Validity of Food Outlet Databases from Commercial and Community Science datasets in Vancouver and Montreal

Abstract

We conducted a case study to assess the validity of community science (Yelp, OpenStreetMaps) and commercial (DMTI) food outlet datasets. We compared counts of food outlets from 13 street segments in Vancouver and Montreal to Google Street View. We found that OpenStreetMaps correctly identified the most outlets in both cities and DMTI consistency overcounted outlets. In Vancouver, we assessed validity by outlet type, again OpenStreetMap performed the best overall but largely missed grocery stores, and Yelp did not include convenience stores. Results provide insights into using different commercial and open-source datasets to measure food environments.