Help in the Search for Walkability

A while back I heard about the website Walk Score and it intrigued me. The basic idea is that you enter your address, and the site calculates a walkability score for you. It maps out your location and whether you're close to things like grocery stores, schools, and parks, and uses that information to determine whether your neighborhood is walkable. It's something I thought about a lot when I was looking for a house, and I think it's a great concept. In practice, though, there seem to be a few kinks to work out. One is how the site categorizes locations; in my case, it considered Orange Julius to be a bar(?). (And apparently, being close to a bar is a good thing.) It also doesn't have a way to take into consideration things like sidewalk availability and how much traffic there is. Where I used to live was an area I considered highly walkable, both because I was close to lots of things and because there were plenty of sidewalks and trails. Yet walkscore.com gave it a low score and called it "car-dependent." Where I live now is pretty walkable too, in my opinion, but it's hampered by a lack of cohesive sidewalks and proximity to a set of busy streets without crosswalks. But the site gives my current location a high score for walkability.

The upshot: despite a few minor flaws, it's a great idea and a pretty good resource, especially if it gets people thinking about choosing where they live based on how easily they can get places by walking. Check out your own address and see what you think.