How "Walkable" Is Your House?
#51
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I think the distances are going to vary for each individual. I know I consider everything with in a 2 mile radius very walkable, 3 miles doable, and some people whine about having to walk a block to the city parking lot. The town we are planning on moving to is highly walkable and very easy to do by bicycle. There is really on one road in town the I would not recommend you ride on. The main part of town is laid out in a grid format so there are plenty of parallel streets to use. Most of all the stores are reachable by side streets or by cutting through parking lots. Just about everything you need is available in town. Only possible exception being high end bicycle parts and a book store. And those items can be ordered. Many people liken the upcoming oil collapse to a roll back to living similarly to the early 1900's....guess how they got stuff? Anybody remember mail order catalogs
Aaron
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"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
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"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
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Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
#54
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Think again.
I walked to get my groceries.
I walked to church.
I walked to my physiotherapist.
I walked to my Dr.
I walked to my tanning salon.
I walked the 4 miles to work in the winter when the roads were too icy for me to ride my bicycle.
There were only 3 places I couldn't easily walk: my chiropractor where I went a handful of times each year, the college where I took some night classes, and my vet where I went once or twice a year. My vet was within walking distance, but not while carrying 3 cats. For those occasions, I used the bus.
I also used the bus a few times when I was redecorating my apartment and wanted to haul home some larger pieces of furniture etc. ... but there was usually a lot of walking involved in those little adventures too.
I only used my bicycle for commuting to and from work. I didn't like to use my bicycle for anything else because I was a bit leary about it being stolen.
When I lived in Winnipeg, I was a skinny little rail of a girl ... I miss all that walking.
I walked to get my groceries.
I walked to church.
I walked to my physiotherapist.
I walked to my Dr.
I walked to my tanning salon.
I walked the 4 miles to work in the winter when the roads were too icy for me to ride my bicycle.
There were only 3 places I couldn't easily walk: my chiropractor where I went a handful of times each year, the college where I took some night classes, and my vet where I went once or twice a year. My vet was within walking distance, but not while carrying 3 cats. For those occasions, I used the bus.
I also used the bus a few times when I was redecorating my apartment and wanted to haul home some larger pieces of furniture etc. ... but there was usually a lot of walking involved in those little adventures too.
I only used my bicycle for commuting to and from work. I didn't like to use my bicycle for anything else because I was a bit leary about it being stolen.
When I lived in Winnipeg, I was a skinny little rail of a girl ... I miss all that walking.
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Last edited by Machka; 07-21-07 at 01:17 PM.
#55
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Hmmph. Don't bother with this test if you live in Canada, or Ottawa anyway. It gave me a score of 44, but pretty much messed up on its tests.
The grocery store list missed BOTH large-chain groceries stores, one of them across the street!
The restaurant and coffee shops list both miss several locations
The bars list is rather weird. Dairy Queen is a bar?
It missed a huge movie theatre complex.
It missed several schools, and the two closest branches of the Ottawa Public Library
It missed the huge Chapters books nearby, as well as the Home Depot.
I know most of these places on are Google Maps, so the filtering used by this site must be wonky. Chexk your won results carefully!
The grocery store list missed BOTH large-chain groceries stores, one of them across the street!
The restaurant and coffee shops list both miss several locations
The bars list is rather weird. Dairy Queen is a bar?
It missed a huge movie theatre complex.
It missed several schools, and the two closest branches of the Ottawa Public Library
It missed the huge Chapters books nearby, as well as the Home Depot.
I know most of these places on are Google Maps, so the filtering used by this site must be wonky. Chexk your won results carefully!
#56
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Hmmph. Don't bother with this test if you live in Canada, or Ottawa anyway. It gave me a score of 44, but pretty much messed up on its tests.
The grocery store list missed BOTH large-chain groceries stores, one of them across the street!
The restaurant and coffee shops list both miss several locations
The bars list is rather weird. Dairy Queen is a bar?
It missed a huge movie theatre complex.
It missed several schools, and the two closest branches of the Ottawa Public Library
It missed the huge Chapters books nearby, as well as the Home Depot.
I know most of these places on are Google Maps, so the filtering used by this site must be wonky. Chexk your won results carefully!
The grocery store list missed BOTH large-chain groceries stores, one of them across the street!
The restaurant and coffee shops list both miss several locations
The bars list is rather weird. Dairy Queen is a bar?
It missed a huge movie theatre complex.
It missed several schools, and the two closest branches of the Ottawa Public Library
It missed the huge Chapters books nearby, as well as the Home Depot.
I know most of these places on are Google Maps, so the filtering used by this site must be wonky. Chexk your won results carefully!
When I put in my address in Winnipeg the program ...
-- doesn't list the large grocery store about 1 km away from where I lived where I walked to get 99% of my groceries.
-- lists a library on the other side of the Assiniboine River ... but there are no bridges at that point, and it would be a very long walk to get to that library by the bridges that actually do exist.
-- doesn't list the library which was actually in my neighborhood, about 1 km away.
-- calls one store by a name it hasn't been called for probably about 7 years.
