In partnership with Future City Glasgow, Walkonomics is excited to announce the launch of their new walkability app for Glasgow. Walkonomics is a free app for iPhone, Android and the web that measures the pedestrian-friendliness (walkability) of streets and neighbourhoods. The app maps and rates each street and footpath in Glasgow for eight key walkability factors:
- Road safety;
- Easy to cross;
- Pavement/Sidewalk;
- Hilliness;
- Navigation;
- Fear of crime;
- Smart & beautiful;
- Fun & relaxing.
Working with Future City Glasgow, Walkonomics has mapped and rated over 20,000 street segments in Glasgow for their pedestrian-friendliness. We have been able to do this by analysing a large amount of the cities Open Data, provided by Open Glasgow, including:
- Over 20,000 street and footpath segments (over 1,300 miles in total);
- Over 87,000 street trees;
- Over 17,000 pavement widths;
- Over 2,500 pedestrian accident locations;
- Over 800 pedestrian crossings;
- Crime statistics;
- Complaints about litter and dog fouling;
- Locations of shops, amenities and parks;
- Slope of streets.
The Walkonomics app also allows local residents and communities to add their own ratings, reviews and ideas for improvement for each street. So Glaswegians who actually walk these streets every day, can give their own opinions on whether a street is pedestrian-friendly or not. Once a street has received over 10 reviews the information is sent to Glasgow City Council.
The app also provides a ‘WalkHood’ map for any location in Glasgow, which shows which parts of your local neighbourhood you can walk to in 5 minutes.
Most pedestrian-friendly streets in Glasgow
Unsurprisingly many of Glasgow’s footpaths and park paths gained the highest ratings of over 4 stars, including a footpath through Garrowhill Park. Other streets that were rated as very walkable include:
Walkable streets and neighbourhoods bring many benefits to cities and urban areas including improving health: a recent study found that cities that are walkable have 42% lower levels of diabetes and 33% lower levels of obesity than car-dependant cities. Walkable streets also help to boost the economy, increasing retail sales by up to 80% and adding up to £30,000 to the value of a home. With the new Walkonomics app, residents and visitors to Glasgow can find, rate and help improve the cities walkability.
Download the apps here:
- iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/app/walkonomics-how-walkable-is/id597789063
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tasol.walkonomics
Images courtesy of Walkonomics and Gee01.
Walkonomics 