Commuting is stressful enough and long car commutes aren’t good for you, so why would you want to visualize it? A new tool from Trulia might not be helpful for those who already have a set commute, but for people looking to move to a new home these new heat maps, from the online residential real estate site, will certainly be an asset.
Here’s the how they work:
Let’s say I want to move to Hollywood to become a famous actor and I want to live somewhere where my commute is less than 30 minutes. I can type in the location of my work and get a sense of the best places for me to consider living based on my desired commute time.
Or, say, I want to move to New York to work on Wall Street and want a commute, by transit, that’s 20 minutes or less. Here’s where I should consider moving:
Trulia was able to visualize commutes using data from OpenStreetMaps and General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) feeds.
But commute times aren’t the only important factors in choosing a new place to live. With that in mind, Trulia made it easy to find schools, along with their rating from Great Schools. You can also see crimes that have been committed recently in the neighborhood. Nearby amenities like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and banks are also shown on the map.
This first version of the commute maps from Trulia are available in 23 cities throughout the U.S.