-- says there are no schools in the area ... but there is a high school about 0.5 kms away, and an elementary school where I walked to attend yoga classes about 1.5 kms away, and a few others just a little bit further than that.
-- doesn't list 3 other large grocery stores a little bit further away, but still sort of in the area.
-- doesn't even list the local Walmart!
Yeah, from looking at the map and what they do list in the way of roads, stores, etc., I'd say it is based on information from approx. 10 years ago. One bridge exists there which was built about in about 1997, but a mall is also on the map and it was demolished in about 1999, I believe.
It also seems to favor the little obscure places shops rather than the larger stores ... Superstore, Safeway, Zellers, Walmart, K-Mart, Extra Foods, and all the bigger, more well known ones aren't on there.
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Last edited by Machka; 07-21-07 at 02:11 PM.
#57
Dubito ergo sum.
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But that's the thing, Google DOES have that info for my area. I type in "grocery store", and it finds all the local big chains and more smaller stores than I new existed. That walkability test site must be filtering the results incorrectly, or mis-using the Google API.
#58
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I scored a 36. However, the grocery stores it showed were at least nine miles away in another town even thought there is one four blocks away. No mention of the super Xmart 2.5 miles away. It even showed a restaurant that has been out of business for more than five years. Some of the movie theaters are more than 40 miles away. Yeah, that's walking distance. However, they got all the local bars spot-on.
#59
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Well I scored a 97 but I do live downtown Chicago so I already knew that I could pretty much walk to everything. I walk everywhere we aren't car free but our car only gets used about once a month.
#61
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I just did it. It's funny in that it lists lots of commodities that I don't use.
Groceries
According to them, I have a good selection of kosher groceries within 0.3 km and further away (2 km from home) a couple of Indian stores. They missed one decent and two very good fruit and vegetable stores, all within 0,4 km, a medium-size grocery at 0,5 km, and three or four large grocery stores at 1 to 3 km from home, plus a few ethnic stores I might visit occasionally.
I suspect the large groceries weren't found because "Provigo, Intermarché, Loblaws and Métro are not registred as groceries with Google. We don't have Safeways in Québec but we have lots of other choices!
Oh, I tend to walk one way rather than the other because the environment seems better, and I forget a third direction because there are two railway tracks in the way.
Restaurants
It works better only because there are so many. There are 8 listed, all at less than 0,15 km from home, and quite frankly I could list about 20 at less than 0,6 km.
Coffee shops
The software needs to travel 5 km to find 8 of them, except one would need to travel diagonally against the grid or through the mountain to reach those places. Yet I can find 10 of them within 3 km from home, using real streets
Movie theatres
No U.S. brand names, so none was found.
Schools
If you think Canadians are ignorant, it's because there aren't any schools in Montréal or in Canada. At least, that's what Google thinks. The closest schools are 70 km away (actually closer to 100 km by road), in U.S.!
Drugstores and Hardware
I don't recognize my neighbourhood! Where are those hardware stores that I visit regularly? Maybe it's because the neighbouring hardware is called "Ro-Na" rather than "Ace"?
With that, I get a score of 62, for a triplex that is right in the midst of the city (Mile-End–Plateau-Mont-Royal district)
Groceries
According to them, I have a good selection of kosher groceries within 0.3 km and further away (2 km from home) a couple of Indian stores. They missed one decent and two very good fruit and vegetable stores, all within 0,4 km, a medium-size grocery at 0,5 km, and three or four large grocery stores at 1 to 3 km from home, plus a few ethnic stores I might visit occasionally.
I suspect the large groceries weren't found because "Provigo, Intermarché, Loblaws and Métro are not registred as groceries with Google. We don't have Safeways in Québec but we have lots of other choices!
Oh, I tend to walk one way rather than the other because the environment seems better, and I forget a third direction because there are two railway tracks in the way.
Restaurants
It works better only because there are so many. There are 8 listed, all at less than 0,15 km from home, and quite frankly I could list about 20 at less than 0,6 km.
Coffee shops
The software needs to travel 5 km to find 8 of them, except one would need to travel diagonally against the grid or through the mountain to reach those places. Yet I can find 10 of them within 3 km from home, using real streets
Movie theatres
No U.S. brand names, so none was found.
Schools
If you think Canadians are ignorant, it's because there aren't any schools in Montréal or in Canada. At least, that's what Google thinks. The closest schools are 70 km away (actually closer to 100 km by road), in U.S.!
Drugstores and Hardware
I don't recognize my neighbourhood! Where are those hardware stores that I visit regularly? Maybe it's because the neighbouring hardware is called "Ro-Na" rather than "Ace"?
With that, I get a score of 62, for a triplex that is right in the midst of the city (Mile-End–Plateau-Mont-Royal district)
#63
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Likewise, if I were the US general who planned to launch an invasion into Canada, I would probably not use Google as my main reference. Although I might use Google Earth to see if there were any good bike trails into Montreal!
#64
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Plateau Montreal, 64 out of 100.
they certainly leave out a lot.. like my fav portuguese chicken place on St-Laurent
they certainly leave out a lot.. like my fav portuguese chicken place on St-Laurent
#66
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Correction, they do list Canadian places, my house got a 31, they missed:
A drug store at .25 miles
A Fruit market/grocery at .25 miles
A Bakery at .25 miles
4 Schools, a high school at .75 miles and a public school at .5 miles
A coffee shop at .6 miles.
