Data for this study is comprised from four main sources; Municipal Open Data sources, transcribed interview data from subjects, CanMap spatial data, and Digital Site audits. The researchers from the B.C. Children’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia compiled relevant available data from the City of Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver’s municipal open data portal. These data sets came in the form of spreadsheets, point, pine and polygon shapefiles. Interview and survey data from the subjects and subject’s parents regarding perceptions of safety and play routines were also included and used as supplementary material in the data analysis and ranking process. Any missing or incomplete municipal datasets were first supplemented with the nationwide dataset; CanMap and any further data gaps were filled by digital audits using Google Street View and site visits. All data was accuracy checked with reality and any inaccurate files were either edited, updated or excluded from our analysis. The data that was selected for this project was believed to contribute to children and parent perceptions of playability, especially focusing on potentially attractive play locations to our target audience, as well as neighbourhood safety and accessibility. Below are the datasets deemed important and incorporated in our playability analysis and assessment:
The datasets that were supplied by the municipal GIS records are as follows:
Missing data from Open Data Vancouver and Open Data North Vancouver that were completed through digital audits:
Playability interviews were conducted at B.C. Children’s Hospital, directed by Dr. M. Brussoni of the University of British Columiba. Children between ages 10-13 years old were interviewed regarding their playing habits to potentially identify play patterns. Children were interviewed from both study areas and the results of these interviews concluded that greenspace, parks, bikeways, sports fields, school grounds and roundabouts were appealing play places for children, while lack of sidewalks, traffic and perceivably crime ridden areas were deterrents for children’s play. It appeared that most children perceived their neighbourhood as safe and could identify at least a few playable spaces. It was also noted that most children had a cell phone and more comfortable playing in their neighbourhoods unsupervised.