title: Walking objectively measured: classifying accelerometer data with GPS and travel diaries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study developed and tested an algorithm to classify accelerometer data as walking or nonwalking using either GPS or travel diary data within a large sample of adults under free-living conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants wore an accelerometer and a GPS unit and concurrently completed a travel diary for seven consecutive days. Physical activity (PA) bouts were identified using accelerometry count sequences. PA bouts were then classified as walking or nonwalking based on a decision-tree algorithm consisting of seven classification scenarios. Algorithm reliability was examined relative to two independent analysts' classification of a 100-bout verification sample. The algorithm was then applied to the entire set of PA bouts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 706 participants' (mean age = 51 yr, 62% female, 80% non-Hispanic white, 70% college graduate or higher) yielded 4702 person-days of data and had a total of 13,971 PA bouts. The algorithm showed a mean agreement of 95% with the independent analysts. It classified PA into 8170 walking bouts (58.5 %) and 5337 nonwalking bouts (38.2%); 464 bouts (3.3%) were not classified for lack of GPS and diary data. Nearly 70% of the walking bouts and 68% of the nonwalking bouts were classified using only the objective accelerometer and GPS data. Travel diary data helped classify 30% of all bouts with no GPS data. The mean ± SD duration of PA bouts classified as walking was 15.2 ± 12.9 min. On average, participants had 1.7 walking bouts and 25.4 total walking minutes per day.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  GPS and travel diary information can be helpful in classifying most accelerometer-derived PA bouts into walking or nonwalking behavior.
authors: Urban Form Lab and the Department of Urban Design and Planning, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors: Bumjoon
authors: B
authors: Kang
authors: Anne V
authors: AV
authors: Moudon
authors: Philip M
authors: PM
authors: Hurvitz
authors: Lucas
authors: L
authors: Reichley
authors: Brian E
authors: BE
authors: Saelens
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry / Q000145:classification*; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D003663:Decision Trees; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011996:Records; D016138:Walking / Q000145:classification*