Using Google Street View to Measure Neighborhood Physical Disorder

Julien O. Teitler, Columbia University
Kathryn Neckerman, Columbia University
Yeonjin Lee, Columbia University
Andrew Rundle, Columbia University

The Street View project assesses the feasibility, reliability, and validity of using new technology, freely available online via Google, to measure neighborhood physical disorder and built environment features at a fraction of the cost of field studies. In this paper, we compare the psychometric properties and predictive power of physical disorder subscales that can be captured via Google technology to original physical disorder scales, previously used in analyses of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LA FANS) and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). Ascertaining the value of Street View-able subscales of physical disorder inventories will establish the potential for Google Street View to replace field studies as a way of contextualizing survey data, at a fraction of the cost of sending people into the field.