HABITS: Improved policy to mitigate pollutant and inactivity related health burdens through new big data

Lead Research Organisation: University of Leeds
Department Name: Institute for Transport Studies

Abstract

The project will consider implications of 'track and trace' data generated from mobile phones in relation to health impacts. Two areas of impacts will be considered: individual-level health burdens of air pollution through exposure, and health related to levels of travel activity. Track and trace data (T&T, the trace of individual's movements through the city) will be generated as a result of introducing a new travel application in Newcastle, SMART. SMART has mature tracking algorithms that have been tested for over 5 years in Europe. The app is being tailored to Newcastle and implemented on a large scale as part of the H2020 EMPOWER project. The emphasis for this project will be to take T&T data collected in a transport policy context and explore the challenges, methodologies and policy implications related to use in reducing individual health burdens. The project will research new methods and tools to investigate the cross-referencing and integration of real-time T&T data with existing and emerging databases such as pollution data; and new approaches to modelling health impacts arising from exposure and the individual patterns of travel activity.

The project will build on an existing collaboration between Mr Rob Snowball at Newcastle City Council (NCC) in the H2020 EMPOWER project. NCC has recently established a 'Healthy Streets Board' to provide governance to joint projects on air quality and healthy, liveable cities such as the Cycle City Ambition Programme, the Streets for People project. The Board comprises Cabinet Members for Transport and Health, including the Director of Public Health (NCC) who will contribute assistance to the project in the area of health impacts. Mr Robert Snowball and the Board will provide active input to the direction of the project and policy insights on the issues arise from scaling up the approach through infrastructure investment.

The project will be led by Professor Susan Grant-Muller of the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, together with non-academic Co-I, Mr Robert Snowball and academic CO-I's Ms Frances Hodgson and Dr Nick Malleson. The PI and Co-I's all have extensive experience of research with T&T data, and also social media textual data, Bluetooth, GPS data and other user-generated content. Grant-Muller and Hodgson are the PI and Co-I for the E5m H2020 EMPOWER project concerned with the use of ICT enabled incentives to influence travel choices. They bring a substantial knowledge base on the broader policy and contextual issues in large scale implementation and policy uptake of influencing technology and active travel. Prof. Eugene Milne is the Director of Public Health for Newcastle and will provide expertise on inactivity and public health. Dr Malleson is currently working with large scale analytics of T&T data from Boston, USA, is a member of the Obesity Network and has expertise in modelling methodologies including agent based modelling and spatial analytics. The project will be based in the ESRC funded Consumer Data Analytics Centre (CDRC), which has critical mass of expertise including large scale data analytics for health, an obesity network, and a mobility research theme.

Planned Impact

As the central research questions posed by HABITS will be answered through the development of policy demonstrators, impact through new policy is a foundation that underpins all of the overall research goals. The specific beneficiaries of the project and the ways in which they will benefit from the project are summarised as follows:

1) City stakeholders such as City Councils, regional authorities and municipalities (primarily in the UK but also internationally) - who will benefit from the demonstrated potential and benefits of Track and Trace data in supporting both Transport and Health policy making through a stronger and expanded evidence base

2) Newcastle CC and the greater Newcastle City region - who will benefit from the use of policy demonstrators specifically for the Newcastle area, involving schemes and scenarios with relevance to the region.

3) Members of the travelling public across the UK and internationally - who will benefit from improved short, medium and long term policies related to transport provision and healthy lifestyles

4) Academic Communities (in particular those involved in Evaluation methodology, Big Data analytics, Transport and Health modelling, and Behavioural studies) - who will benefit from new knowledge generated on the potential and opportunity presented by Track and Trace data, together with the identification of further novel research areas

