Mark Laabs :: The Blog Social enterprise, travel, and a bit of politics

walkscore.com

Through a status update by J J Raynor (who is doing fascinating work in Malaysia these days, by the way), I came across walkscore.com.

It fills you with the same sort of fascination as zillow.com did when it first came out.  Essentially, it looks up all sorts of restaurants, gyms, transit options, etc. on Google Maps, and uses the density of these facilities around your home to determine just how walkable your place is.

It was fun to play with.  My friend Warren’s house in Tribeca accurately comes back as a “Walker’s Paradise.”  Interestingly, my home in Memphis (one of the least walkable cities I have ever found) comes back with a half decent score largely because we happen to be close to a giant strip mall that most Memphians who lived across the street would still drive to.

Either way, check out your score, and, if your house isn’t walkable, I hope it is at least bikeable!