街景作为评估城市街道和适宜步行环境的工具；然而，尚无研究将谷歌街景对适宜步行环境属性的评估有效性与当地居民的评估以及实地考察的评估进行比较。在本研究中，我们纳入了附近居民，并比较了谷歌街景对适宜步行环境的评估与当地居民的评估以及实地考察评估之间的相关程度。我们确定了与谷歌街景一致性最高的评估方法（当地居民评估或实地考察评估）。研究考察了一个具有相对高质量适宜步行环境的城市和一个具有相对低质量适宜步行环境的城市，并对每个城市的三个社区进行了调查。每个社区的参与者使用三种方法之一来评估环境的适宜步行性：15名当地居民使用地图评估环境，15名参与者进行实地考察评估环境，15名参与者使用谷歌街景评估环境，两个城市共获得90个有效样本。研究结果显示，评估社区适宜步行性的三种方法在交通安全、美观性、人行道质量和物理障碍方面高度相关。与实地考察参与者的评估相比，当地居民的评估与谷歌街景评估的相关性更高。谷歌街景为评估社区适宜步行性提供了一种更便捷、低成本、高效且安全的方法。本研究结果可能有助于未来大规模的适宜步行环境调查，有效降低成本并提高调查效率。
