Quantifying distance overestimation from global positioning system in urban spaces

S.J. Mooney, D.M. Sheehan, G. Zulaika, A.G. Rundle, K. McGill, M.R. Behrooz and G.S. Lovasi

American Journal of Public Health, 2016, vol. 106, issue 4, 651-653

Abstract: Objectives. To investigate accuracy of distance measures computed from Global Positioning System (GPS) points in New York City. Methods. We performed structured walks along urban streets carrying Globalsat DG-100 GPS Data Logger devices in highest and lowest quartiles of building height and tree canopy cover. We used ArcGIS version 10.1 to select walks and compute the straight-line distance (Geographic Information System-measured) and sum of distances between consecutive GPS waypoints (GPS-measured) for each walk. Results. GPS distance overestimates were associated with building height (median overestimate = 97% for high vs 14% for low building height) and to a lesser extent tree canopy (43% for high vs 28% for low tree canopy). Conclusions. Algorithms using distances between successive GPS points to infer speed or travel mode may misclassify trips differentially by context. Researchers studying urban spaces may prefer alternative mode identification techniques.

Keywords: devices; dimensional measurement accuracy; environment; geographic information system; human; New York; travel; urban population; walking, Dimensional Measurement Accuracy; Environment; Geographic Information Systems; Humans; New York City; Travel; Urban Population; Walking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2015.303036

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.303036_3

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.303036

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().