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Disparities in healthy food accessibility have long been a public health concern. This study used the 2-step floating catchment area method to measure healthy food accessibility in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. The research creatively integrated the population with and without private vehicle to measure spatial accessibility. The overall disp...
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Context 1
... are 302 resided block groups in the study area consisting a population of 439,662 in 2014. Figure 1 shows that the highest population density is around the city centre and the population density gradually decreases as the distance from the city centre increases. The un-resided area in the middle-north part of the area, donated by the black-white shade, is the Baton Rouge Airport. ...
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There is a lack of research on obesity that uses primary data and fine-grained information on neighborhoods. I use primary data for 367 participants in Detroit to examine neighborhood predictors of obesity. These data were supplemented with public data. I considered multilevel and spatial modeling, but the data lent itself best to ordinary least sq...
Citations
... It further confirms that MGWR can better reveal the association pattern after considering spatial heterogeneity and multi-scale effects [28,30]. Socio-economic factors are generally applied to explore their impacts on spatial accessibility to other facilities [34]. Because of the limitation of socio-economic data collection, only housing prices and nighttime light intensity are selected in this research. ...
It is crucial for social sustainability that adolescents have access to social sports services fairly. However, there are few research studies on requirements for sports facilities and spatial accessibility of adolescents at a fine scale. Further, identifying the heterogeneity of the relationship between spatial accessibility and other factors and their scales simultaneously would be conducive to reveal the variations of spatial accessibility effectively under the potential scale effect. This research aims to explore the heterogeneity of spatial accessibility to sports facilities at a fine scale in Changsha, China. The Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area model is first employed to evaluate spatial accessibility. Then, multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) is applied to examine the relationship between spatial accessibility and its associated factors. The mean accessibility in Yuelu District (0.158) is the highest as well, and the standard deviation (0.236) is also the highest one. Both the accessibility (0.019) and its standard derivation (0.029) in Furong District are the lowest. The results show that there is a lack of balance of spatial accessibility for the clusters with different accessibility levels distributed in the study area. Some socio-economic factors, such as housing price and nighttime light intensity, have significant impacts on spatial accessibility for adolescents with spatial and scale heterogeneity by using MGWR. Based on heterogeneous distribution and association, suggestions for promoting spatial accessibility to sports facilities for adolescents are proposed.
... While these food availability metrics have obvious utility, there is little agreement on which metric best aligns with other food availability metrics. Although there has Fig. 1 Healthy and fresh food offerings in Dollar General store within study area [21] been ongoing discussion regarding the absence of a universally agreed-upon approach/metric for assessing food insecurity or food environment exposure, researchers have commonly employed methods such as ratio and proportion indicators [25,28,30] or, Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques [6,14,16,[22][23][24], qualitative methods [13], and more recently real-time information [26]. Furthermore, little work has explored using raster-based density techniques to measure food availability versus their vector-GIS counterparts. ...
Background
Proximity to food sources is one of the quantifiable factors measurable across space impacting diet-related health outcomes. Contemporary research has coined the terms ‘food desert’ and ‘food swamp’, sometimes combined with a poverty component, to highlight disproportionate access to healthy and unhealthy food sources. However, there are various ways to measure this proximity—i.e., food availability in this research. Dollar stores such as Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are one emerging facet of the food environment that provides healthy and unhealthy food options yet have not fully been studied. With more ways to easily measure food availability within the confines of a GIS, this paper proposes a new raster-based Point Density metric to measure the availability of these Dollar stores. In this study, this raster-based metric was calculated for a 6-county region in central North Carolina and compared to six other availability metrics utilized in food security research. A novel Python-based tool to compute the Jaccard Index between these various availability metrics and a matrix to compare these pairwise Jaccard Index calculations was created for this raster-based metric, which is very easy to derive.
Results
Using a pairwise Jaccard Index summarized and then averaged in a correlation table, the Point Density measure rated the highest (.65) when compared to 6 other popular vector-based techniques. Our results showed the density metric performed statistically better than Euclidean distance, drive-time, density, and point-in-polygon vector metrics when measuring availability for Dollar stores in Central North Carolina.
