Frequently asked questions
About the scores
What is a geoscore?
It is a score out of 100 for how well an address is served by one kind of thing: transport, schools, shops, parks, healthcare, places to eat, things to do, and the everyday services that make a neighbourhood work. Eight scores, one for each. A Transport score of 92 means the address beats 92 out of every 100 addresses in its city.
How do you work out a score?
We start from the front door and walk. Every distance follows a route someone could actually take, including the track through the park and the laneway shortcut. A five-minute walk counts for much more than a twenty-five minute one, and past about half an hour we stop counting. Then we compare the address against every other address in the same city, council area and suburb.
What counts as a good score?
90 and above puts an address in the top tenth of its city for that category. 75 and above puts it in the top quarter. 50 is the typical address. Below 25 is the bottom quarter. Which of those matters depends on what you want: a low Entertainment score is a quiet street, and plenty of people are looking for one.
Why does the house next door have a different score?
Because we measure the walk from each front door rather than giving the whole suburb one number. Usually neighbouring houses come out the same. Where they do not, it is a corner, a dead end, a level crossing or a footbridge doing the work, and that difference is real.
What do you not measure?
Price, crime, noise, air quality, the view and the neighbours. We would rather be straight about the gaps than claim to cover everything.
Will you tell me what is wrong with a place, or only what is good?
Both. Alongside the eight scores we show potential detractors: busy roads, industrial land, flight paths, level crossings, waste and power infrastructure. It is the part of a location nobody selling the place will raise, and it is often the thing a buyer wishes they had known.
Using the site
Is it free?
Yes. Searching an address and reading its profile costs nothing and needs no account. Create a free account if you want to save the places you are considering and come back to them.
What is walkability search?
It works the other way round from an address search. Instead of naming a place and reading what is near it, you name the things you want near you, say how far you are willing to walk to each of them, and the map shades in the areas of a whole city that match.
Can I save what I find?
Yes, with a free account. You can save addresses and walkability searches and come back to them, which is what makes comparing a shortlist over a few weekends bearable.
I cannot find an address
It is usually a new build or a recent subdivision that has not reached the official address list yet. Try the street without the unit number first. If it still does not come up, tell us and we will look into it.
Where the information comes from
Which addresses does this cover?
More than 16 million Australian addresses, in every state and territory, whether or not the place is on the market.
Does this work outside the capital cities?
Yes, with one thing to keep in mind. Regional and rural addresses are covered and the walk to what is nearby is worked out the same way. But the comparison is made against the closest capital city region, so a country town will often score low across the board simply because it is being held against a capital. Out there, the list of what is nearby and the walk to each of them is the more useful part of the page.
How often is this updated?
We refresh the map of what is nearby as new information reaches us from the sources we use, and re-score the addresses it affects. We do not promise a fixed cycle, because we would rather say that than publish a schedule we do not keep. A cafe that opened last week may take a while to show up; a train station will already be there.
Something on a page is wrong
Tell us. If a shop has closed, a school has moved or a path has opened, we would rather hear it from you than wait for the source to catch up.
For business
Can I put geoscores on my own site?
Yes. Agencies can add a neighbourhood map and a location report to their listings under their own branding, with one line of code. Companies building a product can go further and read the scores directly.
Do the embeds send us the enquiry?
Yes. A visitor who asks for the location report gives their details to get it, and that arrives in your dashboard as a named enquiry rather than in a shared inbox.
What does it cost?
It depends on how many listings you run and what you want on them, so we would rather work it out with you than publish a number that fits nobody. Tell us roughly what you need and we will come back with a figure.
