Matching study areas using Google Street View: A new application for an emerging technology

Elyse Levine Less; Patricia McKee; Traci Toomey; Toben Nelson; Darin Erickson; Serena Xiong; Rhonda Jones-Webb

doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2015.08.002

Matching study areas using Google Street View: A new application for an emerging technology

Elyse Levine Less, Patricia McKee, Traci Toomey, Toben Nelson, Darin Erickson, Serena Xiong, Rhonda Jones-Webb

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Google Street View (GSV) can be used as an effective tool to conduct virtual neighborhood audits. We expand on this research by exploring the utility of a GSV-based neighborhood audit to measure and match target and comparison study areas. We developed a GSV-based inventory to measure characteristics of retail alcohol stores and their surrounding neighborhoods. We assessed its reliability and assessed the utility of GSV-based audits for matching target and comparison study areas. We found that GSV-based neighborhood audits can be a useful, reliable, and cost-effective tool for matching target and comparison study areas when archival data are insufficient and primary data collection is prohibitive. We suggest that researchers focus on characteristics that are easily visible on GSV and are relatively stable over time when creating future GSV-based measuring and matching tools. Dividing the study area into small segments may also provide more accurate measurements and more precise matching.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	72-79
Number of pages	8
Journal	Evaluation and Program Planning
Volume	53
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2015.08.002
State	Published - 2015

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) NIAAA grant #R01AA020496 .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

Alcohol-related crime
Audit tools
Ecological settings
Google Street View
Matching

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title = "Matching study areas using Google Street View: A new application for an emerging technology",

abstract = "Google Street View (GSV) can be used as an effective tool to conduct virtual neighborhood audits. We expand on this research by exploring the utility of a GSV-based neighborhood audit to measure and match target and comparison study areas. We developed a GSV-based inventory to measure characteristics of retail alcohol stores and their surrounding neighborhoods. We assessed its reliability and assessed the utility of GSV-based audits for matching target and comparison study areas. We found that GSV-based neighborhood audits can be a useful, reliable, and cost-effective tool for matching target and comparison study areas when archival data are insufficient and primary data collection is prohibitive. We suggest that researchers focus on characteristics that are easily visible on GSV and are relatively stable over time when creating future GSV-based measuring and matching tools. Dividing the study area into small segments may also provide more accurate measurements and more precise matching.",

keywords = "Alcohol-related crime, Audit tools, Ecological settings, Google Street View, Matching",

author = "Less, {Elyse Levine} and Patricia McKee and Traci Toomey and Toben Nelson and Darin Erickson and Serena Xiong and Rhonda Jones-Webb",

note = "Funding Information: This project was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) NIAAA grant #R01AA020496 . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015 Elsevier Ltd.",

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AU - Less, Elyse Levine

AU - McKee, Patricia

AU - Toomey, Traci

AU - Nelson, Toben

AU - Erickson, Darin

AU - Xiong, Serena

AU - Jones-Webb, Rhonda

PY - 2015

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KW - Ecological settings

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Matching study areas using Google Street View: A new application for an emerging technology

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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