Archive for October, 2009

With Halloween fast approaching, it’s important for trick-or-treaters young and old to know where to score the best candy. Walk Score is proud to be one of four criteria Zillow used to put together a handy list of the 5 best Trick-or-Treat neighborhoods in Seattle. The other equally weighted factors are Zillow’s home value index, population density and local crime data.

So which neighborhoods rank highest? Wallingford (90), Queen Anne (81),  Magnolia (61), University District (94) and Capitol Hill (87).

Check out the Walk Scores for all 77 Seattle neighborhoods.

We’re very excited to announce that Windermere Real Estate is now showing Walk Score on all their website listings.

Windermere is a great Seattle success story and is ranked as the largest independent real estate company in the West, with more than 300 offices and 8,000 associates serving communities in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Washington and British Columbia.  Windermere’s website attracts nearly 1 1/2 million visitors each month to view detailed home listings.  Windermere.com is displaying the Walk Score Tile on all listings, such as this beautiful Wallingford neighborhood home in Seattle.  Thanks to the online team at Windermere for their online leadership and use of Walk Score!

Big news!  We’re thrilled to announce that the Rockefeller Foundation awarded a grant to Front Seat (makers of Walk Score) to enhance Walk Score.

We’re using the grant to add public transit, transportation cost, and greenhouse gas emission data to Walk Score.   We’re also going to make Walk Score open source!

Today we are launching WalkScore.org where we’ll make the Walk Score source code publicly available.  We’ll also host forums there for discussing walkability and other improvements to Walk Score. Visit WalkScore.org to sign up for updates.

So what does this mean for you?

• You’ll see public transit stops on the Walk Score map
• Public transit accessibility will be factored into your Walk Score
• You’ll see your predicted transportation cost and greenhouse gas emissions provided by The Center for Neighborhood Technology

We are grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation for their generosity, vision, and support!

Read the press release.

Thank you John D. Rockefeller!