{"id":2569,"date":"2007-12-12T14:30:50","date_gmt":"2007-12-12T18:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2569"},"modified":"2007-12-12T23:32:09","modified_gmt":"2007-12-13T03:32:09","slug":"rating-the-walkability-of-your-neighbourhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/12\/12\/rating-the-walkability-of-your-neighbourhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Rating the walkability of your neighbourhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2256\/2105348485_cc9d66670b.jpg\" height=\"451\" width=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the fall, I stumbled across an interesting web site called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.walkscore.com\/\">Walk Score<\/a> dedicated to rating the walkability of neighbourhoods. Originally, it was only available for American users but it recently added Canadian cities. So I tried it out.<\/p>\n<p>It compiles the location of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.walkscore.com\/how-it-works.shtml\">specific types of amenities<\/a> in your neighbourhood (grocery stores, bars, caf&eacute;s, restaurants, parks, fitness, bookstores, libraries, hardware stores, etc.) and measures how far away they are. The lower the distance, the better the score. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.walkscore.com\/how-it-doesnt-work.shtml\">What it doesn&#8217;t rate<\/a> is urban\/pedestrian design, block lengths, and accessibility to public transit (!). All the locations and amenities are culled from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/apis\/maps\/\">Google Maps API.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The score assigned to your entry is out of 100. Anywhere between 0 and 50 is a non-walkable\/must drive neighbourhood. A score between 51 to 70 is considered somewhat walkable area but a person needs a vehicle for some errands; 71 to 90 is very walkable, while 91 to 100 is considered a walker&#8217;s paradise.<\/p>\n<p>I tried it out for a few of the places I have lived. My current place in Parkdale scored a 45. My first apartment in the Annex, one block south and east of Spadina and Dupont, scored 57. My former Bloor and Dufferin apartment (and I mean right above the subway station) scored only a 65. Spacing&#8217;s office, located just north of Queen St. West on Spainda, scored a measly 72.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, these scores don&#8217;t reflect my real life experiences of walking, living and working in these neighbourhoods. My Parkdale place is quite walkable, with many amenities nearby, yet it scored in the &#8220;for most errands, driving or public transportation is a must&#8221; category. Spacing&#8217;s office should be considered a walker&#8217;s dream come true with locations of everything within a 2 minute walk, yet it is ranked in the &#8220;it&#8217;s possible to get by without owning a car&#8221; category.<\/p>\n<p>Besides not including public transit as an important walkability indicator, these criticisms are not necessarily the fault of Walk Score. Instead, the lack of information  on amenities inputted into Google Maps limits the effectiveness of what could be a very valuable web-based resource for residents, businesses, and those searching to buy or rent a new home.  This is a shame since this site has the potential to be one of the best publicly available tools to gauge whether our cities are as pedestrian-friendly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the fall, I stumbled across an interesting web site called Walk Score dedicated to rating the walkability of neighbourhoods. Originally, it was only available for American users but it recently added Canadian cities. So I tried it out. It compiles the location of specific types of amenities in your neighbourhood (grocery stores, bars, caf&eacute;s,<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/12\/12\/rating-the-walkability-of-your-neighbourhood\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Rating the walkability of your neighbourhood&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,6],"tags":[7621,244,1109,857,316,2532,7620,1492,7619],"class_list":["post-2569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-walking","tag-api","tag-dupont","tag-google","tag-public-transportation","tag-queen","tag-st-west","tag-walk-score","tag-walker","tag-web-based-resource"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rating the walkability of your neighbourhood - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/12\/12\/rating-the-walkability-of-your-neighbourhood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rating the walkability of your neighbourhood - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the fall, I stumbled across an interesting web site called Walk Score dedicated to rating the walkability of neighbourhoods. 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