5) Two early career researchers - who will benefit from opportunities to apply and further develop their skills in modelling, transport pollution and the transport-health impacts. Due to the strong links with stakeholders in the project, the researchers will also benefit from the development of industry contacts. As the project has close synergies with an EU funded project 'EMPOWER', the researchers may also benefit from new networking opportunities with European and international researchers.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description • Micro-level mobility data (a new and emerging data form, NEDF) has been successfully interfaced for the first time with a model of transport - energy- health impacts. This allows investigation of health outcomes from individuals travel choices (or from policy changes), together with outcomes related to other societal burdens.
• An indicator for equity in the distribution of impacts (health, energy) arising from the introduction of software app based behavioural (incentives) schemes to encourage modal shift has been developed and demonstrated for the Newcastle city region case. The indicator is derived from use of new micro location data together with small-area Index of Multiple Deprivation data.
• We have combined 'big data' arising from 1) the road network and 2) data from a No2 monitoring sensor network (Newcastle Urban Observatory) into a newly developed method for estimating the spatio-temporal patterns of No2 concentrations. This has been validated against the Official DEFRA roadside model. Our model shows a good correspondence with the DEFRA model but has advantages: for example, No2 estimates aren't restricted to main roads and the model provides an estimate of the diurnal variations of No2.
• A new prototype interactive software tool (the 'HABITS tool') has been developed to allow policy makers to explore micro-level mobility pattern data alongside patterns of No2 for the Newcastle region. The tool also produces summary indices, including equity and health outcomes.
Exploitation Route The findings are being taken forward in a newly awarded project KARMA (sponsored by the Alan Turing Institute). The new method for estimating the spatio-temporal patterns of No2 concentrations is suitable for uptake by local/regional authorities to understand pollutant patterns and target resources appropriately. The HABITS tool is in prototype form but can be adapted to other forms of app derived micro location data.
Sectors Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy,Healthcare,Transport

 
Description The work nucleated and showcased a new research area around the use of pervasive sensor data as part of understanding travel and activity within individuals lifestyles, with the possibility to capture marginal impacts in other sectors.
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Transport
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description Department for Transport Scientific Advisory Council
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Joint UITP/EU committee of the regions
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Oral evidence to the House of Lords select committee
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
URL https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/35f3460a-e69e-4ce0-ad71-88de21409b9a#player-tabs
 
Description UnHabitat inaugural assembly
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
 
Description VOI advisory board
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Alan Turing Institute fellowship
Amount £105,000 (GBP)
Organisation Alan Turing Institute 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2018 
End 09/2020
 
Description Alan Turing Project
Amount £357,700 (GBP)
Organisation Alan Turing Institute 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 10/2018 
End 05/2022
 
Description Micromobility behaviour
Amount £104,000 (GBP)
Organisation World Resources Institute 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United States
Start 10/2019 
End 12/2020
 
Description New and Emerging Data Forms
Amount £250,000 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/P01139X/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2017 
End 02/2018
 
Description RAIM
Amount £622,000 (GBP)
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2020 
End 01/2023
 
Description Raphtory: a practical system for the analysis of dynamic graphs
Amount £193,000 (GBP)
Organisation Alan Turing Institute 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 12/2019 
End 11/2020
 
Description TRACK: Transport Risk Assessment for COVID Knowledge
Amount £1,374,632 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V032658/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2020 
End 03/2022
 
Title Ethical guidance on new and emerging data forms 
Description Guidelines for a range of stakeholders on the ethics of handling new and emerging data forms in transport. The guidelines were developed jointly with the EMPOWER project and form the basis for a joint workshop with the cabinet office. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The guidelines formed a basis for a training workshop with a range of city stakeholders from the UK and Europe. The participating stakeholders reported that they had adjusted their written policies and consent forms and also amended their internal data handling procedures. 
URL https://empowertoolkit.eu/ethics/
 
Title Air Pollution Potential (APP) Model 
Description The APP model estimates the spatial variation of air pollution within a city, based on the proximity of a point to the road network, road junctions and estimates of road traffic intensity (based on a proxy measure of road segment network centrality). This has been developed using open source software (R) and open source data (the Ordnance Survey's Open Road Network), meaning the method could be applied within any city of the UK. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The model will be written into a paper and presented at the AAG meeting in April 2018. 
 
