GPS tracking in neighborhood and health studies: A step forward for environmental exposure assessment, a step backward for causal inference?

Recent studies have relied on GPS tracking to assess exposure to environmental characteristics over daily life schedules. Combining GPS and GIS allows for advances in environmental exposure assessment. However, biases related to selective daily mobility preclude assessment of environmental effects, to the extent that these studies may represent a step backward in terms of assessment of causal effects. A solution may be to integrate the Public health / Nutrition approach and the Transportation approach to GPS studies, so as to combine a GPS and accelerometer data collection with an electronic mobility survey. Correcting exposure measures and improving study designs with this approach may permit mitigating biases related to selective daily mobility.

► Combining GPS and GIS allows for advances in environmental exposure assessment.
► However, selective daily mobility precludes assessment of causal environmental effects.
► A solution is to integrate the Public health and Transportation approaches to GPS studies.
► Future studies should combine GPS, accelerometers, and electronic mobility surveys.
► Correcting exposure measures and improving study designs may permit mitigating bias.