Signal 2: Through Surveillance Comes Insights

Researchers all around the world are finding new uses for city data created by Google Maps. In a recent study, researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation utilized neural networks built on Google Static Maps API data to assess the connection between environmental factors and obesity. The goal was to better understand the 93.3 million obese adults (according to the CDC, 2017) in the United States.

The study argues the case that neighborhood-level interventions “and [an] increase access to healthy food outlets could” lead to curbing the obesity epidemic. I believe the study may make too many assumptions about the causation of some of these specific factors. There are many other options to explain this phenomenon- residents who may already enjoy being active and eating healthy food might move near communities that have these amenities. Since there are so many outside factors in cities, it would be difficult to identify true causation. Regardless, giving all communities the opportunity to have neighborhood-level interventions and access to healthy food would be a great way to experiment this theory; and would reinforce that it is a right to be healthy and should not be based on accessibility.

Inspiration:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2018/09/22/surveillance-for-public-good/ang7hxwxFG3oRxIJPJSmbJ/story.html

CDC Statistics on Obesity:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db288.pdf

Cited Study:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2698635