Title Leeds City Council Footfall Camera Aggregated Data 
Description The dataset contains footfall counts in Leeds City Centre supplied by Leeds City Council. There are 10 cameras around the city that monitor numbers of people walking past. These cameras calculate numbers on an hourly basis. The raw data is freely available on Data Mill North; however a cleaned and aggregated dataset has been produced for the purposes of analysis by Leeds Institute for Data Analytics in collaboration with the Consumer Data Research Centre. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact n/a 
URL https://data.cdrc.ac.uk/dataset/leeds-city-council-footfall-camera-aggregated-data
 
Title Manually Collected Footfall Counts in Leeds 
Description Manual footfall counts (counts of people who walk past a particular point) were collected at ten sites between the 5th to the 9th of July 2021 between 10:00 and 16:00 each day. At the time of data collection, footfall cameras were installed at three of the ten sites: Briggate, Headrow and Commercial Street. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact n/a 
URL https://data.cdrc.ac.uk/dataset/manually-collected-footfall-counts-leeds
 
Title Micro-level transport-health interactions model 
Description The model takes new mobile phone location data (Track and Trace data) to calculate individual exposure to activity and pollutant related health burdens arising from travel choices. The model is also able to calculate an equity outcome for the resultant health burdens. The model has significantly adapted an existing macro level model of transport-health (ITHIM). 
Type Of Material Data analysis technique 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The model is still under further development and hasn't yet been made available to others. The background input data is not publicly available. 
 
Title system dynamics model for the contribution of new micro level data in capturing transport related health outcomes 
Description A new system dynamics model of transport-health interactions that specifically includes the contribution and influence of new data forms. 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact Too early to say 
 
Description Collaboration with Newcastle City Council 
Organisation Newcastle City Council
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Members of the research team have worked with Newcastle City Council to identify current data sources and models, identify candidate policies related to the HABITS agenda and have contributed to the policy agenda through the Healthy Streets Board. The team have discussed priority features for a decision support tool with key members of NCC to ensure it has relevance to their needs local context.
Collaborator Contribution NCC team members have participated in regular (fortnightly) meetings to discuss the research and contribute to the forward direction. They have provided access to relevant data, models and key personnel to support the research. NCC have facilitated a joint workshop based around the HABITS project.
Impact Two joint workshops held in Newcastle, attended by regional policy stakeholders, academics, researchers and others.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Collaboration with Newcastle City Council 
Organisation Newcastle University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Members of the research team have worked with Newcastle City Council to identify current data sources and models, identify candidate policies related to the HABITS agenda and have contributed to the policy agenda through the Healthy Streets Board. The team have discussed priority features for a decision support tool with key members of NCC to ensure it has relevance to their needs local context.
Collaborator Contribution NCC team members have participated in regular (fortnightly) meetings to discuss the research and contribute to the forward direction. They have provided access to relevant data, models and key personnel to support the research. NCC have facilitated a joint workshop based around the HABITS project.
Impact Two joint workshops held in Newcastle, attended by regional policy stakeholders, academics, researchers and others.
Start Year 2016
 
Description EMPOWER project 
Organisation EMPOWER project
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution HABITS research has provided additional, in-depth analysis of EMPOWER Take-Up-City data, bringing an increased understanding of a range of impacts from positive incentives and the value of new Track and Trace data.
Collaborator Contribution Take-up-City operational infrastructure and outcomes.
Impact This collaboration is multi-disciplinary, spanning data analytics, transport science, health, ICT, behavioural science.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Harvesting transport preference information from web social communities to support sustainable mobility solutions 
Organisation Iuav University of Venice
Department Department of Architecture & Arts
Country Italy 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Leadership to the technical research and co-ordination of the network collaboration as a whole. Leadership of a bid for research funding. Lead authorship of journal articles and conference papers/presentations. Technical research inputs. Hosting a visit by an ECR.
Collaborator Contribution Partners have made contributions in lead authorship of journal articles and conference papers/presentations. Technical research inputs. Hosting visits by researchers.
Impact 3 journal articles 3 book chapters 7 conference papers/presentations 1 masters dissertation 2 finalist awards for best presentations The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving text mining, transport policy, transport economics, statistical analysis
Start Year 2011
 
