Research

Greenspace and children's physical activity: a GPS/GIS analysis of the PEACH project

BW Wheeler, AR Cooper, AS Page & R Jago

Source: Preventive Medicine | Year: 2010 | Volume: 51 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 148-152

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the volume and intensity of children's physical activity after school in greenspace and elsewhere.

METHODS: Data were collected between 2006 and 2008 from 1,307 children aged 10-11 in Bristol, UK. Accelerometers and Global Positioning System receivers measured activity and location every 10 s (epoch) after school for four days. Data were ... (more)

POSTED ON: 29 Jul 2010 02:07:38

POSTED BY: Scott Duncan - Administrator

Identifying Walking Trips Using GPS Data

GH Cho, DA Rodriguez & KR Evenson

Source: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise | Year: 2010 | Volume: doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181ebec3c

Purpose: This study developed and tested algorithms to identify outdoor walking trips from portable global positioning system (GPS) units in free-living conditions.

Methods: The study included a calibration and a validation phase. For the calibration phase, we determined the best algorithm from 35 person-days of data. Measures of agreement regarding the daily ... (more)

POSTED ON: 29 Jul 2010 02:07:52

POSTED BY: Scott Duncan - Administrator

Automating mode detection for travel behaviour analysis by using global positioning systems-enabled mobile phones and neural networks

PA Gonzalez, JS Weinstein, SJ Barbeau, MA Labrador, PL Winters, NL Georggi & R Perez

Source: IET Intelligent Transport Systems | Year: 2010 | Volume: 4 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 37-49

ABSTRACT
Travel surveys collect trip data such as origin, destination, mode, duration, distance and purpose of trips, as well as socioeconomic and demographic data for analysis. Transportation planners, policymakers, state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organisations, industry professionals and academic researchers use survey data to better ... (more)

POSTED ON: 07 Jun 2010 23:06:17

POSTED BY: Scott Duncan - Administrator

Patterns of GPS measured time outdoors after school and objective physical activity in English children: the PEACH project

Ashley R Cooper, Angie S Page, Benedict W Wheeler, Melvyn Hillsdon, Pippa Griew and Russell Jago

Source: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity | Year: 2010 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 31 | Pages: doi:10.1186/1479-5868-7-31

Background
Observational studies have shown a positive association between time outdoors and physical activity in children. Time outdoors may be a feasible intervention target to increase the physical activity of youth, but methods are required to accurately measure time spent outdoors in a range of locations and over a sustained period. The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides precise location data and can be used to identify when an individual is outdoors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether GPS data recorded outdoors were associated with objectively measured physical activity.

Methods
Participants were 1010 children (11.0 +/- 0.4 years) recruited from 23 urban primary schools in South West England, measured between September 2006 and July 2008. Physical activity was measured by accelerometry (Actigraph GT1M) and children wore a GPS receiver (Garmin Foretrex 201) after school on four weekdays to record time outdoors. Accelerometer and GPS data were recorded at 10 second epochs and were combined to describe patterns of physical activity when both a GPS and accelerometer record were present (outdoors) and when there was accelerometer data only (indoors). ANOVA was used to investigate gender and seasonal differences in the patterns of outdoor and indoor physical activity, and linear regression was used to examine the cross-sectional associations between GPS-measured time outdoors and physical activity.

Results
GPS-measured time outdoors was a significant independent predictor of children's physical activity after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Physical activity was more than 2.5 fold higher outdoors than indoors (1345.8 +/- 907.3 vs 508.9 +/- 282.9 counts per minute; F=783.2, p<.001). Overall, children recorded 41.7 +/- 46.1 minutes outdoors between 3.30pm and 8.30pm, with more time spent outdoors in the summer months (p<.001). There was no gender difference in time spent outdoors. Physical activity outdoors was higher in the summer months than the winter (p<.001), whilst there was no seasonal variation in physical activity indoors.

Conclusions
Duration of GPS recording is positively associated with objectively measured physical activity and is sensitive to seasonal differences. Minute by minute patterning of GPS and physical activity data is feasible and may be a useful tool to investigate environmental influences on children's physical activity and to identify opportunities for intervention.

