"Good frickin' lord, it's too dang far to walk to the corner store to buy me a frozen yogurt," you might moan. "I'll just have to be a global warmer and gas up the SUV to drive there." Not so, my friend! Not only is it good exercise, but it's just well, great to perambulate. With this Walk Score, a nifty calculator, you can determine exactly how walkable your address is on a scale of zero to one hundred, with zero being you stranded in a car-only desert and one hundred being you having ascended to a pedestrian paradise. Taking into account factors like a main neighborhood centre, accessibility, parks, and public space, the nearness of schools and workplaces, speed controlled streets and pedestrian friendly design, Walk Score uses a whizbang algorithim to figure the feet friendliness of your 'hood.
Although it doesn't take into account aesthetics, safety, or public transit, the site rocks for providing an instant list of the nearest resources like grocery stores, libraries, coffee shops, and most importantly, the closest bar. An address just north of the Danforth at Pape scored a 65, but a central Yonge and Bloor-ish address scored a whopping 73! Load time for international and Canadian addresses can sometimes take forever and ever (and the calculator seems woefully misinformed about the presence of schools in areas) but according to the good citizens at Walkscore, they're preparing their international code and hoping to beef up the Canadian support later this week.
Photo by moonwire from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Thanks to Lifehacker for tipping us off to Walk Score.
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Ah, this is a very nifty idea... Very cool and useful for new home buyers.
Unfortunately, I fall in the "Worst" category.
5/100
Wow... I feel like I live in the boonies.
Nifty idea indeed, the data seems to be the same stuff that my GPS has which is a) very incomplete and b) woefully out of date
Yonge and College scores a whopping 80! w00t!
66/100, not bad West Queen West! I do find the hood woefully under-fooded (not underfed, although that is a popular look for artists.) The Drake and the Gladstone aren't even included so I would expect at least a 70.
I tried the home I grew up in on Long Island and I was surprised it even got a 12. Every street is curvy with a cul de sac at the end - which makes me shudder nowadays.
My home scored 38/100, but the website doesn't realize that most nearby places are impenetrable by a large ravine.
This website also ignores chains, which is silly. I checked an address in Richmond Hill, and it said there were no grocery stores within walking distance, although it was across from a Loblaws
I got 60 in Leslieville ... but it ignores that there's Beaches cinema a leisurely stroll away, instead of picking the Four Seasons Cinema (more than 40 miles away??).
Guest #6: It found the Loblaws near me.
It definitely needs updated information, but it's a cool idea. I got a 68 at Yonge & Davisville, and I think it should be much higher. It doesn't show the school across the street, and it shows the nearest park as Eglinton (it's not, by far).
While the detailed listing aren't anything I would rely on (out of date, missing, misclassified), the overall scores seem about right. (I typed in a few addresses of friends and family for comparison.)
Mutual Street gets a solid 80, awesome
Glencairn and Yonge gets a 55, but also does not include the closest grocery store, parks, or schools. Also, confusingly, "Glengrove Suites" is listed as our closest 'music, cultural location', which is a furnished hotel. Since 55 means that most trips will require a car (even though the bus stop is about 50 meters away and the subway is an 8 minute walk) and my car hasn't left the driveway since sunday, and won't for another 3 days (for my brother's wedding); I have to question how accurate it is for other 'hoods. If I was going to use it to find a house to buy, or an apartment, I would definitely want the walkability to transit analyzed as well. I want to now type in other addresses and see what happens...
Lauralyn
So I just checked and York University got a 68 and my sister's house at Yonge and Eglington was mislocated (I assume by google) on Dundas. Accurately enough though, my old apartment got 92, and I would have to agree. I really like the idea of the calculator, and wish you could help it out by locating things 'wiki'-style to help it be more accurate.
Lauralyn
There are some issues with the site I think. I really think at Queen and Bathurst it should be a 90+ for walkability (probably 100 if you think about it). The problem is that the website thinks the nearest school is 30+ miles away (the nearest is about .25 miles away, but there are 4 or 5 unis within 30 miles). As well, it thought the nearest theatre was 40+ miles away (when I can easily walk to Paramount, the Royal, Rainbow Market Square, the Cinesphere, the Bloor and others.
It is not perfect is all I am saying.
My home: 49
Daughter's daycare, a frelling 3-minute walk away gets 59?
Either the algorithim needs a bit of work, or I'm not driving enough.
Paul
Great idea! But, sadly, very inacurate - I live in the Annex with half a dozen coffee shops within 200-400 meters but the program found the closest one at 1.25 miles away! Other omissions very just as glaring - the Bloor cinema was missing, the Shoppers, etc... too bad! But if they improve the accuracy, it could be a perfect tool for searching a new neighborhood - although you can do the same on Google maps: plug in the address and then Find Businesses...
My neighbourhood got a 72, but the list of places missed the school one block from my house, the corner store I get my fruit and vegetables at (two blocks), the two nearest coffee shops (one and two blocks respectively), a few of the nearest bars, all the downtown movie theatres, my local library branch, and most of the local clothing stores. If it missed that much *everywhere*, then at least relative scores could be good, but as it stands it's not a very accurate representation of available services.
I got a 43 out in South-West Etobicoke... the closest cinema they suggested was 43.66 miles away in Niagra Falls, New York.
Oh wait, even better, the closest school in Youngstown, New York... and here I thought my hour trek by TTC to my highschool was a huge pain in the ass.
Otherwise, it was ok, though completely missing the No Frills a 10 minute walk awa and suggesting one that I don't even think exists.
Most of the complaints seem to focus on one or two details (missed schools and cinemas, misclassifications), yet if you look at the numbers for one neighborhood or another, it seems to get things about right since it uses many more data points.
From posts so far: Yonge & College, 80; Parliament & Carlton, 72; Yonge & Davisville, 68; West Queen West, 66; Leslieville, 60; southwest Etobicoke, 43.
York University (score 68) is an interesting case. In one way it's quite isolated, yet aside from going for groceries (or actually getting off campus to have a life), one can get or do most things within the confines of the campus.
Add these to the list:
Little Italy: 78
Ossington/Davenport: 71
St. Lawrence: 68
Port Credit: 66
Bllor/Coxwell: 63
Harbourfront: 60
Forest Hill: 62
Queen/Roncesvalles: 57
Brampton (Heart Lake): 22
Can't say I'd agree with all, but most I would. I get far higher scores for American addresses of friends, so I think we can all safely add about 15 points, and 10 more for a subway within a kilometer. Gives me 103 for Little Italy!
Um, I typed in my address at Woodbine & Danforth and it's been thinking ever since. I think my address broke it.
10 minutes later, still nothing. Yeah, great site.
Working now, and we get a 66/100. Slightly better than Coxwell, which I can only assume is because there's a grocery store at Woodbine. Coxwell is a much better hood.
@GMD: I agree it's doing pretty well regardless (especially for giving a rough idea), but it's just amusing how far off some of the picks are ... 40 miles for a cinema nearest someone in Leslieville? None in the downtown core!
0/100! Whoo.
Keep in mind that the site isn't even really designed, yet, for Canadian users. I came across it because of Lifehacker and just inputed my address to see if maybe, just maybe, it'd work. And it did. Kind of. Roxanna got in touch with the site's owners and, as she mentioned, "they're preparing their international code and hoping to beef up the Canadian support later this week."
...and that'll be awesome when they do so.
More comments about walkscore here: http://www.blogto.com/city/2007/07/how_walkfriendly_is_your_neighbourhood/
Same picture. Same writer?
Same photographer contributed to both Flickr pools, but their article was written a day after ours.