Abstract
In recent years, there has been a growing body of public health research examining the role of community trails and paths in the promotion and maintenance of physical activity. However, little is known about how much activity occurs on trails, the impact of community trails on overall physical activity levels or about the relationships between specific trail characteristics and utilization. The integration of activity measurements technologies, specifically accelerometers and wearable global positioning system (GPS) units that can track spatial patterns of activity, provide a unique opportunity to study some of these issues. The current transdisciplinarystudy builds on a previous Active Living Research project that developed and evaluated objective geographic information system (GIS) measures of trail characteristics. This will be accomplished by objectively measuring activity of users with two devices and linking activity data to detailed environmental data on trails.
Keywords
Global Positioning System (GPS), Accelerometry, Wearable Technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Physical Activity
Session
Poster
Date of this Version
November 2007
Comments
Originally presented at Active Living Research Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, February 17-18, 2006