Table 2.

Challenges and Opportunities

Challenges	Potential solutions and opportunities
Data collection and data expansion
Lack of GIS infrastructure	Encourage local municipalities and companies to share GIS resources.
Lack of sufficient data on physical activity and dietary behavior	Continue to educate and expand the number of researchers interested in studying physical activity and nutrition behaviors.
Lack of understanding of person-environment interactions	Increase the number of cross-sectoral studies that look at different dimensions of individual’s health choices and environments.
Technical considerations
Keeping up with advancing technology	Centralized resources for researcher with links, critiques, etc. Partner with industry to develop and test cutting-edge technologies.
Cost of technology and equipment	Enroll study participants in cohorts, so you can purchase fewer devices. Consider what costs can and should be covered by participants (e.g., smart phone ownership). Develop standardized protocols for privacy concerns.
Funding issues for longitudinal data collection	Use existing relationships with funders to encourage the inclusion of built environment-related measures into existing longitudinal surveys.
Challenges with the “digital divide” between different socioeconomic populations	Locate, partner with, and use publicly available resources such as library computers, low-fee mobile devices.
Areas for “bridging the gap”
Collaboration across disciplines	Centralized group to link researchers and practitioners from different disciplines; encourage and incentivize institutional collaborations.
Understanding community and organizational systems, stakeholders, and decision-making approaches	Engage with decision makers who support built environment-technology work. Team up with organizational behavior experts from different community sectors. Work with industry to evaluate technology applications in behavioral health field.
Bridge the gap between assessment and intervention	Work with key audience members and groups to identify leverage points for change and how to integrate change strategies into tech platforms.
Broaden definitions of “built environment” research and focus to enable more comprehensive and potentially effective solutions	Work across disciplines and sectors. Identify and partner with experts from varied disciplines (e.g., planning, transportation, physical activity, food retail).
Expand link between food and activity environments	Model examples of teams that address both food and activity environments; propose an “energy balance” foundation for obesity prevention projects.

GIS, geographic information system.