Walkscore has arrived to Chiang Mai...

[Thighlander]

A "walkscore" is a score from 0-100 indicating how easy it is to do things on foot from any address you give it.  I was looking on Priceline for hotels in Bangkok, and I noticed they had integrated it into their site.  Checked on Chiang Mai, and it's there.  You can go directly to their site and type in an address and get a score;  www.walkscore.com   This has been around for at least five years, and people use this a lot in determining where to buy/rent/live.  If you feel your score is a lot lower than it should be; you can add local businesses, like coffee shops parks, libraries and that will boost the score.  It looks like the hotels have already made an effort to boost their scores by marking a lot of mom and pop businesses.  It improves itself over time.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Interesting!   And great to see that our in-town property gets a score of 87. 

 

However, looking at the specific places on the map, most are completely wrong; either wrong location, or a non-signficant shop listed as a shopping venue, cinemas that haven't existed in 20 years, etc. 

 

The resulting score however does seem reasonable.

[Thighlander]

It has it's nuances...I've seen cases, where a property got points because it was next door to a bookstore.  Turns out it was an adult bookstore, complete with the booths and 25 cent movies.  I was shocked to see my place by CMU is rated as "car dependent," when in fact I have never seen a more walkable place, complete with two bars, a restaurant, and a coffee shop on the adjacent property.  The places in backpacker land will likely have the highest ratings.

 

 

[Chicog]

It has it's nuances...I've seen cases, where a property got points because it was next door to a bookstore.  Turns out it was an adult bookstore, complete with the booths and 25 cent movies.  

 

 

 

So not enough points then?