title: Compliance potential mapping: a tool to assess potential contributions of walking towards physical activity guidelines.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Walking for transport is increasingly considered an important component for meeting physical activity guidelines. This is true for individuals of all ages, and particularly important for seniors, for whom other physical activities may not be recommended. In order to evaluate the potential contributions of walking to physical activity, in this paper the concept of Compliance Potential Mapping is introduced. The concept is illustrated using seniors as a case study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on estimates of walking trip distance and frequency, estimates of expected total daily walking distance are obtained. These estimates are converted to weekly walking minutes, which are in turn compared to recommended physical activity guidelines for seniors. Once estimates of travel behavior are available, the approach is straightforward and based on relatively simple map algebra operations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compliance Potential Mapping as a tool to assess the potential contributions of walking towards physical activity is demonstrated using data from Montreal's 2008 travel survey. The results indicate that the central parts of Montreal Island display higher potential for compliance with physical activity guidelines, but with variations according to age, income, occupation, possession of driver's license and vehicle, and neighborhood and accessibility parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compliance Potential Maps offer valuable information for public health and transportation planning and policy analysis.
authors.forename: Md
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moniruzzaman
authors.affiliation: School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4 K1, Canada. paezha@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Páez
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morency
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009864:Ontario; D011336:Probability; D011634:Public Health; D014505:Urban Population; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data