Walk Score
| Name | Walk Score |
| Logo |  |
| Logo Alt | Walk Score logo |
| Type | Walkability services |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Url | https://www.walkscore.com/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Optional |
| Owner | Redfin |
| 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, 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 a 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 and lower mortgage default risk.
The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
History
Walk Score was founded in July 2007 by Mike Mathieu 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.
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.
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.
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.
In April 2013, the company launched Travel Time API.
In September 2014, the company launched crime maps.
In October 2014, Redfin acquired the company.
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.
See also
References
- How a high 'walk score' boosts your home's value, Daniel, Goldstein, MarketWatch, August 11, 2016, limited
- 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
- How Walkable Is Your Neighborhood?, Max, Roosevelt, The New York Times, August 10, 2008, limited
- Web Site Takes a Pedestrian View, Kathleen, Hom, The Washington Post, August 7, 2007
- Walk Score® Launches Transit Score™ and Commute Reports, PR Newswire, August 16, 2010
- Walk Score Takes Wraps Off Slick New Apartment-Locating Tool, Devin, Coldewey, TechCrunch, September 26, 2011
- Seattle-based Walk Score gets $2 million from investors, The Seattle Times, January 20, 2012
- Walk Score propels forward with $2 million, promises commutes that 'don't suck', JOHN, COOK, GeekWire, January 13, 2012
- Startup of the Week: Walk Score, Aislyn, Greene, American City Business Journals, February 21, 2012
- WALK SCORE LAUNCHES BIKE SCORE, Carolyn, Szczepanski, League of American Bicyclists, May 16, 2012
- Walk Score Launches Bike Score, Sarah, Goodyear, Bloomberg News, May 14, 2012
- Walk Score tool measures neighborhood access for restaurants, schools, coffee, TAYLOR, SOPER, GeekWire, April 11, 2013
- live, September 24, 2022, Walk Score Launches Crime Map, Sarah Anne, Hughes, WAMU, September 9, 2014
- Redfin Acquires Walk Score, Business Wire, October 22, 2014
- Redfin buys Walk Score, marking first acquisition in company history, JOHN, COOK, GeekWire, October 22, 2014
- 'Walk Score' Is Great, But it Still Doesn't Capture 'Walk Appeal', Sarah, Goodyear, Bloomberg News, September 20, 2011, subscription
- Vanderbilt, Tom, Walking in America: How Walk Score puts a number on walkability, Slate, April 12, 2012
- The value of walkability and Walk Score inaccuracies, ROBERT, STEUTEVILLE, Congress for the New Urbanism, September 19, 2016
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.
External links
Category:2007 establishments in the United States
Category:2014 mergers and acquisitions
Category:Companies based in Seattle
Category:Online companies of the United States
Category:Internet properties established in 2007
Category:Walking in the United States