Conclusions
Results reinforce the efficacy of this easy-to-compute metric comparable to vector-based counterparts that require more robust network and/or geoprocessing calculations. Results quantitatively evaluate food availability with an eventual goal of dictating local, regional, and even state-level policy that critically and holistically consider this metric as powerful and convenient metric that can be easily calculated by the lay GIS user and understood by anyone.
... It might be a handy tool for urban and regional planning when integrated with spatial statistical models . Several studies have used GIS as an effective tool to identify the potential results and modelled urban social elements at the spatial level (Dadashpoor, Rostami, and Alizadeh 2016;de Moura and Procopiuck 2020;Gopal et al. 2009;Kuai and Zhao 2017;Maryada and Thatiparthi 2020). The optimum application of GIS and statistical models simultaneously assisted in determining the zone of potential bottleneck with high risk and challenges and the geographic space with better performance compared to the other areas (Haque 2016;Mondal and Das 2022). ...
The unplanned urban expansion and extreme population pressure have caused several bottlenecks for city dwellers, which have been reflected in the form of inter-urban spatial inequality in living conditions at the household level. The present study integrates GIS with a composite synthetic index to measure the spatial variation of urban household conditions across 146 urban centers in Eastern India (West Bengal). The study critically scrutinizes the influence of urban housing conditions, amenities level, and asset possession on the well-being of urban households. Based on these three interconnected dimensions, a composite index for urban household living condition index was computed based on the optimum combinational composite index model (OCCIM). Besides, the study provides insight into the geographic distribution of urban household living conditions considering their spatial patterns, hot spots, and clusters identification. The spatial heterogeneity of the selected dimensions is shown on the maps produced using the GIS. The spatial variation was measured using Moran's I at the global level and Getis-Ord Gi * to identify influential locations through clusters and hot spots detection of urban housing condition, amenities level, assets possession, and composite living condition scenario. Additionally, the constructed UHdCLI model's consistency is assessed using the r-squared value of regression analysis (R 2 = 0.815). The latest findings provide a realistic view of the spatial inter-urban variations that exist at the level of particular households concerning several aspects of their standard of life. ARTICLE HISTORY
... However, existing literature examining spatial accessibility to restaurants has mainly focused on the locations of (un)healthy restaurants in the context of health issues (e.g., Xu, Wen, and Wang, 2015;Mylona et al., 2020) and their relationship to people's socioeconomic status (e.g., Engler-Stringer et al., 2014;Walker, Block, and Kawachi, 2014;Wood and Horner, 2016;Kuai and Zhao, 2017;Li and Kim, 2018), and on grocery stores generally within the broad concept of food deserts and their meaning (e.g., Páez et al., 2010;Rigby et al., 2012;Widener et al., 2015). In terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, some other work examined changes in spatial accessibility to food outlets, but with a different emphasis than the present article. ...
Among one of the more significant societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on people's movement accelerated, and in some cases outright caused, restaurant closures. By considering people's potential for both driving and walking to restaurants, this study aims to examine how restaurant closures are associated with neighborhood characteristics during the pandemic. To do so, we investigated changes in spatial accessibility to restaurants , identified hot spots of communities with large accessibility reductions, and explored relationships between the reductions and neighborhood characteristics in Leon County, Florida. Analysis showed that the area experiencing the largest reductions in spatial access to restaurants varied by transportation modes and the overall geographic patterns in accessibility reductions significantly differed. Communities with significant reductions in car-based accessibility were areas with a small percentage of the older and non-White populations and a longer distance to the central area. On the other hand, only being a shorter distance to the central area was more related to hot spots of changes in walking accessibility. Findings show geographic patterns of restaurant closures, which interacted with people's modes of transportation. As such, the closures most substantially affected people in more suburban areas who might rely on driving during the pandemic.
... The disparities in access to public services are affected by a variety of spatial (e.g., geographic location or surrounding environment) and non-spatial factors (e.g., socioeconomic and demographic characteristics) that are likely to limit healthcare opportunities, thereby leading to disparities in the equitable allocation [24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. The travel distance to public services depends on their geographic location and has a negative correlation with the accessibility [31]. Heavy traffic, especially at peak times, increases the travel cost to healthcare services, influencing the accessibility of healthcare facilities in the city center [32]. ...
