Is your neighborhood walk-friendly?

[chrisoff]

Thought the only walks around here were Orange.

[Loren]

On top of Gov't Center Garage.

I believe the student population in the city of Boston is more than 100,000. I don't know if that includes Cambridge. I've heard they have some schools there.

What are you doing on top of the garage??? Er, never mind, probably better that I don't ask I'm over at the Ritz-Carlton building, been dodging tall and rather unhappy guys from LA this week.


Loren

[HDSarah]

It did find my address, and as I expected, I scored a perfect zero.

Many of the businesses and services that it did list within 6 miles were rather odd. However, it's correct that there is nothing in the way of shops or schools within walking distance. There is a nice long stretch of the trans-Alaska pipeline that is great for dog-walking, though.

[evenstr]

I expected mine to be higher than 14. Of course, the only place I care about walking to is school and the library .

[jsluder]

My address scored 11. That's a generously high score, in my opinion. Suburbia: All the down sides of urban and rural living, with none of the benefits.

[Jayhawk]

Google maps hates my address - it always moves me a good 3 houses further north than I really am...which makes a 3 point difference in my scores (54 vs 57) - yet if I move 5 houses north it's suddenly a score of 63. What's really odd is that about 20 stores/bars/fast food places simply don't exist on their map - all of which are less than 1/2 mile from my house (it's as if 6 city blocks are houses only which they're not). Also, for some unknown reason, it doesn't count any businesses in the zip code to our north which are much closer than several they list to the south and west.

Overall, this is a fun looking tool, but I'd say it's only about 75% correct for our neighborhood. I wonder if there is an advertisement tie in with this site? Why are only 2 McDonald's listed for my area but not the Wendy's, Sonic, Churches, KFC, Taco Bell or Burger King all within the "walking" range of the website? The bars listed are only the 3 largest bars - about 6 smaller bars aren't counted.

Eric

[Martin Milner]

It works for the UK - do house number, street and postcode. We scored a 75 but there was such a plethora of icons surrounding the house I'm not entirely sure why it wasn't higher.

I scored a 73 for the same address. Maybe because my PC is upstairs while Beth was using her laptop downstairs.

However it got a lot of locations wrong - we do have a cinema closer than 2.89 km away, the Ealing Odeon is about 0.65 km away, and if I was going to see a movie, I don't think the Accident Claims Centre would be high on my list. Some of the Cinemas are theatres, and we have one of those about 0.25 km away.

There are a number of Bars, Grocery Stores and Restaurants closer than those listed, which were 0.08 km away. The local parks appear to be measured from a point at the centre, but we usually walk to the nearest gate and enter that way.

There is also a fitness centre closer than the one they listed, which was 2.1km away, like anyone walks to a fitness centre.


No matter what they rate us, we are 100% walkable because we have no car.

[The Weekenders]

My addy got a 57. But they are missing some of the realities of the walking: for example, the Hells Angels Clubhouse and the meth house (no, not the same place). Also, the fact that many of the local streets do not have sidewalks and it gets dicey at narrow spots. Oh yeah, and they should have the wildcard loose pitbull index. We have those, too..

Ah well, I'm sure it works for the Cleaver's n-hood.

[swizzlestick]

I only got a twenty and I think my area should score much higher. But I think it's hard to score for variety. We have parks, bike paths, mountain trails, open plateau, open mountain sides, deep old growth forest, steep rock climbing walls and canoe/kayak runs within a couple of miles. Oh, and a Starbucks!

Suburbs can be a little different in Colorado.

There can be a down side. The local bike trail has signs suggesting that you not hike alone after sundown because of mountain lion.

[Jayhawk]

There can be a down side. The local bike trail has signs suggesting that you not hike alone after sundown because of mountain lion.

Well, that certainly is a down side...for the mountain lions.

[emmline]

I only got a twenty and I think my area should score much higher.

Yeah, there's nary a spot in your town, as far as I can think, that I wouldn't think of as good walking territory...but I guess there are places you'd have to hike a ways to hit a variety of businesses...it's just that the walk would be a good one anyway.

[breqwas]

That thingy told me I can't survive without a car, though I, actually, do not own one.

Maybe that's because that thingy does not know word "subway"?

[djm]

Maybe that's because that thingy does not know word "subway"?

The purpose of that site is to have you walk everywhere, saving the planet from polluting energy sources. Public transportation (subway) is better than overuse of personal transport, but the site considers walking to be best. Walking requires that everything you need to live well in your chosen neighbourhood be within a two-mile radius, and is the basis for the site's recommendations for good neighbourhoods to live in.

djm

[dwinterfield]

My addy got a 57. But they are missing some of the realities of the walking: for example, the Hells Angels Clubhouse and the meth house (no, not the same place).

Off topic comment -- Last week some local tv news program or maybe a news magazine show blared the following teaser -

ARE YOU WORRIED THAT YOUR HOTEL ROOM WAS USED AS A METH LAB???!!!!!

I knew life had gotten too simple.

[kennychaffin]

Yeah, I thought it was based on "safety" but seems to be based on amenities. I scored a 65.

KAC