Park audits were conducted for the selected parks and schools in the study area. These audits consisted of physical park audits that were conducted in person, and digital park audits that were conducted using Google Earth and Google Street View. The auditing process involved the use of the 7Cs checklist, which provided a total score for each site out of 125. The scores were then converted to a percentage score. Each site was graded by at least two team members, and the scores were combined to produce an average rating for each site. The map below indicates the play space audit scores for each neighbourhood. By clicking on each neighbourhood you can access the following information:
Additionally, within each neighbourhood, information is provided about the difference between the physical audit score and the digital audit score. This difference was calculated as a percentage and is displayed as such. While some neighbourhoods had similar digital and physical audit scores, some had scores that differed by as much as 18.7%.
The physical and digital audits were conducted using the same 7Cs checklist, but the team members that conducted the digital audits were not the same ones that conducted the physical audits. Two different team members conducted the digital audits in order to remove any bias that may have been formed by conducting the physical audit of that play space. Digital audits were performed in order to assess their validity as a method for performing an analysis of play spaces. If a park could be accurately audited using a digital medium, it would save the analyst a significant amount of time and money.
The completed 7Cs checklists were scanned and organized with site photographs that were taken during the physical audits, and were then shared in an online folder with the clients. A spreadsheet was used to manage the auditing process, tracking each sampled play space, the neighbourhood they were located in, the type of park they were, the dates they were audited (both physical and digital) and by whom. When the auditing process was completed the scores for the play spaces by each team member were also recorded. This allowed for an examination of the auditing tendencies of each team member compared to each other and between the physical and digital methods. Due to the higher variability of the digital audits, the average neighbourhood scores achieved using the physical audits were included in the final playability MCE.