WalkScore: how walk-friendly is your neighborhood?
Posted on October 5, 2007 in Online Tools, Transportation by DM
Found an interesting web tool today called WalkScore, where you can determine how walk-friendly any address is. I typed in my home address and got a walk-friendly score of just 34 out of 100. That means my neighborhood’s unfriendly to walkers because a variety of amenities are, according to the algorithm, too far away.
On one hand, this is true: a lot of amenities I would really like to have (such as a big-box discount retailer, an office supply store, and a bookstore) are not within a reasonable walking distance. However, I have some problems with the results, which rely completely on the Google-mapping of nearby amenities.
First, I don’t think proximity of amenities should be the only criteria, especially given that the site claims to help “homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods.” If they really want to provide valuable information, why not include a topographical rating - i.e., how flat vs. how hilly the neighborhood is? I walk in my neighborhood all the time because it’s fairly flat and I can tailor my walking workout to whatever level of difficulty I’m up for. They could also take into account whether any intersections near the address are ranked among a city’s most dangerous as far as pedestrian accidents. Two of our city’s busiest intersections are located within 1.5 miles of my home, and a third within 2,000 feet of us is highly suspect.
Second, for a site that promotes walking as a healthy mode of transportation, WalkScore doesn’t list recreational trails or facilities among the amenities it searches for. My home is within a half-mile of groomed recreational trails that I can hop onto if I want to avoid traffic - that alone should boost my neighborhood’s Walk Score.
Finally, I don’t fully understand the subjective listings in the amenity categories. There are two major grocery stores within 1-1.5 miles of my home, but only one of them is listed under “Grocery Stores.” The other one is only listed under “pharmacies,” though the pharmacy is only a small part of the store. It’s also interesting to note the “bookstores” category for my listing: I know there are no Barnes & Nobles around, but why would the site even bother to list adult bookstores that are all more than 2 miles away? (The site lists a movie theater thats over four miles away in a shopping mall, but doesn’t bother to list the Waldenbooks located in that same mall.) And I’m really curious as to why my next-door neighbor’s house scores eight points higher than mine.
So WalkScore’s not perfect… it’s fun to look up the addresses of places I’ve lived and places my family still lives, but as a true indication of how walk-friendly my neighborhood is it’s got a long way to go.
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5 comments to “WalkScore: how walk-friendly is your neighborhood?”
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Tried the website (though the link from this page doesn’t seem to work). Some of the results seem to be bizarre, for example, is Clegg Park school a school or a park? I also wondered about if it would be possible to note criminal statistics for a neighborhood. Many people are afraid to go out lest they get mugged or worse. What are the thoughts of everyone?
Thanks for pointing out the bad link, Joel, I think I fixed it. I agree - crime stats would be a great addition to this! ~ Janet
I believe that walk score is convenient, but nowadays more and more people drive cars and they are interested also in drive score. I’ve found this type of service on http://www.fizber.com. Drive Score shows a map of what establishments are in a property’s neighborhood and calculates a Drive Score based on the number of places within a convenient driving distance. Homes are often located in an area where restaurants, libraries, grocery stores, hospitals and other businesses are easier to get to by car than on foot.
Thanks for the article. That’s really cool.
And thanks to Jane for one more link. I’ve spent about an hour entering different home addresses and estimating their walkscore and Drivescore.
BTW the correct direct link is http://drivescore.fizber.com/
[...] WalkScore, the website that lets you determine whether a particular house is within walking distance of various neighborhood amenities? It’s designed to help you learn more about homes you may [...]