How Strado Scores Neighborhoods

Open data, transparent methods. Every layer explained.

What Strado Measures

Strado measures what you can reach on foot from any spot in about 5 to 15 minutes. Not how it feels to walk there, not what it costs, not who lives there. Just the practical answer to "is there a grocery shop nearby."

Strado scores neighborhoods using 22 categories of real-world amenities and infrastructure, sourced from OpenStreetMap. Each category answers one practical question, like "are there grocery shops in walking distance" or "how close is the nearest hospital."

Two composite scores summarise each hex cell:

Daily life -- how well daily essentials are covered in walking distance. Average of 9 essential layers.
Social life -- density of social and leisure options in walking distance. Average of 8 lifestyle layers.

A few layers are not in the composites because they would be unfair or distort the score: beaches (only coastal cities have them), playgrounds (already covered by parks), cycling infrastructure (a network metric, not an amenity), car infrastructure (anti-correlated with walkability), and pet-friendly venues (too niche). They are still shown on the map and on the score card when present.

How Scoring Works

Each city is divided into a grid of hexagonal cells using the H3 geospatial indexing system at resolution 9. Each hexagon covers roughly 0.1 km² (about 174 metres edge-to-edge) -- small enough to capture neighborhood-level differences, large enough to aggregate meaningful counts.

For each cell, Strado counts or measures the relevant amenities within a defined radius (typically 500 m to 1 km, depending on category). Raw counts are normalized using per-city percentile ranking: a score of 80 means that cell is better than 80% of all cells in that city for that category.

How far is "within reach"?

Strado scores what you can reach on foot in roughly 5 to 15 minutes. The exact radius depends on the category:

500 m (~6-minute walk) -- shops, cafes, healthcare, kindergartens, banks, emergency services. Most categories.
1 km (~12-minute walk) -- parks, sports facilities, cycling network length.
Distance to nearest -- schools, healthcare, beaches use inverse distance with caps; in practice nearly all positive scores are within ~15 minutes of walking.

Public transit availability is one of the 22 layers, but the score is asking "what's nearby on foot," not "what's reachable by metro." A neighborhood with great metro access but no shops within 500 m is, correctly, scored as needing a metro ride for groceries.

The score boundary for "city" doesn't matter. We don't draw lines around city centres. Every hex is scored on what's within walking distance of that exact spot.

Letter Grades

Composite scores translate into letter grades:

A+ -- 95-100, excellent
A -- 85-94, very good
B+ -- 75-84, good
B -- 65-74, solid
C+ -- 55-64, mixed
C -- 45-54, average
D -- 30-44, limited
F -- 0-29, very limited

Each Layer Explained

What each category actually measures, what a high or low score means, and what we explicitly do not measure.

Grocery

Counts grocery shops, supermarkets, and convenience stores within 500 m. A high score means you can walk to several places to buy food. Includes corner shops, mini-markets, and large supermarkets without weighting them differently. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Healthcare

Distance to the nearest GP, clinic, hospital, dentist, or pharmacy. A high score means a healthcare option is close by. Pharmacies count separately from clinics, so a neighborhood with one of each scores higher than one with two pharmacies. (distance to nearest, typically within ~10-min walk)

Cafes

Counts cafes, coffee shops, and tea houses within 500 m. A high score means good options for a coffee or a meeting outside the house. We do not score quality, only presence. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Dining

Counts restaurants and bistros within 500 m. Excludes fast-food chains by default. Bars and pubs are scored separately under Nightlife. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Nightlife

Counts bars, pubs, clubs, and live-music venues within 500 m. A high score means there is somewhere to go out in the evening without travelling. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Shopping

Counts non-grocery retail (clothing, books, electronics, etc.) within 500 m. Stand-alone supermarkets are not included; they are under Grocery. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Public transit

Counts bus, tram, metro, and train stops within 500 m, weighted by service frequency from local GTFS data where available. A high score means you can get a ride somewhere within a short walk and a short wait. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Parks & green space

Total area of parks, gardens, forests, and similar green space within 1 km. Scored by area, not just count, so one large park scores higher than one tiny pocket park. (1 km radius, ~12-min walk)

Education

Distance to nearest schools, colleges, and universities. Includes primary, secondary, and higher education. We do not score school quality -- that is not something OpenStreetMap can answer. (distance to nearest, typically within ~10-min walk)

Childcare & kindergarten

Counts kindergartens, nurseries, and other early-education facilities within 500 m. Important for families with small children. Quality and waiting lists are not measured. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Playgrounds

Counts public playgrounds within 500 m. Surfaced as a standalone overlay, not in the composite, because it correlates strongly with parks. Useful for families. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Culture & historic sites

Counts museums, galleries, theatres, libraries, and historic monuments within 500 m. Higher in old city centres and cultural districts. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Sports

Counts gyms, fitness centres, sports halls, and sports clubs within 1 km. A high score means you do not need to travel far to exercise. (1 km radius, ~12-min walk)

Cycling infrastructure

Total length of cycle paths, lanes, and bike-friendly streets within 500 m. Surfaced as a standalone overlay because it is a network metric, not a destination amenity. (500 m radius, network length)

Parking & car infrastructure

Counts car parks, fuel stations, charging stations, and car-rental locations within 500 m. Surfaced as an overlay only -- a high score here is roughly opposite to "walkable", so we leave it out of the composite. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Personal care

Counts hairdressers, barbers, beauty salons, and similar services within 500 m. A small but reliable indicator of "everyday neighborhood" character. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Financial services

Counts banks, ATMs, and money-related services within 500 m. Cash access matters less than it used to but remains useful in some countries. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Emergency services

Distance to the nearest police, fire, or ambulance facility. A high score means a responder is close by if you need one. (distance to nearest, typically within ~10-min walk)

This is not a measure of crime or how safe a neighborhood feels. Police stations are often located in areas with higher reported crime, so a high score can correlate with the opposite of "safe" in everyday speech. Crime statistics are not part of this layer.

Accommodation

Counts hotels, hostels, and short-stay rentals within 500 m. Higher in tourist areas and around stations -- useful if you are visiting, less so if you live there full-time. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Coworking

Counts coworking spaces and shared offices within 500 m. Niche but relevant for remote workers and digital nomads. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Pet-friendly

Counts dog parks, pet shops, vets, and pet-friendly venues within 500 m. Surfaced as a standalone overlay; too niche to weight everyone's score by. (500 m radius, ~6-min walk)

Beach proximity

Distance to the nearest beach. Surfaced as a chip on the score card when score > 0, but excluded from both composite scores because it would unfairly penalize every inland city. Coastal areas still see the chip; inland areas just do not. (distance to nearest)

What Strado Does Not Measure

Honest about the limits:

Crime. OpenStreetMap has no crime data. Police-station presence does not predict it.
School quality. Only presence and distance.
Noise. Not yet integrated into composite scores.
Air quality. Not currently scored.
Prices, rents, cost of living. Outside scope.
"Vibe" or feel. Subjective and impossible to score from open data.

Data Freshness

Strado's data is sourced from OpenStreetMap extracts processed by Geofabrik, refreshed roughly monthly. OSM coverage varies by country -- dense Western European cities tend to be the most complete, while small towns and rural areas can be patchy. Because scores are normalized per city, a city with thinner OSM data is not artificially penalized.

Data Attribution

All geographic data used in Strado comes from OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL). You may copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the data, as long as you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors, and share any adaptations under the same license.

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