Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada
Walk Score® is a proprietary walkability metric that ranks locations by proximity to destinations, with emerging health promotion applications for increasing walking as physical activity. Currently, field validations of Walk Score® have only occurred in metropolitan regions of the United States; mor...
Main Authors: | , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2016-12-01
|
Series: | Preventive Medicine Reports |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335516301164 |
id |
doaj-f9f51e8cb3394e3498012d87bcb7469b |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-f9f51e8cb3394e3498012d87bcb7469b2020-11-25T02:54:00ZengElsevierPreventive Medicine Reports2211-33552016-12-014532539Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, CanadaCandace I.J. Nykiforuk0Jennifer Ann McGetrick1Katelynn Crick2Jeffrey A. Johnson3Corresponding author.; School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-300 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1C9, CanadaSchool of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-300 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1C9, CanadaSchool of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-300 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1C9, CanadaSchool of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-300 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 87 Avenue NW, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1C9, CanadaWalk Score® is a proprietary walkability metric that ranks locations by proximity to destinations, with emerging health promotion applications for increasing walking as physical activity. Currently, field validations of Walk Score® have only occurred in metropolitan regions of the United States; moreover, many studies employ an earlier Walk Score® version utilizing straight line distance. To address this gap, we conducted a field validation of the newest, network-based metric for three municipal types along a rural-urban continuum in Alberta, Canada. In 2015, using street-level systematic observations collected in Bonnyville, Medicine Hat, and North Central Edmonton in 2008 (part of the Community Health and the Built Environment (CHBE) project), we reverse engineered 2181 scores with the network Walk Score® algorithm. We computed means, 95% confidence intervals, and t-tests (α = 0.05) for both sets of scores. Applying the Clifford-Richardson adjustment for spatial autocorrelation, we calculated Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients (rho, rs) and adjusted p-values to measure the strength of association between the derived scores and original network scores provided by Walk Score®. Spearman's rho for scores were very high for Bonnyville (rs = 0.950, adjusted p < 0.001), and high for Medicine Hat (rs = 0.790, adjusted p < 0.001) and North Central Edmonton (rs = 0.763, adjusted p < 0.001). High to very high correlations between derived scores and Walk Scores® field validated this metric across small, medium, and large population centres in Alberta, Canada. However, we suggest caution in interpreting Walk Score® for planning and evaluating health promotion interventions, since the strength of association between destinations and walking may vary across different municipal types. Keywords: Chronic disease, Geographic mapping, Health promotion, Validation studies, Walkinghttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335516301164 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Candace I.J. Nykiforuk Jennifer Ann McGetrick Katelynn Crick Jeffrey A. Johnson |
spellingShingle |
Candace I.J. Nykiforuk Jennifer Ann McGetrick Katelynn Crick Jeffrey A. Johnson Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada Preventive Medicine Reports |
author_facet |
Candace I.J. Nykiforuk Jennifer Ann McGetrick Katelynn Crick Jeffrey A. Johnson |
author_sort |
Candace I.J. Nykiforuk |
title |
Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada |
title_short |
Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada |
title_full |
Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Check the score: Field validation of Street Smart Walk Score in Alberta, Canada |
title_sort |
check the score: field validation of street smart walk score in alberta, canada |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Preventive Medicine Reports |
issn |
2211-3355 |
publishDate |
2016-12-01 |
description |
Walk Score® is a proprietary walkability metric that ranks locations by proximity to destinations, with emerging health promotion applications for increasing walking as physical activity. Currently, field validations of Walk Score® have only occurred in metropolitan regions of the United States; moreover, many studies employ an earlier Walk Score® version utilizing straight line distance. To address this gap, we conducted a field validation of the newest, network-based metric for three municipal types along a rural-urban continuum in Alberta, Canada. In 2015, using street-level systematic observations collected in Bonnyville, Medicine Hat, and North Central Edmonton in 2008 (part of the Community Health and the Built Environment (CHBE) project), we reverse engineered 2181 scores with the network Walk Score® algorithm. We computed means, 95% confidence intervals, and t-tests (α = 0.05) for both sets of scores. Applying the Clifford-Richardson adjustment for spatial autocorrelation, we calculated Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficients (rho, rs) and adjusted p-values to measure the strength of association between the derived scores and original network scores provided by Walk Score®. Spearman's rho for scores were very high for Bonnyville (rs = 0.950, adjusted p < 0.001), and high for Medicine Hat (rs = 0.790, adjusted p < 0.001) and North Central Edmonton (rs = 0.763, adjusted p < 0.001). High to very high correlations between derived scores and Walk Scores® field validated this metric across small, medium, and large population centres in Alberta, Canada. However, we suggest caution in interpreting Walk Score® for planning and evaluating health promotion interventions, since the strength of association between destinations and walking may vary across different municipal types. Keywords: Chronic disease, Geographic mapping, Health promotion, Validation studies, Walking |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335516301164 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT candaceijnykiforuk checkthescorefieldvalidationofstreetsmartwalkscoreinalbertacanada AT jenniferannmcgetrick checkthescorefieldvalidationofstreetsmartwalkscoreinalbertacanada AT katelynncrick checkthescorefieldvalidationofstreetsmartwalkscoreinalbertacanada AT jeffreyajohnson checkthescorefieldvalidationofstreetsmartwalkscoreinalbertacanada |
_version_ |
1724723125718876160 |