Here's an interesting web app that uses Google's mapping service to calculate a walkability score for a given address. The score is based on proximity of stores, services, and parks, among other factors.
http://walkscore.com/index.shtml
Some scores:
Our house (Mayo Meadow): 43
17th & Trenton (Swan Lake): 69
36th & Owasso (Brookside): 74
Tribune Lofts (Brady Village): 66
97th Pl & Hudson: 34
109th & Louisville: 2
My house got a 34.
I can't walk to many businesses, but my house is also right by the Mingo Creek walking trail. The trail entrance is 50 yards from my front door.
The program gave us a bad score in part because the nearest park was .83 miles away. I would take our pond filled with fish and wide jogging trails over a park any day.
Mine was 69.
My neighborhood got a 57. I think it deserves a little higher. The number was lower because the nearest grocery store is over a mile. However, we do have a convenient store just around the corner. Not some place I would shop regularly, but a great place when making dinner and you realize you need a loaf of bread, milk, or something small like that. Also, I think that its important to take into account more than just the distance. It matters whether the distance is pedestrian friendly. Are there sidewalks on the way? Is the store/restaurant/bookstore surrounded by a huge parking lot (someplace you are not likely to walk to)? But it is interesting to compare the differences throughout the city.
I got a 63 but the map is waay out dated. Still has Childrens Medical Center by the highway. Lists a restaurant that doesn't exist, No mention of OU Tulsa and many of the new restaurants, bike trail right by my house, etc. Its a neat feature though, thanks for sharing.
Ours scored a 60, but it's artificially high. The map shows businesses on the west side of US169 as being within walkable distance. Sure, they're only 1/4 mile away, but they're across that heavily traveled highway. Realistically, they're about 1.5 to 2.5 miles away, and most people wouldn't walk that far. It's an easy 10 minute bike ride, though.
My apt south of 41st on Garnett got a 45.
My old stomping grounds in Rogers Park, Chicago got a 69.
I'm not sure about the methodology... I'm never gonna walk much over a half mile to/from anywhere... especially if it looks like it could rain. When my car broke down and needed to be fixed, was pleasantly surprised that the whole 41st and Garnett area was reasonably walkable... except that the snow trucks clearing the roads made those sidewalks unwalkable...
I find the Tribune Lofts score a little odd... no walkable grocery store... that's kind of a big deal, no?
quote:
Originally posted by USRufnex
My apt south of 41st on Garnett got a 45.
My old stomping grounds in Rogers Park, Chicago got a 69.
I'm not sure about the methodology... I'm never gonna walk much over a half mile to/from anywhere... especially if it looks like it could rain. When my car broke down and needed to be fixed, was pleasantly surprised that the whole 41st and Garnett area was reasonably walkable... except that the snow trucks clearing the roads made those sidewalks unwalkable...
I find the Tribune Lofts score a little odd... no walkable grocery store... that's kind of a big deal, no?
****ty site. didn't see the aldi's right across the street from me and 'found' a pharmacy that is an open field. after all that madness I still got a 58.
Detached single family dwelling unit in Riverview neighborhood = 69
Former apartment (also in Riverview) = 72
Former apartment in Garden City, Kansas = 78
Former home (parents' home) in Independence, Kansas = 60
That's funny. I got a 62. Mid-Continent Concrete company passes for a hardware store, and we have a new movie theatre...Via Stream Media corporation. A little suspect I think.
quote:
Originally posted by USRufnex
I find the Tribune Lofts score a little odd... no walkable grocery store... that's kind of a big deal, no?
Oh yeah - the fact that there are no groceries for miles is an annoyance. I got a 78 and live at 3rd/Cincinnati. The grocery annoyance certainly isn't big enough to keep me from living here though. Love, love, love living downtown!
Oooh.. I got a 12 for our house.
quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
That's funny. I got a 62. Mid-Continent Concrete company passes for a hardware store, and we have a new movie theatre...Via Stream Media corporation. A little suspect I think.
Hmmmm-I know for a fact we don't live so far apart. Why did you get five points higher? And I can't wait to catch the Simpsons at that new movie theater in our neighborhood.
My neighborhood scored a 42; a figure inflated by the fact that it shows businesses where there are actually homes.
