| dc.description.abstract | Research into physical activity done in the built environment has become increasingly more important
the last few decades, as an ever growing part of people in western countries participate in it. Among
them running as activity has become important, being one of the most performed sports in the
Netherlands. This increase in popularity sparked a similar increase in attention given by scientific
research to the topic. These studies often do not yet take geographical information into account. This
master thesis aims to participate in filling up this gap of implementation by researching if the spatial
influences on a runner can be modeled using geographical information.
To do this, nine influence factors are gathered from scientific literature; running surface, verbal
harassment, street lighting, motorized vehicles, cyclists, natural areas, sound pollution, air pollution and
variety in surroundings. For these factors, influence modeling methods are composed to map the spatial
influences based on a runner being on an influence source, being in close proximity or receiving
influences from multiple sources around the runner. By enriching 200 GPS tracks with this influence
information for each GPS measurement. To try and validate the methods and influence factors, the
results are statistically tested against the amount of runner activity per neighborhood in a research area
around the Dutch city of Eindhoven. A multiple regression analysis is performed with the nine influence
factors per GPS measurements as independent variables.
The performance of the regression model, however, seems poor, as the relation between the influence
factors and the amount of runner activity in a neighborhoods share a moderate, but significant, relation.
Causes for this were found in both the uncertainties in the modeling methods, as this is an explorative
study, as limitations in the data that could be used to model the factors. Further research into
combinations of influence factors, research subject sizes and modeling methods is needed to assess if
the groundwork this thesis achieves in researching the spatial influences on runners is to be utilized
further. | |
