Go take a walk
Can you walk from your home to a grocery store, library or movie theater? How about from your office? Check out Walk Score to determine just how pedestrian-friendly a location might be. You simply enter an address into the search field, and the site offers a "walk score" based on the proximity of parks, shops, restaurants, schools and all those other necessities. The site's mission: "We help homebuyers , renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods. Walk Score shows you a map of what's nearby and calculates a Walk Score for any property. Buying a house in a walkable neighborhood is good for your health and good for the environment." I'd think it would also be useful to a business interested in attracting foot traffic, and wanting to know about nearby facilities. The site recognizes that it's algorithms can't account for features like highways or bodies of water that might make a route impassable on foot. But