Is your house close enough to the amenities of life to be car-free? What about your next house? A new web site promises to help you figure out how walkable your neighborhood really is by rating how far you have to go on foot to do your errands and have a good time.

Walk Score, which is essentially a Google Maps mash-up, has you enter your address. It then shows for you on a map how close a variety of services, ranging from restaurants to schools to drug stores, are in terms of realistic walking distance. This overall closeness is rated as a Walk Score through a special algorithm, with five categories from "Walkers' Paradise" to "Driving Only."

While they admit the Walk Score isn't the final say in what makes a neighborhood walkable, it's nice to see sites like this sprouting up to help us determine the right neighborhood to live in if the desire to leave your car in the garage is important.

EcoGeek's writers' houses ranged from WalkScore 15 (eek!) to WalkScore 75 (very walkable.)

Via: Triple Pundit

See Also:
-WalkIt.com MapQuest for your Feet-