Does your Neighborhood Walk the Walk?

For all you urban evangelists out there, there's a new tool out there which allows you to graphically emphasize the convenience of downtown or neighborhood living. The site, called Walk Score allows users to see a given neighborhood's "walkability" ranking. Repurposing information fed to it by Google Maps, Walk Score, according to its makers "...helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc."

With a 92 ranking, my neighborhood in Philadelphia should be a "Walkers' Paradise," where "Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car."

True enough, I know many of my neighbors live sans automobile. (But they usually tell me that's because of the high price for auto insurance and the parking problems in Center City, Philadelphia...)