Description Harvesting transport preference information from web social communities to support sustainable mobility solutions 
Organisation Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Country Israel 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Leadership to the technical research and co-ordination of the network collaboration as a whole. Leadership of a bid for research funding. Lead authorship of journal articles and conference papers/presentations. Technical research inputs. Hosting a visit by an ECR.
Collaborator Contribution Partners have made contributions in lead authorship of journal articles and conference papers/presentations. Technical research inputs. Hosting visits by researchers.
Impact 3 journal articles 3 book chapters 7 conference papers/presentations 1 masters dissertation 2 finalist awards for best presentations The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving text mining, transport policy, transport economics, statistical analysis
Start Year 2011
 
Description Harvesting transport preference information from web social communities to support sustainable mobility solutions 
Organisation University of Haifa
Department Department of Information Systems
Country Israel 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Leadership to the technical research and co-ordination of the network collaboration as a whole. Leadership of a bid for research funding. Lead authorship of journal articles and conference papers/presentations. Technical research inputs. Hosting a visit by an ECR.
Collaborator Contribution Partners have made contributions in lead authorship of journal articles and conference papers/presentations. Technical research inputs. Hosting visits by researchers.
Impact 3 journal articles 3 book chapters 7 conference papers/presentations 1 masters dissertation 2 finalist awards for best presentations The collaboration is multi-disciplinary involving text mining, transport policy, transport economics, statistical analysis
Start Year 2011
 
Description Newcastle Urban Observatory 
Organisation Newcastle University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Team members have arranged a joint workshop with the Observatory. Technical feedback on the observatory sensors/sensor data has been provided to observatory staff.
Collaborator Contribution The observatory have assisted access to large scale pollutant monitoring data to support understanding of personal exposure patterns
Impact New modelling approach for diurnal patterns of atmospheric pollutants in the Newcastle City region. Joint workshop on modelling individual exposure to pollutants using sensor data with new and emerging data forms.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Shanghai Jiao Tong University - new joint centre 
Organisation Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Country China 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Participation in joint workshops to develop a new joint centre between the two Universities - exchanging knowledge and using shared expertise to address grand challenges. Team members are bringing expertise with new data forms and understanding on modelling of complex cross-sectoral interactions (transport-energy-health-environment)
Collaborator Contribution Mega datasets from large urban conurbations that challenge existing modelling methodologies.
Impact Both collaborators have hosted joint workshops. The center is still in development. Multi-disciplinary collaboration spanning transport-health- environmental pollutants-energy-data analytics
Start Year 2017
 
Description University of Curitiba 
Organisation Federal Technological University of Paraná
Country Brazil 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I have acted as external examiner to student activity at the university. The University of leeds has signed an MOU with UTFP.
Collaborator Contribution UFTP have supported data collection activities to better understand incentives for behavioural change.
Impact Two student thesis, publication.
Start Year 2018
 
Description WUN network 
Organisation Chinese University of Hong Kong
Country Hong Kong 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Determination of a joint research agenda. Hosting a student for an internship. Hosting a planned joint international workshop. Financial support to travel for joint events.
Collaborator Contribution Determination of joint research agenda. Hosting a planned joint international workshop. Financial support to travel for joint events.
Impact this collaboration is multi-disciplinary, involving disciplines including transport, population health studies, sustainability experts, behavioural experts.
Start Year 2020
 
Description collaboration on UK micromobility 
Organisation Voi Technology
Country Sweden 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Expertise in the use of new and emerging data forms, knowledge of links between micro-level data and health outcomes.
Collaborator Contribution Contributions related to VOI assets and research support.
Impact The collaboration has taken the form of a shared research activity, using new and emerging data forms to create understanding around the wider impacts of e-scooter use.
Start Year 2020
 
Description collaboration on micromobility 
Organisation University of California, Davis
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Joint development of research bid(s) and staff resource/expertise for joint research outputs.
Collaborator Contribution Joint development of research bid(s) and staff resource/expertise for joint research outputs.
Impact Two conference abstracts prepared and research proposal under development. Main disciplines involved: transportation studies, behavioural science, marketing, modelling.
Start Year 2019
 
