Walk Score Explained

Walk Score
Logo Alt:	Walk Score logo
Type:	Walkability services
Language:	English
Headquarters:	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Commercial:	Yes
Registration:	Optional
Owner:	Redfin
Founder:	Mike Mathieu Jesse Kocher Matt Lerner Josh Herst
Current Status:	Active

Walk Score, a subsidiary of Redfin, provides walkability analysis and apartment search tools. Its flagship product is a large-scale, public access walkability index that assigns a numerical walkability score to any address in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Walk Score is a type of automated efficiency model focused on location efficiency. A Walk Score, as well as a Bike Score and Transit Score, may be assigned to a particular address or an entire region, and the company maintains a ranking of the most walkable cities in the United States. Products for computer programmers include Travel Time API. Higher walk scores have been correlated with higher property values^[1] and lower mortgage default risk.^[2]

The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

History

Walk Score was founded in July 2007 by Mike Mathieu ^{[3] [4]} and aided by Matt Lerner, Jesse Kocher, and Josh Herst, formerly of Madrona Venture Group.

In August 2010, the company launched Transit Score to help users understand the proximity of public transport to an address.^[5]

In 2011, Walk Score unveiled an apartment search tool that locates available housing based on commute time to a given location. The tool calculates commute times for various modes of transport including walking, cycling, driving, and public transit.^[6]

In January 2012, the company raised $2 million from angel investors, including Geoff Entress, Shel Kaphan, former chief technology officer of Amazon.com, and Rudy Gadre, former general counsel of Facebook.^{[7] [8] [9]}

In May 2012, the company launched Bike Score, a quantitative measure of bikeability to/from an address based on the availability of bike lanes, hilliness, road connectivity, nearby amenities, and the percentage of people in that area who bike to work.^{[10] [11]}

In April 2013, the company launched Travel Time API.^[12]

In September 2014, the company launched crime maps.^[13]

In October 2014, Redfin acquired the company.^{[14] [15]}

Criticism

Walk Score has been criticized for the limits of its accuracy and relevancy in methodology and results. Specifically, Walk Score doesn't calculate whether there are sidewalks, how many lanes of traffic one must cross, how much crime occurs in the area, or what the weather is typically like. It also doesn't differentiate between types of amenities, for example, a supermarket grocery store versus a small food mart selling mostly chips and liquor.^{[16] [17] [18]}

See also

• Walkability
• Bicycle-friendly
• New Urbanism
• Permeability (spatial and transport planning)

Further reading

• Stephanie Y. Rauterkus, Grant I. Thrall, and Eric Hangen, 2010. "Location Efficiency and Mortgage Default" Journal of Sustainable Real Estate (JOSRE), Volume 2, No. 1.
• Brewster, Mark, David Hurtado, Sara Olson, and Jessica Yen. 2009. "Walkscore.com: A New Methodology to Explore Associations between Neighborhood Resources, Race and Health." Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health.
• Carr, Lucas J., Shira I. Dunsiger, and Bess H. Marcus. 2010. "Validation of Walk Score for estimating access to walkable amenities". British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Notes and References

1. News: How a high 'walk score' boosts your home's value . Daniel . Goldstein. . August 11, 2016 . limited.
2. Walk Score: The Significance of 8 and 80 for Mortgage Default Risk in Multifamily Properties . Gary . Pivo . Journal of Sustainable Real Estate . June 18, 2020. 6 . 187–210 . 10.1080/10835547.2014.12091859 . free .
3. News: How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood? . Max . Roosevelt . . August 10, 2008 . limited.
4. News: Web Site Takes a Pedestrian View . Kathleen . Hom . . August 7, 2007.
5. Walk Score® Launches Transit Score™ and Commute Reports . . August 16, 2010.
6. News: Walk Score Takes Wraps Off Slick New Apartment-Locating Tool . Devin . Coldewey . . September 26, 2011.
7. News: Seattle-based Walk Score gets $2 million from investors . . January 20, 2012.
8. News: Walk Score propels forward with $2 million, promises commutes that 'don't suck' . JOHN . COOK . . January 13, 2012.
9. News: Startup of the Week: Walk Score . Aislyn . Greene . . February 21, 2012.
10. News: WALK SCORE LAUNCHES BIKE SCORE . Carolyn . Szczepanski . . May 16, 2012.
11. News: Walk Score Launches Bike Score . Sarah . Goodyear . . May 14, 2012.
12. News: Walk Score tool measures neighborhood access for restaurants, schools, coffee . TAYLOR . SOPER . . April 11, 2013.
13. News: Walk Score Launches Crime Map . https://web.archive.org/web/20220924090542/https://dcist.com/story/14/09/09/map-walk-score-launches-crime-map/ . live . September 24, 2022 . Sarah Anne . Hughes . . September 9, 2014.
14. Redfin Acquires Walk Score . . October 22, 2014.
15. News: Redfin buys Walk Score, marking first acquisition in company history . JOHN . COOK . . October 22, 2014.
16. News: 'Walk Score' Is Great, But it Still Doesn't Capture 'Walk Appeal' . Sarah . Goodyear . . September 20, 2011 . subscription.
17. News: Vanderbilt . Tom . Walking in America: How Walk Score puts a number on walkability . . April 12, 2012.
18. News: The value of walkability and Walk Score inaccuracies . ROBERT . STEUTEVILLE . . September 19, 2016.