Piloting the Kids in the City study

The Kids in the City study is one of the projects involving children, independent mobility and the environment. For this study we are recruiting 120 8-11 year olds from neighbourhoods with diverse built environment characteristics. For example, some neighbourhoods are more walkable than others, whereas some have better access to different destinations.

We plan to measure where children go and how physically active they are by getting them to wear GPS units and accelerometers for seven days. Main data collection is this year, but at the end of last year we did a small pilot study to test the methodology, and I'm very glad we did!

Because our data collection strategy changed between the proposal and the project there were lots of issues that we hadn't considered (e.g. recharging 25 plus GPS units + running a couple of laptops off one powerpoint might not be a great idea). Anyway, the pilot was very useful and now I have some pilot data to try and make sense of.

New Research Projects: Children, Independent Mobility and Neighbourhood Environment

We recently received funding for a couple of projects that will at children's independent mobility in the city and explore how it's relationship to the built environment.

The first project is looking at the relationship between independent mobility, physical activity and the neighbourhood. This project involves both quantitative and qualitative data collection

The second project is mainly qualitative and involves trying to understand opportunities for play and independent activity for children living in medium an high density housing in Auckland.

Both projects use GPS to collect information on travel and mobility.

We have just started the pilot for the first project and I'm currently trying to figure out the logistics of managing the quite intensive data collection.

Measuring Neighbourhood Walkability in NZ Cities

The Measuring Neighbourhood Walkability in NZ Cities report is available for download from SHORE or Knowledge Auckland.

The report describes three measures of transport-related urban form that are being

developed using GIS and applied in New Zealand cities. The three measures are

• Walkability Index (combining street connectivity, dwelling density, land-use

mix, and retail floor area ratio)

• Neighbourhood Destinations Accessibility Index (NDAI)

• Land Use and Public Transport Accessibility Index (LUPTAI)

GPS, GIS and Accelerometer Methodology issues paper published

Our paper looking at methodological issues (there are lots of them!) in using GPS, GIS and Accelerometery was published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health. A nice start to 2010!

Combining GPS, GIS, and Accelerometry: Methodological Issues in the Assessment of Location and Intensity of Travel Behaviors
Authors: Melody Oliver, Hannah Badland, Suzanne Mavoa, Mitch Duncan, Scott Duncan

Journals for GIS in Urban and Health Research

A list of journals relevant to my research in: GIS , Urban, Health and Social.

IF = impact factor. WL = word limit. Open Access journals in bold.

GIS & Health
International Journal of Health Geographics IF: 2.03
Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology

GIS & Spatial Analysis
Computers and Geosciences IF: 1.188; 5yr IF: 1.442; WL: 5,000 – 6,000 words
Computers, Environment and Urban Systems IF: 1.025
Geographical Analysis IF: 2.564
International Journal of Geographical Information Science 2008 IF: 1.596; 5yr IF: 2.293; WL: 6,000 words
Journal of Geographical Systems
Journal of Location Based Services
Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences
Transactions in GIS

Cartography
Cartographica
Geocarto International

Urban / Built Environment / Planning
Cities IF: 0.574; 5yr IF: 0.939
City, Culture and Society
Journal of Urban Affairs IF: 1.271
Journal of Urban Design WL: 9,000 words
Journal of Urban Technology 2008 IF: 0.297; WL: 5,000-8,000 words
Journal of Urbanism WL: 8,000 words
Progress in Planning IF: 0.312; 5yr IF: 0.491
Urban Policy and Research WL: 8,000 words
Urban Research & Practice WL: 8,000 – 9,000 words
Urban Studies IF: 1.381

Geography
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 2008 IF: 2.679
Antipode IF: 2.506
Applied Geography IF: 1.700; 5yr IF: 1667
Area IF: 1.78
Emotion, Space and Society
Geoforum IF: 1.441; 5yr IF: 2.093
Geographical Research
Geography Compass
GeoJournal
Journal of Regional Science IF: 0.958
Papers in Regional Science IF 1.259
The Geographical Journal IF: 1.638
The New Zealand Geographer IF: 0.667
The Professional Geographer 2008 IF: 1.714; WL: 5,000 words
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie IF 0.457
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers IF: 3.967

Health
American Journal of Epidemiology IF: 5.454
American Journal of Preventive Medicine IF: 3.766; WL: 3,000 – 4,000 words
Annals of Epidemiology IF: 2.621; WL: 2,000 – 3,000 words
British Medical Journal IF: 12.827
BMC Public Health IF: 2.03
EcoHealth
Emerging Themes in Epidemiology IF: 1.63
Environmental Health IF: 2.48
Epidemiologic Perspectives & Innovations IF: 1.54
Health & Place IF: 2.818; 5yr IF: 2.738
Health Policy IF: 1.334
International Journal of Behvioral Nutrition and Physical Activity IF: 2.32
International Journal of Epidemiology IF: 5.838
Journal of Community Health
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health IF: 3.186
Journal of Public Health
Journal of Urban Health
Population Health Metrics: IF: 2.25
Public Health IF: 1.204
Social Science & Medicine IF: 2.604; 5yr IF: 3.588

Transport
Journal of Transport Geography IF: 1.271
Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice IF: 1.832; 5yr IF: 2.384
Transportation Research Part B: Methodological IF: 1.874; 5yr IF: 2.593
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies IF: 1.082; 5yr IF: 1.878
Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment IF: 1.118; 5yr IF: 1.447

Sustainability
International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development WL:7,000-10,000 words

Maori GIS Conference

The focus of the conference is Maori GIS projects and GIS related projects relevant to Maori aspirations. It is being held in Christchurch from 13-15 May 2009.

EOI for presenters close 15 April.

http://www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz/Events/2009/GIS-Maori-Conference/

Vipers and Vampires: Measuring Oil Vulnerability

Had a very interesting visitor yesterday: Jago Dodson from the Urban Research Program at Griffith University in Australia. Jago has published research on measurement of Oil Vulnerability in Australian cities eg:

Oil Vulnerability in the Australian City: Assessing Socioeconomic Risks from Higher Urban Fuel Prices (Dodson and Sipe, 2007)
Shocking the Suburbs: Urban Location, Housing Debt and Oil Vulnerability in the Australian City (Dodson and Sipe, 2006)

Oil vulnerability is measured by combining various census variables (mode of transport to work, number of cars in a household) and socioeconomic data (SEIFA) to produce the VIPER (Vulnerability Index for Petrol Expense Rise).

The VAMPIRE (Vulnerability Assessment for Mortgage,Petrol and Inflation Risks and Expenditure) is a measure of oil and mortgage vulnerability and includes mortgage information.

I decided to try this for a NZ city. Here is a quick lo-res attempt at an Auckland VIPER:

[caption id="attachment_28" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="VIPER index from 2006 census data. Dark = more vulnerable to oil price increases. Light = less vulnerable."][/caption]

Now I just need to find some mortgage data, cause even though VIPER is a pretty cool name, I love the idea of creating a VAMPIRE index!