Using Google Earth to conduct a neighborhood audit Reliability of a virtual audit instrument

Health & Place 16 (2010) 1224–1229Contents lists available at ScienceDirectHealth & Placejournal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/healthplaceUsing Google Earth to conduct a neighborhood audit: Reliability of a virtualaudit instrumentn 1 2Philippa Clarke , Jennifer Ailshire , Robert Melendez, Michael Bader , Jeffrey MorenoffInstitute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USAarticleinfo abstractArticle history: Over the last two decades, the impact of community characteristics on the physical and mental healthReceived 19 March 2010 of residents has emerged as an important frontier of research in population health and in revised form disparities. However, the development and evaluation of measures to capture community character-23 July 2010 istics is still at a relatively early stage. The purpose of this work was to assess the reliability of aAccepted 4 August 2010neighborhood audit instrument administered in the city of Chicago using Google Street View bycomparing these ‘‘virtual’’ data to those obtained from an identical instrument administeredKeywords: ‘‘in-person’’. We find that a virtual audit instrument can provide reliable indicators of recreationalNeighborhoods facilities,thelocalfoodenvironment,andgenerallanduse.However,cautionshouldbeexercisedwhenAudittrying to gather more finely detailed observations. Using the internet to conduct a neighborhood auditGoogle Earthhas the potential to significantly reduce the costs of ...