Generating GPS activity spaces that shed light upon the mobility habits of older adults: a descriptive analysis

International Journal of Health Geographics

Heather McKay³  Philippa Clarke¹  Meghan Winters⁴  Jana A Hirsch² 

[1] Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, USA;Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 206 West Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516, USA;Centre for Hip Health and Mobility and Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, 2635 Laurel Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1 M9, Canada;Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada

关键词: Older adults;    Neighborhood attributes;    Mobility;    Activity space;    Geographic information systems (GIS);    Global positioning systems (GPS);   

Others  :  1135984
DOI  :  10.1186/1476-072X-13-51

 received in 2014-10-10, accepted in 2014-11-30,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Measuring mobility is critical for understanding neighborhood influences on older adults’ health and functioning. Global Positioning Systems (GPS) may represent an important opportunity to measure, describe, and compare mobility patterns in older adults.

Methods

We generated three types of activity spaces (Standard Deviation Ellipse, Minimum Convex Polygon, Daily Path Area) using GPS data from 95 older adults in Vancouver, Canada. Calculated activity space areas and compactness were compared across sociodemographic and resource characteristics.

Results

Area measures derived from the three different approaches to developing activity spaces were highly correlated. Participants who were younger, lived in less walkable neighborhoods, had a valid driver’s license, had access to a vehicle, or had physical support to go outside of their homes had larger activity spaces. Mobility space compactness measures also differed by sociodemographic and resource characteristics.

Conclusions

This research extends the literature by demonstrating that GPS tracking can be used as a valuable tool to better understand the geographic mobility patterns of older adults. This study informs potential ways to maintain older adult independence by identifying factors that influence geographic mobility.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Hirsch et al.; licensee BioMed Central.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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