POSTED ON: 22 Apr 2010 21:04:05

POSTED BY: Scott Duncan - Administrator

Using accelerometers and GPS units to identify the proportion of daily physical activity located in parks with playgrounds in New Zealand children

R Quigg, A Gray, A Reeder, A Holt & D Waters

Source: Preventive Medicine | Year: 2010 | Volume: 50 | Issue: 5-6 | Pages: 235-240

Objective
To identify the proportion of children's physical activity occurring in public parks with playgrounds.

Methods
Children (n = 184) aged 5 to 10 years were recruited from schools located in two low socio-economic status communities in Dunedin, New Zealand. Accelerometers (Actigraph GT1M) and global positioning system units (Globalsat DG-100) were used to ... (more)

POSTED ON: 07 Jun 2010 22:06:59

POSTED BY: Scott Duncan - Administrator

The built environment and location based physical activity

Troped, Wilson, Matthews, Cromley, Melly

Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine | Year: 2010 | Volume: 38 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 429-438

Background: Studies of the built environment and physical activity have implicitly assumed that a substantial amount of activity occurs near home, but in fact the location is unknown.
Purpose: This study aims to examine associations between built environment variables within home and work buffers and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) occurring within ... (more)

POSTED ON: 25 Mar 2010 23:03:45

POSTED BY: Jenna Panter

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Combining GPS, GIS and accelerometry: Methodological issues in the assessment of location and intensity of travel behaviors

Melody Oliver, Hannah M Badland, Suzanne Mavoa, Mitch J Duncan, J Scott Duncan

Source: Journal of Physical Activity and Health | Year: 2010 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 1

Background: Global positioning systems (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), and accelerometers are powerful tools to explain activity within a built environment, yet little integration of these tools has taken place. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of combining GPS, GIS, and accelerometry to understand transport-related physical activity (TPA) in ... (more)

POSTED ON: 21 Jan 2010 21:01:31

POSTED BY: Melody Oliver

Mapping the Walk to School Using Accelerometry Combined with a Global Positioning System

Ashley R. Cooper, PhD, Angie S. Page, PhD, Benedict W. Wheeler, PhD, Pippa Griew, MSc, Laura Davis, MSc, Melvyn Hillsdon, PhD, Russell Jago, PhD

Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine | Year: 2010 | Volume: 38 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 178-183

Walking to school is associated with higher levels of physical activity, but the contribution of the journey itself to physical activity before school is unknown. This study combined accelerometer and GPS data to investigate the level and location of physical activity in children walking to school. Participants were 137 children (aged 11.3 years) from London, ... (more)

POSTED ON: 21 Jan 2010 19:01:34

POSTED BY: Ashley Cooper

Children in schoolyards: Tracking movement patterns and physical activity in schoolyards using global positioning system and heart rate monitoring

Ingunn Fjørtoft , Bjørn Kristoffersen, Jostein Sageie

Source: Landscape and Urban Planning | Year: 2009 | Volume: 93 | Pages: 210–217

ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate how 6-year-old school children used their schoolyard during recess and how the yard invited investigation. Two different schoolyards, one in the city and one rural, in Southern Norway were chosen for the study. The schoolyards were mapped and the affordances for physical activity described and presented in an ... (more)

POSTED ON: 20 Nov 2009 00:11:46

POSTED BY: Ingunn Fjortoft

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Environmental supportiveness for physical activity in English schoolchildren: a study using Global Positioning Systems

Andy Jones, Emma Coombes, Simon Griffin, Esther van Sluijs

Source: International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity | Year: 2009 | Volume: 6 | Pages: 42

Background: There is increasing evidence that the environment plays a role in influencing physical activity in children and adults. As children have less autonomy in their behavioural choices, neighbourhood environment supportiveness may be an important determinant of their ability to be active. Yet we know rather little about the types of environment that children ... (more)

POSTED ON: 18 Nov 2009 10:11:01

POSTED BY: Andy Jones