Walk Score
 |
Type of site | Walkability index |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| URL | walkscore |
| Registration | No |
Walk Score is a large-scale, public access walkability index that assigns a numerical walkability score to any address in the Australia, Canada, United States and New Zealand.[1]. Other services include a transit score, a custom commute report, and an apartment search that locates potential residences based on commute time. Walk Score “ranks communities nationwide (and soon, globally) based on how many businesses, parks, theaters, schools and other common destinations are within walking distance of any given starting point."[2]
Company
Walk Score was founded in 2007. The company’s mission is “to promote walkable neighborhoods... one of the simplest and best solutions for the environment, our health, and our economy.” [3] The index serves more than four million scores per day from more than ten thousand participating websites.[4] Josh Herst, CEO of Walk Score, has stated that he wants Walk Score to be a part of every real-estate listing in the future. He envisions the Walk Score of a home to be as important as how many bedrooms or bathrooms a property has[5]. In January of 2012 Walk Score announced that it had recently raised $2 million from investors.[6]
Walkability rankings
In July 2011, the website ranked the 50 most populous cities in the United States according to walkability.[7]
- New York, NY
- San Francisco, CA
- Boston, MA
- Chicago, IL
- Philadelphia, PA
- Seattle, WA
- Washington, DC
- Miami, FL
- Minneapolis, MN
- Oakland, CA
Algorithm
According to the site's creators,"The Walk Score algorithm awards points based on the distance to the closest amenity in each category. If the closest amenity in a category is within .25 miles (or .4 km), we assign the maximum number of points. The number of points declines as the distance approaches 1 mile (or 1.6 km)—no points are awarded for amenities further than 1 mile. Each category is weighted equally and the points are summed and normalized to yield a score from 0–100. The number of nearby amenities is the leading predictor of whether people walk."[8]
Apartment Finder
In 2011, Walk Score unveiled an Apartment Search tool that locates available housing based on commute time to a given location. The tool calculates commute times for various modes of transport including walking, cycling, driving, and public transit.[9]
Professional
Walk Score has developed a variety of tools for real estate professionals, such as neighborhood maps and APIs. Multiple independent studies have demonstrated that above-average walkability correlates to increased housing values: in the metropolitan areas studied, higher Walk Score typically added US$4000–$34,000 per home.[10] The company also provides data to leading research institutions, academics, and city planners including:
- Walk Score and Transit Score for all U.S. and some international addresses
- Road metrics such as intersection density and block length
- Heat maps for potentially walkable locations
This information is available in formats including spreadsheet, GIS shapefile, and API.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "Walk Score." CrunchBase 27 Oct 2011
- ^ "Web Site Takes a Pedestrian View." Washington Post 7 Aug 2007
- ^ Walk Score 27 Oct 2011
- ^ "Walk Score." CrunchBase 27 Oct 2011
- ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2017284953_realwalkability22.html
- ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2017284953_realwalkability22.html
- ^ Walk Score
- ^ Walkscore.com
- ^ “Walk Score Takes Wraps Off Slick New Apartment-Locating Tool.” TechCrunch 27 Oct 2011
- ^ “Walking The Walk.” CEOS For Cities. Accessed 27 Oct 2011
- ^ Walk Score
Further reading
- Stephanie Y. Rauterkus, Grant I. Thrall, and Eric Hangen, 2010. “Location Efficiency and Mortgage Default” Journal of Sustainable Real Estate (JOSRE), Volume 2, No. 1.
- Brewster, Mark, David Hurtado, Sara Olson, and Jessica Yen. 2009. “Walkscore.com: A New Methodology to Explore Associations between Neighborhood Resources, Race and Health.” Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health.
- Carr, Lucas J., Shira I. Dunsiger, and Bess H. Marcus. 2010. “Validation of Walkscore for Estimating Access to Urban Amenities”. British Journal of Sports Medicine.