YO! I got a 26?!? And I live in one of the more walkable hoods in this City, they didn't count RiverParks, Woodward Park, or Vetrans. Didn't catch any of the bars at 18th/Boston or DoubleShot.
We walk all over this area from Brookside to Utica Sq. to Cherry St. to 18th/Boston to the River and mostly on sidewalks and only scored a 26? I'm calling BS on that.
I got a 37. But I dont really agree with it. I think it should be lower. My neighborhood is only walkable to me because I walk to the trail and run almost everyday. But other then that I would say not very walkable at all.
My block near 15th & Harvard got a 51.
Moving the survey down to 15th & Delaware it got a 57.
It considers the TU law library as our local library. [}:)] It also considers Fiesta Mart as my local grocery, and Turner Park the nearest park. No mention of Florence Park nor Gary Park which is only two blocks away. It calls "At The Beach" my local fitness center. It also calc'd Ed's Hurricane Lounge as the closest bar when University of Wash is a much closer option (not that I would drink there).
As far as "true" quality of life, there is no mention of pizza, nor the closest liquor store.
Great ad revenue generating tool for Google and that's about it.
I got a 35 and those include points for being within walking distance of my favorite bookstore (Pennwell), Indo Pak Grocery Store and Moda 2000 clothing store, oh and the Cimarron Bar. I probably would have scored more if they had considered the ParT Lounge and The Causual Cocktail.
My neighborhood is great for just walking, however. Long streets, a nice walking trail at the nearby park, etc. I can walk easily to Big Lots and Super Saver, a Fiesta Mart, Braums and other places.
52 for my part of Florence Park.
My parents old house east of Owasso got ZERO!
62 for 28th and Harvard.
I had at least 5 choices in every category they listed. Problem area's:
Parks - they did not count the parks around EIS for some reason. So the closest park was 1 mile away.
Movie Theaters - 1 mile. Not a priority.
Strip Club and Coffee Shops: .75 miles (again, not a priority).
- - - -
Other than the parks, it seems to have done a really good job. I guess it considers anything > .5 miles or so against you and really punishes > 1 mile. Fun link.
ps. My friend at Franklin and Green in San Fran got a 95. [:P]
It might have an obesity factor which assumes all Oklahomans are fat and lazy and wouldn't walk more than a half mile for anything. [}:)]
Not even for the strip club?
No thanks, more than happy w/ what I got at home. Who was the comedian who said:
"What's with these guys who leave huge tips for Hooters girls? I mean they think they are going to score just because of a big tip? Only way they're going to score is by lying to them!"
[}:)]
I can't picture what strip club is around 31st & Harvard...
59th & Yale - 69
If only the Market at Kingspointe had lived... but that was a disaster from the getgo. High prices, average product and a high percentage of perishable goods do not a success story make. Would like to see something like the Bud's before it there, since it still stands empty. But, this is the King-Davis sisters we are talking about.
quote:
Originally posted by pmcalk
quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
That's funny. I got a 62. Mid-Continent Concrete company passes for a hardware store, and we have a new movie theatre...Via Stream Media corporation. A little suspect I think.
Hmmmm-I know for a fact we don't live so far apart. Why did you get five points higher? And I can't wait to catch the Simpsons at that new movie theater in our neighborhood.
I probably got a few more points for pulling my beater Trooper up into the driveway.[;)]
I'm near 31st and Mingo & I got a 45.
Does this mean I have a 45% chance of getting struck by a stray bulllet?
I would hope for better odds
quote:
Originally posted by jiminy
59th & Yale - 69
If only the Market at Kingspointe had lived... but that was a disaster from the getgo. High prices, average product and a high percentage of perishable goods do not a success story make. Would like to see something like the Bud's before it there, since it still stands empty. But, this is the King-Davis sisters we are talking about.
hey, but it was fun to take advantage of their little fire sale. got lots of 'average' goodies for real cheap.
My house: 0 points. That is accurate.
New apartment at TU: 52
6th & Cincinnati, downtown: 82
To show that this method is flawed, 71st & Memorial (75) scored higher than Brookside AND Cherry Street (both 71).
While taking all the shopping, dining, etc. is important, it's not the only factor in walkability. I'd rather walk Cherry Street or Brookside than 71st Street any day.
The app seems highly flawed. It listed a running store under music and orange julius as a bar.
I did get a 49. But I'm close to dead center of a square mile so I don't consider that particularly bad.
