Measuring children's independent mobility: comparing interactive mapping with destination access and licence to roam

ABSTRACT

Children's independent mobility (IM) lacks a standardised definition and measurement protocol. Interactive mapping applications can capture geographically defined mobility data. In this study of 219 children, independent parental licences (IM Licence) and allowances to travel to certain locations unsupervised (IM Index) were collected through a questionnaire, and compared to IM-roaming areas derived from the Visualisation and Evaluation of Route Itineraries, Travel Destinations, and Activity Spaces (VERITAS-IM) mapping application. Significant relationships were found between the VERITAS-IM-derived measures and traditional measures of IM (IM Licence and IM Index). Results suggest the perceived degree of children's IM is heavily dependent on the assessment method and a combination of methods should be considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Independent mobility
• interactive mapping
• mixed methods
• VERITAS
• children

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

JB was supported by a PhD scholarship from the National Heart Foundation of New Zealand (Grant 1521).