The place they list as a book store, isn't, and never was
They miss a whole plaza at 2.5 miles, that has been there for many years.
They don't officially support Canadian addresses though, so that may be part of the problem.
A drug store at .25 miles
A Fruit market/grocery at .25 miles
A Bakery at .25 miles
4 Schools, a high school at .75 miles and a public school at .5 miles
A coffee shop at .6 miles.
The place they list as a book store, isn't, and never was
They miss a whole plaza at 2.5 miles, that has been there for many years.
They don't officially support Canadian addresses though, so that may be part of the problem.
#67
Sophomoric Member
I think the site is a little crappy. It missed dozens of locations in my hood, including 2 supermarkets that are closer than the one they did list. Also a bigger hardware store closer than the listed one. they listed a couple crappy restaurants and missed a score of good ones.
If you want to know how walkable your neighborhood is, just take a walk!
If you want to know how walkable your neighborhood is, just take a walk!
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#68
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I think the site is a little crappy. It missed dozens of locations in my hood, including 2 supermarkets that are closer than the one they did list. Also a bigger hardware store closer than the listed one. they listed a couple crappy restaurants and missed a score of good ones.
If you want to know how walkable your neighborhood is, just take a walk!
If you want to know how walkable your neighborhood is, just take a walk!
Aaron
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Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
Webshots is bailing out, if you find any of my posts with corrupt picture files and want to see them corrected please let me know. :(
ISO: A late 1980's Giant Iguana MTB frameset (or complete bike) 23" Red with yellow graphics.
"Cycling should be a way of life, not a hobby.
RIDE, YOU FOOL, RIDE!"_Nicodemus
"Steel: nearly a thousand years of metallurgical development
Aluminum: barely a hundred
Which one would you rather have under your butt at 30mph?"_krazygluon
#69
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What 58, how lame I live inner city in Houston and literally have everything with in my reach. The only time I ridden the bus in the past year and half was once to go to the doctor, had a fever and bad cough not in the mood to ride. Mine lists a place that sells refrigeration units as a coffee shop, huh?? Though it did point out a few things I was unaware of.
#70
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My house gets a 93 out of 100. My old condo (which was really in a perfect location) got 98 out of 100!
The fairly rural suburb I grew up in... 9 out of 100.
My inlaws house in a "first ring suburb", only 1/2 mile from most services and the commuter rail, gets 45.
The fairly rural suburb I grew up in... 9 out of 100.
My inlaws house in a "first ring suburb", only 1/2 mile from most services and the commuter rail, gets 45.
#71
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My place gets a 75 out of 100 for walking. I guess that sounds about right, but I usually don't walk further than 2 blocks because at that point it becomes easier for me to ride my bike.
I was surprised by how many "grocery stores" were listed. I only shop at one small corner store and otherwise, it's the larger, cheaper, further-away stores or the farmers' market.
I was surprised by how many "grocery stores" were listed. I only shop at one small corner store and otherwise, it's the larger, cheaper, further-away stores or the farmers' market.
#72
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29....not too good...
the grocery is only .8 miles away, though.
the grocery is only .8 miles away, though.
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Cyclists fare best when they recognize that there are times when acting vehicularly is not the best practice, and are flexible enough to do what is necessary as the situation warrants.--Me
"Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world". ~Grant Petersen
Cyclists fare best when they recognize that there are times when acting vehicularly is not the best practice, and are flexible enough to do what is necessary as the situation warrants.--Me
#73
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I got an 85/100 for my current place.
My old house in the suburbs got a 0/100 - lol
My old house in the suburbs got a 0/100 - lol
#74
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I got a 45. Amazing. We have tons of sidewalks, and the following within 1 mile:
15 restaurants and bars
2 bike shops
3 coffee shops
2 public libraries
half dozen or so parks
elementary school
middle school
high school
2 grocery stores
1 hardware store
1 university
What else do you need? I think that the software must assume some minimum acceptable walking distances. Must be low like 0.25 mile or something. I think 2 miles would be more like it. Heck, my 4 and 6 year olds walk two miles round trip to the ice cream store.
I think that this would be a good tool for prospective homebuyers/movers if it were much more accurate.
15 restaurants and bars
2 bike shops
3 coffee shops
2 public libraries
half dozen or so parks
elementary school
middle school
high school
2 grocery stores
1 hardware store
1 university
What else do you need? I think that the software must assume some minimum acceptable walking distances. Must be low like 0.25 mile or something. I think 2 miles would be more like it. Heck, my 4 and 6 year olds walk two miles round trip to the ice cream store.
I think that this would be a good tool for prospective homebuyers/movers if it were much more accurate.
#75
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It's funny now that you mention that. I enjoy walking a lot. In fact, if I have time, I prefer to walk in the city (I mean mostly inner city) than to cycle, because I have the time to look at houses, storefronts, people and the like. However, when I go shopping, I often prefer to take the bike simply because its panniers or trailer provide me with a convenient way to carry the stuff home.