... To be consistent with previous studies [26,28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37], four categories of variables were used in this research: (i) location characteristics reflecting the geographical advantages; (ii) neighborhood characteristics representing the surrounding environment; (iii) income characteristics affected by regional development and the strength of the economy; and (iv) population characteristics considering the health needs of various groups. The specific indicators are summarized in Table 1. ...
It is essential to understand the spatial equity of healthcare services to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Spatial and non-spatial factors affect access to healthcare, resulting in inequality in the hierarchical medical treatment system. Thus, to provide a comprehensive equity evaluation, it is indispensable to investigate the extent to which spatial accessibility to healthcare services varies due to various factors. This study attempted to analyze the determinants of healthcare accessibility under multi-trip modes and integrate them into Theil index, as a demand index to evaluate spatial equity in the system. The results reveal an inadequate and inequitable distribution of healthcare resources. While access to primary hospitals is limited (47.37% of residential locations cannot access them on foot), 96.58% of residential locations can access general and tertiary hospitals via public transport or driving. Furthermore, inequitable access to the three-tiered medical system was evaluated on a more granular scale, with primary hospitals being closest to achieving equity (inequitable for only 48.83% of residential locations), followed by general and tertiary hospitals (82.01% and 89.20%, respectively). The unequal residential locations brought on by an abundance of medical resources are far from those with a shortage of resources (66.86% > 5.34%). It is thus suggested that services be expanded or resources be transferred to move toward a more equitable system. Our findings provide policymakers with insights into how to increase accessibility to public health.
... Kontrastiert wird dieser Raum durch überwiegend durch weiße und mit einer hohen Ausstattung an symbolischem Kapital ausgestatteten Bevölkerungsteile geprägte Teile Metropolregion südlich der/des Florida St./Bvld. und sowie jüngerer suburbaner Siedlungen, eine Schnittmenge aus beiden findet sich in St. George (Antipova, 2010;Burby, 2000;City of Baton Rouge & Parish of East Baton Rouge, 2015;Kuai & Zhao, 2017;Stratmann et al., 2020;United States Census Bureau, 2019;Abb. 5). ...
... Empirical studies have suggested that geographic food accessibility differs among urban, suburban, and rural areas . A number of North American studies have revealed that affluent suburbs have better accessibility to fresh foods than their urban and rural counterparts (Kuai and Zhao, 2017;Powell et al., 2007). A potential explanation of the geographical difference is suburbanization, which leads to food services being moved out from old inner city with low socioeconomic status (Larsen and Gilliland, 2008;Walker et al., 2010). ...
... Spatial food accessibility measures the ease or difficulty of procuring food for individuals or population groups in specific geographic units [1][2][3]. Food providers (i.e., grocery stores) and consumers are usually not evenly distributed, which leads to disparities in spatial food accessibility [4]. Practices and programs have been developed to eliminate the disparities and inequities in food accessibility [5]. ...
... For example, Mao and Nekorchuk [48] proposed a multi-mode 2SFCA method to measure healthcare accessibility in Florida. This method was adopted by Kuai and Zhao [3] to measure healthy food accessibility in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. However, it only applied multiple transportation modes to the original 2SFCA, and did not address the oversimplified assumption of equal access to a supply site for all individuals in the catchment area. ...
... A total of 245 convenience stores and 566 fast food outlets were geocoded (Figure 1b). According to Kuai and Zhao who conducted food accessibility research in Baton Rouge, Louisiana [3], the business capacity of food stores can be estimated by the logarithm of the food store's sales volume. We, therefore, adopted this logarithm transformation in our study. ...
