On the Move: Virtually Explore Your Neighborhood

Use digital tools to explore the different ways to get around your neighborhood.

Find your neighborhood

Go to Google Maps. It should focus on your neighborhood right away, but if it doesn’t, click on the “focus” button in the bottom right hand side. It’s circled on the example below.

Google Map screenshot of Baltimore's Inner Harbor with the "focus" button highlighted

Check out the car traffic

Use the “layers” on Google Maps. It’s in the bottom left corner of the screen. When you move your cursor over it, it should come up with several options. The traffic layer is the second one. Green shows that cars are moving fast. Red shows that there is a lot of traffic and cars are moving slower. Where is there the most traffic? Is it always good for cars to be moving fast?

Google Map screenshot of Baltimore's Inner Harbor showing car traffic. Most of it is green showing little traffic.

Find out what the transit options are

The transit layer is the third option over. It will show bus and train stations. Click on a station to get more information about it. You can find directions to or from the station by clicking on the button with the arrow. You can save it by clicking on the button with the ribbon. Is there a bus or train station near you? Why do you think there is or isn’t?

Google Map screenshot of Baltimore's Inner Harbor showing the transit layer. There are a number of bus stops and a few train stops.

Look at biking options

The “biking” layer shows if there are bike lanes, shared use roads, or paths in your neighborhood. Dark green lines are paved trails, dotted dark green lines are unpaved trails, light green lines are bike lanes, and dotted light green lines are bicycle-friendly roads. Are there any trails or bike lanes in your neighborhood? Are any of the roads biking-friendly? Do you agree with what Google Maps says is bicycle friendly?

Google Map screenshot of Baltimore's Inner Harbor with the biking layer on. There are a number of trails and bike-friendly roads.

Explore what it’s like to walk down the street

To see what it’s like to walk down a street, select Street View. Drag the little yellow person to a place on the map. If you searched for a place (like your house), you can also click on the photo on the bottom left-hand of the screen. Street View isn’t available everywhere, but many places have it.

Google map of Baltimore focused on the Federal Hill neighborhood. There is a red circle around the Street View icons in the bottom right corner.

A photo of the street should come up. You can click around to move back and forth down the street. You can check out if there are sidewalks and how wide they are. You can also see if there are bike lanes or how crowded or big the street is to bike on.

Find out how easy it is to walk, bike, or take transit in your neighborhood

The website WalkScore.com rates how easy it is to get to and from important places in and around your neighborhood without a car. The ratings go from 0 to 100, with 0 being the worst and 100 being the best. It provides scores for walking, biking, and taking public transit. It also compares your neighborhood to other neighborhoods in the same city. What score does your address have? Is it better than other places in your city or worse? Do you agree with the scores they give?

Screenshot from WalkScore.com of the Federal Hill neighborhood in Baltmore. It gives a walk score of 96, a transit score of 69, and a biking score of 80.

What did you learn about your neighborhood by exploring it with these tools? How do you think you can use these tools to get around in different ways?