LAUSR

Google Street View (GSV) is an increasingly used data collection method for objectively measuring observable features of the environment as detailed in a recent review.1 But as its overall potential for studying tobacco control-related issues to date has never been considered, we aimed to perform a brief review of this potential. Searches were conducted using PubMed for articles using the term ‘Google Street View’ (to January 2017). From these articles, additional ones involving GSV were identified in bibliographies. Articles were excluded from further analysis if they focused on the non-human environment (n=3 excluded, ie, bird nests, insects with silk nests and invasive plants) or if they did not cover any of the following: signage/advertising, retail outlets/stores or bars/pubs, or tobacco content (n=15 excluded). We identified 23 relevant Medline-indexed studies relating to GSV and one review. A total of four tobacco-related issues were specifically covered in this …