Public open space desktop auditing tool-Establishing appropriateness for use in Australian regional and urban settings

Features of public open space (POS) have traditionally been described using on-site direct observation, but recently, low-cost and time-efficient remote desktop auditing tools have been developed. We adapted an existing, validated desktop auditing tool (the Public Open Space Desktop Auditing Tool: POSDAT) and tested it in a pilot sample of regional and metropolitan settings in Victoria, Australia. Using Google Maps and Street View, local government webpages, the National Public Toilet Registry and spatial data, we captured POSDAT items in 171 POS across 17 suburbs, of which 9 were regional. POSDAT items such as presence of waterbirds, wildlife, grass reticulation and dog signage, were not reliably observable. Using a limited sample, the majority of POSDAT items (n = 39) had a high intra-rater reliability score (between 80 and 100%) with an average agreement of 87%. We found that older and lower resolution Google Street View imagery available for some outer regional areas and the inconsistency of detail in information on local government webpages hindered a consistent assessment of POS. Thus, POSDAT, based on the spatial data applied in this study, is appropriate for use in metropolitan but not regional settings.