Using Geovisualization Tools to Examine Attitudes towards Alcohol Exposure in Urban Environments: A Pilot Study in Madrid, Spain

Abstract

Pervasiveness of alcohol products and their promotion in the urban landscape may normalize alcohol consumption. This study aims to utilize geovisualization-based methods to assess attitudes towards different levels of alcohol exposure in the urban environment. We selected a typical downtown location, Lavapies Square in Madrid, Spain, to conduct our study. First, we designed and created realistic 3D models simulating three different urban scenes with varying degrees of exposure to alcohol in the environment. Second, we used a survey on 159 adults to explore the level of acceptance of, attitudes towards, and perceptions of alcohol exposure in each scene. Participants reported a higher level of comfort in the scene with null alcohol exposure compared with the other scenes (p < 0.001). Acceptance towards alcohol exposure decreased as the level of alcohol elements increased in the scenes (p < 0.01). Acceptance also decreased when children were present in the scenes (p < 0.01). This study demonstrated that geovisualization tools provide a useful and well-suited approach to analyze perceptions of the alcohol environment. The use of geovisualization can help understand attitudes and perceptions towards the alcohol environment and may offer a way to simulate different scenarios prior to development or retrofitting.