Walk Score, a subsidiary of

Redfin Redfin Corporation, based in Seattle, operates a residential real estate brokerage in 95 markets in the United States and Canada and in other markets via partner/referral agents. Its business model includes charging home sellers below-averag ...

, provides

walkability Walkability is a term for planning concepts best understood by the mixed-use of amenities in high-density neighborhoods where people can access said amenities by foot. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport ...

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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, and Australia. Walk Score is a type of

automated efficiency model An automated efficiency model (AEM) is a mathematical model that estimates a real estate property’s efficiency by using details specific to the property which are available publicly and/or housing characteristics which are aggregated over a given ...

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 An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

. Higher walk scores have been correlated with higher property values and lower mortgage default risk. The company is headquartered in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

History

Walk Score was founded in July 2007 by Mike Mathieu, aided by Matt Lerner, Jesse Kocher, and Josh Herst, formerly of

Madrona Venture Group Madrona Venture Group is an American venture capital firm, founded in 1995 and based in Seattle, Washington. Madrona specializes in seed, startup, Series A and early stage investments. Company Madrona was founded in 1995 by Tom Alberg, Paul G ...

. 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 Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from tw ...

, driving, and

public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typic ...

. In January 2012, the company raised $2 million from angel investors including Geoff Entress, Shel Kaphan, former chief technology officer of

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econom ...

, and Rudy Gadre, former general counsel of

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

. 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,

acquired the company.

Criticism

Walk Score 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.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.walkscore.com/ 2007 establishments in the United States 2014 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Seattle Online companies of the United States Internet properties established in 2007 Walking in the United States

History

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading

External links