Description collaboration on transport-health research 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Further development of software. Led workshops and large research proposal
Collaborator Contribution Use of modelling software and contribution of expertise to joint proposals, engagement with workshops.
Impact Multidisciplinary, involving epidemiology and transport studies. Workshop outputs from two events.
Start Year 2018
 
Title HABITS policy support tool 
Description Interactive visualisation and diagnostic tool to explore: city pollutants, mobility profiles, transport-health outcomes from travel choice and the equity consequences of policy. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2018 
Impact to be developed further and impacts monitored 
 
Description CDRC Conference 2022: Inside Consumer Data 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The conference was an opportunity to showcase the work of the Consumer Data Research Centre (CDRC) and set it in its broadest context. Keynote speakers were Lauren Sager Weinstein (Chief Data Officer, Transport for London) and Judith Batchelar OBE (Director of Food Matters International, formerly Director of Sainsbury's Brand). Prof. Susan Grant-Muller presented work from TRACK on the use of new data and technologies within one of the three parallel sessions, focusing on Urban Analytics. The final session was an in-conversation with four early-career researchers about their experiences on the CDRC's training programmes and working on collaborative industry/academic projects. The presentation by Prof. Grant-Muller was aimed at increasing knowledge of the potential of new data forms to improve understanding of close proximity events, thereby exposure of the public to COVID-19 or other virus, during every day travel. The event as a whole increased people's knowledge about the CDRC and will lead to new connections and collaborations (with both academia and industry). 116 attendees.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Conference presentation (European Transport Conference) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A paper entitled "A TRANSPORT AND HEALTH POLICY TOOL UTILISING NEW GENERATION DATA" was presented at the European Transport Conference in Dublin, Ireland in October 2018. This was in a session on 'Big Data' alongside two other related papers. The session was attended by approximately 40 people (standing room only in the room), who were fully engaged in the discussion session, with a number of attendees following up individually after the session. The wider ETC event attracts around 1000 attendees from across Europe (and beyond), from consultancy, academia, and government.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://aetransport.org/en-gb/past-etc-papers/conference-papers-2018?abstractId=5934&state=b
 
Description Conference presentation (POLIS) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A presentation to the POLIS conference in Manchester, UK in November 2018 entitled "The role of new track and trace data in supporting planning and decision making at the
interfaces of transport, health and the environment - The Newcastle city case study". Polis is a network of European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport. The session included 8 related papers on "DATA-DRIVEN DECISION MAKING" and approximately 60 attendees who engaged in the question and answer sessions, as well as number of individuals who followed up personally following the session.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://www.polisnetwork.eu/publicdocuments/download/2461/document/the-role-of-new-track-and-trace-d...
 
Description Data Centre Collaboration event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The event was held jointly by LIDA (Leeds Institute for Data Analytics) and The Alan Turing Institute. The aim was to explore the benefits of greater collaboration between academics, sponsors, providers and other stakeholders with interests and responsponsibilities related to Data Centres and Digital Footprints. Presenters included representatives of JiSC, DfT, ESRC, CDRC, UBDC, Newcastle Observatory, BiB. Researchers and doctoral students had hands-on experience working with data in a parallel session to draw out some challenges and opportunities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description HABITS final event 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The final event involved speakers from the UK and internationally and was used to demonstrate the HABITS tool, in addition to disseminating the main project findings. It generated a lot of questions and discussion afterwards, which continues.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2018
 
Description Maurice Bloch Seminar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact collaborative visit to the Institute for Health and Wellbeing and Urban Big Data Centre Glasgow to discuss joint research activity. As part of this I delivered the Maurice Bloch seminar.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Quantifying Personal Pollution Impacts to Inform Transport Scheme Innovation through New Generation Mobility Data 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation to the European Colloquium on Theoretical and Quantitative Geography (ECTQG) 7-11 September, 2017, York, UK.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://surf.leeds.ac.uk/p/2017-09-08-ectqg-surf.pdf
 
