Utilising smartphone data to explore spatial influences on physical activity

Smartphones play an ever-increasing role in everyday life, generating vast amounts of data. One major new data source, with the advent of health tracking apps, is data into physical activity behaviours and the corresponding spatial location of these activities. Such data provides new research opportunities that negate the limitations of many previous studies into the spatial influences on physical activity behaviours. Nonetheless, smartphone data provides its own challenges and methodological considerations. This chapter discusses the advantages and limitations of using smartphone data methods within the wider context of spatial physical activity research methods.