Walk Score is the first large-scale, public access walkability index. According to the Washington Post, "Walkscore.com 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."^[1]

Contents 1 Algorithm 2 Walkability rankings 3 See also 4 References

[edit] 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."^[2]

There are a number of relevant factors that the index does not consider:^[3]

• Street design
• Sidewalk availability
• Safety of the neighborhood
• Barriers in the route between the starting point and the amenity, such as needing to cross a highway
• Topography
• Frequency of bad weather in the area
• Whether the buildings are built far back from the road
• Percent of other people in the area that walk to work or do not drive (i.e. prevalence of car culture as opposed to sidewalk culture)

[edit] Walkability rankings

In July 2011, the website ranked the 50 most populous cities in the United States according to walkability.^[4]

1. New York, NY
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Chicago, IL
5. Philadelphia, PA
6. Seattle, WA
7. Washington, DC
8. Miami, FL
9. Minneapolis, MN
10. Oakland, CA

[edit] See also

• Walkability
• Racewalking

[edit] References

1. ^ "Web Site Takes a Pedestrian View." Washington Post 7 Aug 2007
2. ^ Walkscore.com
3. ^ Known Issues with Walk Score
4. ^ [1]