Description Sustrans Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Approached by Sustrans Director following POLIS presentation to give Webinar to Sustrans employees on incentivisation schemes and use of new and emerging data forms. Employees logged in at sites across the UK, with many follow up questions both on and off line.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Sustrans Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Supported the organisation of a Sustrans internal team event (Research and Monitoring) at the Institute for Transport Studies. Arranged presentations from colleagues that would be of interest to Sustrans and Frances Hodgson gave presentation on Habits related work.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Habits website
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity Pre-2006,2017
URL http://www.habitsdata.org
 
Description Workshop 1 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The first HABIT's workshop, entitled 'Improving the Evidence Base' was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on Wednesday 6th December 2017. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss current data gaps for the development of health, transport and air quality policy, and the potential of new and emerging forms of smartphone Track and Trace (T&T) data. The workshop comprised of presentations by HABITS team members and small group discussions, on existing data sources, opportunities for the use of T&T data, current HABITs research activities (eg physical activity modelling and pollution exposure) and a potential T&T tool.
Invitations were targeted to air quality, public health and transport planning practitioners and policy makers from local authorities in the North East of England. There were 15 attendees in total from eight councils (Newcastle, South Tyneside, Durham, Gateshead, Northumberland, Sunderland, Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington), as well as the Tees Valley Combined Authority and Public Health England (NE). There was an even share of attendees working in transport and public health with interests related to air quality and modelling.
Although there were concerns about representativeness, accurate reporting, data standards/protection and interoperability between different apps and their data, useful features of T&T data identified by the attendees:
• Can allow the targeting of specific demographics.
• Allows for gathering qualitative feedback that is often missing.
• May help challenge perceptions or assumptions.
• Can overcome issues of dated or limited data
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://habitsdata.org/news/
 
Description Workshop 2 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The second HABIT's workshop, entitled "Air quality exposure and mobility tracing" took place on January 29th 2018, hosted by the Newcastle Urban Observatory. The purpose of the workshop was to demonstrate the potential and discuss the challenges of using environmental sensing and mobile phone "track and trace" (T&T) data to:
- Understand the exposure of individuals and populations to air pollution,
- Understand the physical activity levels of individuals and populations,
to inform policy and debate around air quality, physical activity and travel choices.
The workshop featured an introduction by Dr Nick Malleson, an introduction to the Newcastle Urban Observatory by Jennine Jonczyk, a talk describing recent research undertaken by the HABITS team by Dr Tom Redfern, a live demonstration of an interactive visualisation of a new air pollution model for Newcastle and a group discussion around how T&T data can be combined with air pollution data by transport planning practitioners and policy makers from local authorities, as well as academics, local residents and other interested parties. There were around 20 attendees from local authorities, the Universities of Newcastle, Oxford and the Open University, as well as the Newcastle Urban Observatory, Sustrans and local resident groups.

The workshop discussions focussed on recent work to create a spatio-temporal model of NO2 concentrations within Newcastle and the surrounding region, combining the data collected by the Urban Observatory with a new geospatial method developed specifically as part of the HABITS project. The discussion session focussed on two topics (i) how the pollution model can be improved and validated against existing models, and (ii) how T & T data can be used to target and implement air quality, transport planning and public health policy.

Several opportunities and challenges in using T & T data were expressed during the group discussion:
- How to ensure that the "digital divide" doesn't exclude individuals who lack access to the required technology to engage with the T&T App?
- How representative of the overall population is the data generated by the T & T app, given the small number of people generating the dataset in relation to the population?
- The app generating the T & T data could be adapted to inform users of their air pollution exposure, and people could be incentivised to alter their mode (and thus route) to reduce exposure.
- An air pollution map could be used by individuals to understand how their own route and mode choices affect their individual exposure to air pollution.
- The pollution map and T&T data could be used to find locations with reduced pollution levels, which could then be used to reconsider cycling/walking infrastructure to provide low exposure routes.
- Pollution mapping could be used to plan important infrastructure (e.g. hospitals) to (i) reduce the exposure of buildings and (ii) plan more sustainable transport routes.
- T & T data could be used to monitor the effectiveness of transport policies and physical engineering schemes, potentially in near real time.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description workshop on New and Emerging Data Forms 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact workshop on the role of new and emerging data in the transport sector.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019