From: GIS measured environmental correlates of active school transport: A systematic review of 14 studies
Environmental measures | Definition/formula/GIS methods | Scale of measuring the variables | Â |
---|---|---|---|
Distance | Â | Â | Â |
Distance to school | Shortest path to school along the circulation system (including roads, trails, and pathways) estimated by GIS/ArcView 3.x extension, Network Analyst V1.0b estimated the distance based on the shortest route possible along road network | -- | |
 | Straight-line distance between home and schools | -- | |
 | Manhattan distance between school and home | -- | [18] |
 | Not reported |  | [29] |
Distance to Central Business District | Distance between the Toronto Central Business District and Traffic Analysis Zone of a respondent's home | -- | [25] |
Density | Â | Â | Â |
Residential/dwelling density | The ratio of residential units to the residential area | Block group/Traffic Analysis Zone | |
 | Total number of residents per land area | Block group | |
 | The ratio of total number of residents to the residential area (and commercial use) | Block group | |
Residential index | Residential units as a percent of dwelling units and total employment in the traffic analysis zone | Traffic Analysis Zone | [18] |
Employment density | Number of employees per land area | Traffic Analysis Zone | [18] |
 | Employment to population ratio | Traffic Analysis Zone | [24] |
 | Ratio of sales/service employment to the population | Traffic Analysis Zone | [25] |
 | Ratio of manufacturing/trade/office/professional employment to the population | Traffic Analysis Zone | [25] |
 | Number of employees per area of industrial and commercial land | Unknown | [29] |
Building density | Area of floor space/buildings per land area | Study area | |
School density | Number of school per land area | Traffic analysis zone | [24] |
Density of school- or work-related trips | Walking density-total work and school related walking trips produced by residents in study area | Traffic Analysis Zone | [25] |
Vehicle density | Number of cars and motorcycles per area of roads | Study area | [29] |
Diversity | Â | Â | Â |
Mixed land use | Land Use Entropy | Block group/Traffic Analysis Zone | |
 | Herfindahl-Hirschman index-proportion of each land use squared and summed | Not reported | [27] |
Land use intensity for commercial properties | Commercial floor area ratio (FAR) = commercial floor area/commercial land area | Not reported | [19] |
Retail floor area ratio | Retail building square footage/retail square footage | Block group | [16] |
Design-connectivity-intersections | Â | Â | |
Intersection density | The ratio of number of intersections 3- to 4-way or 3- to 5-way or not specified) to the land area/street length | Block group/study area | |
 | Number of major road intersection (3 or 4-way) per land area (primary highway, secondary highway and major/arterial roads) | Study area | [25] |
 | Number of 4-way local street intersections | Study area | [25] |
 | Intersection number along the route to school | Study area | [29] |
Percent of 1,3,4, and 5-way intersections | Percent of 1,3,4, and 5-way intersections with the buffer | Study area | [18] |
Connected node ratio | The ratio of number of intersections to number of intersections and cul-de-sacs | Study area | [27] |
Cul-de-sac density | The ratio of number of cul-de-sac to land area | Not reported | [17] |
Design-connectivity-route directness | Â | Â | |
Pedestrian route directness | The ratio of the distance to school along the road network to the straight-line distance | -- | |
Design-connectivity-streets | Â | Â | |
Block/road density | Road length (local streets, arterials, and collectors) or number of blocks per land area | Study area | |
Average block size | Not reported | Study area | |
Length of each types of road or all streets | Total length of motorway, main street, and side street (Switzerland) in each study area | Study area | [26] |
Proportion of primary road | Length of primary roads per length of all roads | Â | [27] |
Vehicle lane width | Average width of vehicle lanes along the route to school | Study area | [29] |
Design-sidewalk and bike lanes | Â | Â | |
Sidewalk/walking tracks length | Total length of sidewalk/walking tracks in the study area | Study area | [23] |
Average sidewalk width | Not reported | Not reported | [19] |
 | Average sidewalk width along the route to school | Study area | [29] |
Sidewalk density | Proportion of street miles with sidewalk/pavement | Study area | |
 | Percentage length of sidewalks with widths wider than two metres along the route to school | Study area | [29] |
