Validation of desk-based audits using Google Street View ® to monitor the obesogenic potential of neighbourhoods in a pediatric sample: a pilot study in the QUALITY cohort

The suitability of geospatial services for auditing neighbourhood features relevant to pediatric obesity remains largely unexplored. Our objectives were to (i) establish the measurement properties of a desk-based audit instrument that uses Google Street View to assess street- and neighbourhood-level features relevant to pediatric obesity (QUALITY-NHOOD tool, the test method) and (ii) comment on its capacity to detect changes in the built environment over an 8-year period. In order to do so, we compared this tool with an on-site auditing instrument (the reference method). On-site audits of 55 street- and neighbourhood-level features were completed in 2008 in 512 neighbourhoods from the QUALITY cohort study. In 2015, both repeat on-site and desk-based audits were completed in a random sample of 30 of these neighbourhoods. Agreement between both methods was excellent for almost all street segment items (range 91.9-99.7%), except for road type (81.0%), ads/commercial billboards (81.7%), road-sidewalk buffer zone (76.1%), and road-bicycle path buffer zone (53.3%). It was fair to poor for perceived quality, safety and aesthetics items (range 59.9-87.6%), as well as for general impression items (range 40.0-86.7%). The desk-based method over-detected commercial billboards and road-sidewalk buffer zone, and generally rated neighbourhoods as less safe, requiring more effort to get around, and having less aesthetic appeal. Change detected over the 8-year period was generally similar for both methods, except that the desk-based method appeared to amplify the increase in the number of segments with signs of social disorder. The QUALITY-NHOOD tool is deemed adequate for evaluating and monitoring changes in pedestrian- and traffic-related features applicable to pediatric populations. Applications for monitoring the obesogenic nature of neighbourhoods appear warranted.