The Wide World of Walking Equipment

Walkability Map Walking Equpment

There’s been a study making the rounds of late that has some good news for walking enthusiasts. Its’ conclusion is a bit of a surprise given the spread out/car oriented nature of the American culture. Simply stated, the study’s findings states that the higher the “walkability” of a neighborhood the higher the home values.

The Study Sponsor

The study was commissioned by CEO’s for Cities, a association of civic, educational, business and philanthropic individuals and groups dedicated to building and developing better, more sustainable cities. It examined 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 major cities across the US and compared the home value of with a “walkability score” developed by walkscore.com. It found that in 13 of the 15 markets studied, the higher the “walkability score” the higher the home values.

“Wakability Score”

What is the “Waklability Score” exactly. It a process developed by walkscore.com that calculates the proximity of a specific address to nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. using Google maps to do the plotting. It then applies its’ algorithms which assigns a value representing how many and what type of amenity destinations are located within a short distance (generally between one-quarter mile and one mile) of that location. It assigns a weight to each destination category and the result is an index ranging from 0 to 100.

90-100 – is considered a walkers paradise where everything can be done on foot and you don’t need to own a car

70–89 – is a bit more challenging but its still possible to get by without owning a car.

50–69 – is considered somewhat walkable with some stores and amenities within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require transportation

25–49 – car dependent – only a few amenities are within easy walking distance. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.

0–24 – completely car dependent : Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. Think farm house

A couple of things it’s not or doesn’t do. It doesn’t measure how pleasant or unpleasant the walk may be. You could live in a crime ridden neighborhood but have all the amenities close at hand. It follows straight lines in calculating time/distance from the amenities. And it doesn’t take into account walking amenities like the availability of side walks. However despite these short comings it is a crude but telling measure of how walk enabled a neighborhood is.

Home Value

The home values were adjusted for the characteristics of individual housing units. Such things as size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and age as well as for the neighborhoods were they were located including the neighborhood’s income level and accessibility to employment.

Results The study showed a positive correlation between ‘walkability score’ and housing prices in 13 of the 15 housing markets studied. In the typical market, an additional one point increase in “Walkability Score” was associated with between a $700 and $3,000 increase in home values. If You want to read the complete study click here. All in all good news for those of us who enjoy walking. Not only does it improve our health, fitness and well being, it may make us a bit wealthier as well. Not bad. If you wold like to check you neighborhood’s “Walkability Score” click here Interestingly, of all the cities studied Las Vegas was the only one with a negative correlation. Surely has something to do with gambling but for the life of me I can figure out what it might be. If anyone has any thoughts, put them in the comments section. I’d love to hear them.

Technorati Tags: google maps, guides, home value, Las Vegas, maps, walking, walking aids

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At home you have your walking route all planned out. You know where your going, how long it’s going to take and how far you will go. But now your on vacation or traveling away on business. Your in a new city and unfamiliar with your surroundings. You don’t want to hang up your walking gear for the duration of your stay. What do you do? You could just head out and “play it ear” without any idea of where or how far you’re going but that’s difficult at best. But hold on there is a better way….Google Maps.

Google Maps enables you to plot out a walking route around your current location and calculate its’ millage. It gives you a street level view of route enabling you to avoid potentially troublesome areas and provide you with landmarks along the way. You can email or print it, even create a hyperlink.
 

How do you take advantage of this great walking aid? Lets take it step by step. First get a Google account if you don’t already have one. Next sign in and get into the Google Maps application. Put the full address of the starting point of your walk in the box at the top of the page. The click on “search maps”. That will bring you to a closeup map of the location, identified by a red balloon.

At this point you can begin creating your customized walking route map. Start by clicking on “My Maps” in the upper left. Then click “create a new map”. Give it a name and description. You can make it public or private as you wish. Next locate the three symbols at the upper left hand corner of the map. They are a hand, a balloon and a crooked line, The hand is used to move the map about and the last two are used to create your route. Click on the blue balloon which will create a placemark and then click on or near the red balloon. This will set a reference point to which you can return if needed. Next step is to hover over the crooked line and select “draw line along roads”. A cross hair will appear. Place the cross hair near your blue placemark and click. This creates you starting point. Slowly move the cross hair along a particular route that looks appealing. When you get to you first four way intersection click again. A second small circle along with a box will appear. You’ll see a distance number appear inside the box. Continue to move the cross hair slowly along the streets you are considering walking. You’ll see the distance number changing as you do. Continue on until you have reached about half your targeted walking distance and click again. Another small circle will appear. Now you can begin to plot your way back to your starting point. Once you’ve return click again and hit “Done” to the left of the map and your finished.
 

The Google Maps application is designed to plot the shortest route, so it may automatically try to change your route along the way. If you don’t want it to re-plot just click at the point where it starts its’ re-plotting process. That will establish another set point (small circle) and you can go on from there. Using it may take a bit of getting use to but with a little practice you’ll be able to get your routes planned and plotted quickly and effortlessly.

Once you’ve got your route saved you can then examine it in detail from street level view, a satellite view, get an idea of terrain, email, print it or create a hyperlink. Google Maps is really an amazing and highly useful piece of software that should take it’s place alongside your shoes, socks and other pieces of walking equipment.

Technorati Tags: google maps, guides, maps, street level view, walking, walking aids

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