Bike lane density | Proportion of street miles with bike lanes or paved shoulders | Not reported | [19] |
Street spatial design | Â | Â | |
Across a motorway, main street or a side street/across busy road (freeway, highway, arterial, subarterial, collector, and local road)/across major roads, or rail roads | Whether the route to school cross these road | Along the estimated route to school/the straight line between school and home | |
Route along busy/main or secondary road | Whether the route to school along a busy/main or secondary road | Along the estimated route to school | |
Route along | Â | Â | Â |
Road outside child's home | A major or minor road adjacent to the child's home | -- | [27] |
Proportion of primary roads | Presence of primary road as part of the route | Along the estimated route to school | [27] |
Walkability index | Â | Â | Â |
Neighbourhood walkability index | Walkability=[(z net residential density) = (z retail floor area ratio) + (2 × z intersection density) + (z land use mix)] | Cluster of block groups | [16] |
Individual walkability index | Walkability=[(z net residential density) = (z retail floor area ratio) + (2 × z intersection density) + (z land use mix)] | Study area | [16] |
Effective walkable area | Total neighbourhood area (area that can be reached via the street network within 800 m from the home) divided by the potential walkable area (the area generated using a circular buffer with a radius of 800 m from the home) | Study area | [27] |
Topography and aesthetics | Â | Â | |
Greenery | Proportion of street miles with street trees | Not reported | [19] |
 | Total number of street trees within 5 m of each road edge | Study area | [23] |
 | Number of shade trees per the length of route to school | Study area | [29] |
Steep incline | Altitude between home and school; detail not reported | Along the straight line between school and home | [26] |
 | A TIN (triangulated irregular network) file was created from the digital elevation model (data from the State of Victoria). Surface analysis was undertaken along each route to determine the presence of a steep incline along any segment using Surface Tools, version 1.5. | Along the estimate route to school | [28] |
 | Average slope gradient within residence area of a child | Not reported | [29] |
Geographic regions | Northeast, South, Mideast, or West in the US | -- | [22] |
Urbanisation | Population density>4150 persons per square mile (ppsm) = urban; 1000-4150 ppsm = suburban; <1000 ppsm = rural | Not reported | [21] |
 | Five levels of urbanisation defined by quintiles of population density and density of the surrounding areas: urban, metro suburban, second city, town, and rural | Not reported | [22] |
 | Urban, inner-suburban, outer-suburban | Traffic analysis zone | [24] |
 | Urban or rural based on address of child's home | -- | [27] |
Proportion of route to school within an urban area | Proportion of route that passes through urban area | Along the estimated route to school | [27] |
Safety | Â | Â | Â |
Traffic accidents | Number of fatal or serious road traffic accidents divided by total road length | Study area | [27] |
Streetlight density | Number of streetlights divided by total road length | Study area | [27] |
Demographic-socio-economic status | Â | Â | |
Area-level socioeconomic status score | Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage | Not reported | [28] |
Neighbourhood income | Median household income | Block group/Dissemination area | |
Socioeconomic deprivation | Population weighted scores for index of multiple deprivation | Not reported | [27] |
Percent of residents on public assistance | Â | Census tract | [18]** |
Percent of household with income below poverty level | Â | Block group/Census tract | [18]** |
Percent of residents unemployed | Â | Census tract | [18]** |
Demographic-education | Â | Â | |
Educational attainment at neighbourhood level | Proportion of population over age 25 years with high school diploma | Block group | [23]* |
Demographic-housing | Â | Â | |
Percent of residents living in owner-occupied housing | Â | Block group/Census tract | [18]** |
Percent of residents living in the same house as 1995 | Â | Census tract | [18]** |
Percent of residents living in female headed households | Â | Block group/Census tract | [18]** |
Demographic-ethnicity | Â | Â | |
Percent of persons born abroad | Â | Block group/Census tract | [18]** |
Percent of non-white residents | Â | Block group/Census tract | [18]** |
Demographic-single parenthood | Â | Â | Â |
Single parenthood | Proportion of families headed by single parents | Block group | [23]* |