title: Matching study areas using Google Street View: A new application for an emerging technology.
abstract: Google Street View (GSV) can be used as an effective tool to conduct virtual neighborhood audits. We expand on this research by exploring the utility of a GSV-based neighborhood audit to measure and match target and comparison study areas. We developed a GSV-based inventory to measure characteristics of retail alcohol stores and their surrounding neighborhoods. We assessed its reliability and assessed the utility of GSV-based audits for matching target and comparison study areas. We found that GSV-based neighborhood audits can be a useful, reliable, and cost-effective tool for matching target and comparison study areas when archival data are insufficient and primary data collection is prohibitive. We suggest that researchers focus on characteristics that are easily visible on GSV and are relatively stable over time when creating future GSV-based measuring and matching tools. Dividing the study area into small segments may also provide more accurate measurements and more precise matching.
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA. Electronic address: levin381@umn.edu.
authors: Elyse Levine
authors: EL
authors: Less
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA.
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: McKee
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA.
authors: Traci
authors: T
authors: Toomey
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA.
authors: Toben
authors: T
authors: Nelson
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA.
authors: Darin
authors: D
authors: Erickson
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA.
authors: Serena
authors: S
authors: Xiong
authors: Alcohol Epidemiology Program, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454-1015, USA.
authors: Rhonda
authors: R
authors: Jones-Webb
mesh_terms: D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D015588:Observer Variation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012985:Software Design; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Alcohol-related crime; Audit tools; Ecological settings; Google Street View; Matching