Emerging technologies to measure neighborhood conditions in public health: implications for interventions and next steps

Abstract

Adverse neighborhood conditions play an important role beyond individual characteristics. There is increasing interest in identifying specific characteristics of the social and built environments adversely affecting health outcomes. Most research has assessed aspects of such exposures via self-reported instruments or census data. Potential threats in the local environment may be subject to short-term changes that can only be measured with more nimble technology. The advent of new technologies may offer new opportunities to obtain geospatial data about neighborhoods that may circumvent the limitations of traditional data sources. This overview describes the utility, validity and reliability of selected emerging technologies to measure neighborhood conditions for public health applications. It also describes next steps for future research and opportunities for interventions. The paper presents an overview of the literature on measurement of the built and social environment in public health (Google Street View, webcams, crowdsourcing, remote sensing, social media, unmanned aerial vehicles, and lifespace) and location-based interventions. Emerging technologies such as Google Street View, social media, drones, webcams, and crowdsourcing may serve as effective and inexpensive tools to measure the ever-changing environment. Georeferenced social media responses may help identify where to target intervention activities, but also to passively evaluate their effectiveness. Future studies should measure exposure across key time points during the life-course as part of the exposome paradigm and integrate various types of data sources to measure environmental contexts. By harnessing these technologies, public health research can not only monitor populations and the environment, but intervene using novel strategies to improve the public health.

Geospatial Approaches to Cancer Control and Population Sciences

“…Most studies also have been cross-sectional, which limits the potential for detecting causal inferences regarding neighborhood factors and cancer outcomes. Moreover, potential threats in the local environment may be subject to easily missed short-term changes with the use of data about neighborhood conditions that are collected annually or even less frequently (25). …”

Surveying all public drinking water fountains in a city: outdoor field observations and Google Street View

“…While GSV appears to have some utility for studying the physical environment in New Zealand, 6,9,10 and elsewhere, 4 this tool currently does not appear to be particularly useful for identifying these fountains (i.e. sensitivity of only 52% as per the independent observer).…”

Assessing the Exposome with External Measures: Commentary on the State of the Science and Research Recommendations

“…For example, there is increasing interest in the use of data from social media networks, particularly georeferenced data and omnidirectional imagery (e.g., Google Street View), in assessing the social and built environment (83). There may also be opportunities to build on recent developments in the fields of eHealth and mHealth, including biological sensing, and real-time patient monitoring, including additional opportunities for measurement validation.…”

“…In addition, particularly in exposome studies, real-time personal-level data on external exposures may be captured, and protocols for sharing the data with participants may be required because the possibility for individual-level intervention, such as exposure warnings, exists (83). Further research on risk communication with study participants may be useful (64).…”