‘The Walking Bostonian’ Takes Data Used by Google and Maps ‘Walksheds …

There are many ways to get around the Hub, of course, but one blogger proclaims on Twitter, “Boston is a walking city.” One of the many places Bostonians find themselves walking to – more than they would like, perhaps – is the nearby MBTA station. One city-dweller, “The Walking Bostonian,” who is “attempting to figure out why some cities decline, why some succeed, and how we can help,” has published a “transit walkshed” map, which coordinates walkable areas around T stations.

In a blogpost on “The Walking Bostonian,” the author writes, “I’ve mapped the ‘transit walkshed’ coordinates from the 37 Billion Mile contest.”  The map uses data “based on GIS data published by MAPC combined with schedule data openly published by MBTA in what is called the ‘GTFS’ format.’ That data is used by Google and other software developers to build transit-schedule based applications,” The Walking Bostonian later told BostInno in an email.

@samsternjones @MBTA in the blog I did. It’s based off of @MAPCMetroBoston data so whatever they included. Looks like most key bus stops. — walkingbostonian (@walking_boston) April 6, 2014

(Sidebar: That information can be downloaded by clicking on the link included in the following tweet, posted by the 37 Billion Miles handle.)

“The map that I created is merely a visualization of MAPC’s walkshed data that I thought looked pretty neat, The Walking Bostonian said, “and it shows what you might call the ‘areas of influence’ that each MBTA line and/or key bus route has.”

Essentially, walksheds are accessbile walking areas around a certain location, “ten minutes in this case,” The Walking Bostonian said. The  “transit walkshed” map “shows the rapid transit lines, the Silver Line, and some of the key bus route stop walksheds (others seem to be missing),” according to an earlier blog post.

 

 

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