Quantifying Nature: Introducing NatureScore^TM and NatureDose^TM as Health Analysis and Promotion Tools

Matthew H E M Browning^{1

2}, Jared R Hanley², Christopher R Bailey², Timothy Beatley³, Samantha Gailey^{4

5}, J Aaron Hipp⁶, Lincoln R Larson⁶, Peter James⁷, Viniece Jennings⁸, Marcia Pescador Jimenez⁹, Peter H Kahn Jr¹⁰, Dongying Li¹¹, Aaron Reuben¹², Alessandro Rigolon¹³, Naomi A Sachs¹⁴, Amber L Pearson¹⁵, Christopher T Minson^{2

16}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
² NatureQuantTM, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA.
³ School of Architecture, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
⁴ Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁵ Space, Health and Community Lab, Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁷ Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ School of the Environment, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁹ Department of Epidemiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology & School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
¹² Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
¹³ Department of City & Metropolitan Planning, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.

PMID: 38126317
PMCID: PMC10876217
DOI: 10.1177/08901171231210806b

Quantifying Nature: Introducing NatureScore^TM and NatureDose^TM as Health Analysis and Promotion Tools

Matthew H E M Browning et al. Am J Health Promot. 2024 Jan.

. 2024 Jan;38(1):126-134.

doi: 10.1177/08901171231210806b.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA.
² NatureQuantTM, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA.
³ School of Architecture, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
⁴ Department of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁵ Space, Health and Community Lab, Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
⁶ Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁷ Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ School of the Environment, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
⁹ Department of Epidemiology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychology & School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
¹² Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
¹³ Department of City & Metropolitan Planning, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹⁵ Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Human Physiology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.

PMID: 38126317
PMCID: PMC10876217
DOI: 10.1177/08901171231210806b

No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: M.B., J.H., C.B., and C.M. are shareholders in NatureQuant^TM, which created the NatureScore^TM and NatureDose^TM tools highlighted in this article.

Figures

**Figure 1.**
New tools to quantify nature at any location in the United States (NatureScore^™, left panel) and an individual’s daily or weekly exposure to nature (NatureDose^™, right panel). The app provides NatureScore^™ values to users within a 1-km buffer, although values can be calculated at smaller distances or averaged across spatial units (i.e., census tracts).

**Figure 2.**
NatureScore^™ attempts to quantify the amount and quality of nature and the environmental conditions at any location by combining over 30 environmental and human-health datasets with machine learning.

**Figure 3.**
NatureScore^™ values range from 0 (nature-deprived) to 100 (nature-rich) and can be calculated within buffers at any location (i.e., 300-m around homes) or averaged across spatial units (i.e., census tract).

**Figure 4.**
Screenshots from the NatureDose^™ smartphone app, which attempts to monitor the number of minutes per week outdoors in nature (center panel) as well as indoors and outdoors (not in nature); the app also reports the potential health benefits of nature exposure to its users (left and right panels).

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Quantifying Nature: Introducing NatureScore^TM and NatureDose^TM as Health Analysis and Promotion Tools

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Quantifying Nature: Introducing NatureScore^TM and NatureDose^TM as Health Analysis and Promotion Tools

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Conflict of interest statement

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