My neighbrohood got a 68!!
Good deal!
I live on 33rd and Peoria, Heart of Brookside.
I got a 55.
This website is lame.
My old address at 1400 block of Trenton was a 69.
My current address at 19th and Cincinnati is a 62.
I'd much rather be at the latter of the two though.
Speaking of walking neighborhoods-why oh why cant people keep their dogs on leashes? I either see dogs that get out of the backyard roaming the neighborhood or people walking their dogs without any restraints.
Have any of you been to Sustainable Tulsa's website and taken the footprint quiz. It is very good. My only complaint it that it doesn't address people who work from home. (there are some days I never leave the house).
Anyway, check it out
http://www.sustainabletulsa.com/
I live near 111th and Mingo and scored 2. However, with all the development going on just a mile west on Memorial, I suspect the score will go up soon.
Oh well, I like 2.
68 for 7100 S Memorial Ave Tulsa 74136
I think this might not refect the reality of actually walking in the area.
quote:
Originally posted by mac
Have any of you been to Sustainable Tulsa's website and taken the footprint quiz. It is very good. My only complaint it that it doesn't address people who work from home. (there are some days I never leave the house).
Anyway, check it out
http://www.sustainabletulsa.com/
I've taken that quiz--I got an 18. My only complaint is that it doesn't break things down enough. For example, when it asks how much you drive a week, I had to check between 10 and 100 miles. There's a big difference between those numbers. Also, for housing, it lumps all houses above 2500 square feet together. My house is slightly above that (with three kids, we need that space), but I know plenty of people that live in houses of 4000 square feet or larger. Also, it doesn't ask you basic questions, like do you recycle.
House in Broken Arrow I grew up in: 19
Mom's new house in Claremore: 3
Student hall of residence on Fitzroy Street, Central London: 95
Townhouse on the Isle of Dogs, London: 64
College Room in terrace house in Cambridge: 60
Mansion flat in Wiesbaden, Germany: 71
Ignoring the fact that public transport is not taken into account, one of the biggest flaws I see seems to be the distance walk score thinks grocery stores are from the various houses I've lived in.
It says the nearest grocery store to Fitzroy Street is 2.1 miles. I would guess there are hundreds within a radius that large. On the Isle of Dogs, walk score says the nearest grocery store is 3.96 miles. An ASDA (Wal-Mart) is about a 10 min. walk away. Finally, in Wiesbaden the nearest supermarket to my flat is apparently 8 miles. In reality, there are at least 3 within 1/2 a mile.
Besides that, the methodology is flawed. Its a heck of a lot easier to live without a car at any of the locations I've lived in Europe, and many of them received lower scores than locations in central Tulsa.
Just because commercial activies are nearby to residences as the crow flies does not mean that they are easy to access on foot in a fast, efficient manner.
Boulevard des Capucines = 62
(http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255-s01/mapping-paris/images/Monet-Blvd_Capucines_smaller.jpg)
41st & Yale = 80
(http://blogs.salon.com/0002296/images3/41st%20yale%20protester%20sharp%201%2030%20crop.JPG)
But, it's an interesting exercise. It makes you think about what "walkable" means. (And, it makes you realize that we only started using "walk" as an adjective when it became an unusual event for us - given the built environment we've created for ourselves.)
41st and Yale would be very walkable... if people would actually walk. That is to say, its the cars that make it a problem at all. Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy to say a city is not walkable.
quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
41st and Yale would be very walkable... if people would actually walk. That is to say, its the cars that make it a problem at all. Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy to say a city is not walkable.
Yes, ambling along a 10 ft. strip of concrete, with nothing but an 8 inch curb between me and a hundred idiots driving their Hummers at 40 miles an hour with a cell phone in there ear, sounds like a pleasant little stroll to me. Window shopping at the many quaint little shops in the area might be a little difficult though -- accross three acres of parking lot.
That's what I mean...
Because people dont think Tulsa is walkable they all have cars (me too!)... so we all drive. So the streets are high speed high capacity and the sidewalks are too narrow. The shops are all geared for cars too, with vast in front parking and signs high up on the store front. In places where people dont think you can drive comfortably it is the exact opposite (much of Europe, many downtown areas, Manhattan to be sure).
Call it a self fulfilling prophecy or a self reciprocating cycle... whatever. The system and thought process support themselves.