The retail food environment draws much attention from scholars because it can shape individuals’ eating behaviors and health outcomes. Although much progress has been made, current retail food environment assessments mainly use simple food accessibility measures while overlooking the role of multiple transportation modes. This research proposed a multiple-mode Huff-based Two-step Floating Catchment Area (2SFCA) method to measure geographical access to food outlets in Austin, Texas. The spatial accessibility score was calculated with low to high impedance coefficients. Our analyses revealed an urban core-and-peripheral disparity in spatial accessibility to food outlets. We also compared the proposed multiple-mode Huff-based 2SFCA with its single-mode counterpart using t-test and relative difference methods. The comparison illustrates that the difference between the two methods of calculating healthy and unhealthy food accessibility is significant when the impedance coefficient is set to be 1.4 and 1.5, respectively. Our proposed multi-mode Huff-based 2SFCA method accounts for the various transport means and the spatial heterogeneity in population demand for food services; this could support developing intervention strategies to target under-served healthy food areas and over-served unhealthy food areas.
... This user-centric approach measured the network distance from the population-weighted centroid of each block group to the nearest food pantry. We used populationweighted centroids, which account for the distribution of (1) FII = 50 × Poverty % + 40 × Unemployed % + 10 × Rent % 100 population within a census block group and may vary from geographic centers (see Kuai and Zhao 2017). We used the Closest Facility tool in ArcMap's Network Analyst extension to perform this analysis for both the normal and disruption scenarios. ...
Food pantries play a growing role in supporting households facing or at risk of food insecurity in the United States. They also support emergency response and recovery following disasters and extreme weather events. Although food pantries are often placed in close proximity to communities with the highest rates of poverty and risk of food insecurity, access to these facilities can be disrupted during and after extreme events. Decreased access to food pantries following disasters can be particularly problematic as the need for these services is also likely to grow after such events. Despite the vast body of research on food retail access and food environments, relatively little research has utilized spatial analysis to understand food pantry access, particularly after extreme events. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we characterize changes in access to food pantries following flooding events in Harris County, Texas—a highly populated and flood prone region with high levels of food insecurity and poverty. Specifically, our study models disruptions in road networks due to flooding and assesses the impacts of these disruptions on proximity to food pantries. The results reveal that much of Harris County sees only small increases in travel distance to food pantries due to extreme flooding, but some areas may be unable to access food pantries at all. This research highlights the potential and some of the limits of private food assistance networks to support emergency response efforts.
... Two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) is a commonly used method to measure accessibility. The traditional two-step mobile search method calculates accessibility values centered on the residents' area (demand points) [36,37]. This paper discusses the accessibility of emergency shelters, so the comprehensive accessibility value for residents of each emergency shelter is calculated by taking the emergency shelter (supply point) as the center and the service radius of the emergency shelter as the search range, and its calculation formula is shown in Equation (2). ...
Evaluation of the spatial distribution of urban emergency shelters can effectively identify defects in the current distribution of urban emergency shelters and weaknesses in the overall evacuation service capacity of the city and provide reference for improving the level of urban emergency shelters and evacuation and disaster relief capacity. At present, evaluation of the spatial distribution of urban emergency shelters is mainly carried out on three aspects: effectiveness, accessibility, and safety. However, there are problems, such as individual evaluation scales and incomplete indicator systems, unreasonable allocation of indicator weights, and ignoring the influence of fuzzy incompatibility between different indicator attributes on the evaluation results. In this paper, we start from two scales, the individual emergency shelter and the regional groups of emergency shelters. Based on the five criteria of effectiveness, accessibility, safety, suitability, and fairness, the evaluation indicator system of the spatial distribution of urban emergency shelters was constructed. It was combined with AHP, CRITIC, the optimal weight coefficient solution method based on the maximum deviation sum of squares theory, and fuzzy optimization theory to construct a multi-indicator evaluation model. Further, the spatial distribution condition of the existing emergency shelter in Shanghai was evaluated. The results show that: among the existing ninety-one emergency shelters in Shanghai, there are nine places with unreasonable spatial distribution; nineteen places are comparatively unreasonable. From the scale of regional groups, there is one district (Pudong New District) with unreasonable spatial distribution: its relative superiority value is far lower than other districts, and there are three districts that are comparatively unreasonable. Further, the evaluation scores of the spatial distribution reasonableness of emergency shelters in each region of Shanghai show a high–low–middle distribution from the downtown area of Shanghai outward. The evaluation indicator system and evaluation method used in this paper can effectively reflect the deficiencies in the spatial distribution of urban emergency shelters, thus providing a reference for the relevant departments to improve and plan emergency shelters.
