Linking GPS and travel diary data using sequence alignment in a study of children's independent mobility
Journal article
Mavoa, Suzanne, Oliver, Melody, Witten, Karen and Badland, Hannah. (2011). Linking GPS and travel diary data using sequence alignment in a study of children's independent mobility. International Journal of Health Geographics. 10, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-10-64
Authors | Mavoa, Suzanne, Oliver, Melody, Witten, Karen and Badland, Hannah |
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Abstract | Background: Global positioning systems (GPS) are increasingly being used in health research to determine the location of study participants. Combining GPS data with data collected via travel/activity diaries allows researchers to assess where people travel in conjunction with data about trip purpose and accompaniment. However, linking GPS and diary data is problematic and to date the only method has been to match the two datasets manually, which is time consuming and unlikely to be practical for larger data sets. This paper assesses the feasibility of a new sequence alignment method of linking GPS and travel diary data in comparison with the manual matching method. Methods: GPS and travel diary data obtained from a study of children’s independent mobility were linked using sequence alignment algorithms to test the proof of concept. Travel diaries were assessed for quality by counting the number of errors and inconsistencies in each participant’s set of diaries. The success of the sequence alignment method was compared for higher versus lower quality travel diaries, and for accompanied versus unaccompanied trips. Time taken and percentage of trips matched were compared for the sequence alignment method and the manual method. Results: The sequence alignment method matched 61.9% of all trips. Higher quality travel diaries were associated with higher match rates in both the sequence alignment and manual matching methods. The sequence alignment method performed almost as well as the manual method and was an order of magnitude faster. However, the sequence alignment method was less successful at fully matching trips and at matching unaccompanied trips. Conclusions: Sequence alignment is a promising method of linking GPS and travel diary data in large population datasets, especially if limitations in the trip detection algorithm are addressed. |
Keywords | GPS; travel diaries; sequence alignment |
Year | 01 Jan 2011 |
Journal | International Journal of Health Geographics |
Journal citation | 10, pp. 1-10 |
Publisher | BioMed Central |
ISSN | 1476-072X |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-10-64 |
Web address (URL) | https://ij-healthgeographics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-072X-10-64#article-info |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 1-10 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 05 Dec 2011 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 05 Dec 2011 |
Deposited | 17 May 2024 |
Additional information | © 2011 Mavoa et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons |
The Kids in the City study is supported by a three-year research grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (grant number 10/497). The funding body was not involved in the design, conduct, data collection, management, or publication of the study. | |
Place of publication | United Kingdom |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90772/linking-gps-and-travel-diary-data-using-sequence-alignment-in-a-study-of-children-s-independent-mobility
Download files
Publisher's version
OA_Mavoa_2015_Linking_GPS_and_travel_diary_data.pdf | |
License: CC BY 2.0 | |
File access level: Open |
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