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How we derive the scores

  1. We start with every address in the country

    We work from the official national address list rather than from property listings. Every home is scored before anyone asks about it, whether it is on the market this weekend or has never been listed at all.

  2. We map what is around it

    Then we find what is nearby: shops, schools, parks, stations, GPs, cafes, pools and libraries. That is close to 200 kinds of place in all, sorted into the eight categories that appear on an address profile.

    See every kind of place we count

  3. We walk the route rather than draw a circle

    Most tools measure in a straight line, or along the roads a car could drive. We follow the way a person on foot would actually go, including the track through the park and the laneway shortcut, so the distance we score is the distance you would walk.

    A straight line of 400 metres against a walking route of 900 metres A home and a park sit 400 metres apart in a straight line, but a fence runs between them, so the walking route around it is 900 metres. Park 400 m 900 m Home
    The park is 400 metres away in a straight line. The only way in is around the fence, which is a 900-metre walk. We score the 900.

  4. We go finer than the suburb

    Two ends of the same street can score differently, and they should: one end is four minutes from the station and the other is fourteen. A single number for a whole suburb averages that away and tells you nothing about the house you are standing in front of.

  5. Closer counts for more

    A five-minute walk counts for much more than a twenty-five-minute one, and past about half an hour we stop counting altogether. A supermarket you would drive to is not doing the same work as one you pass on the way home.

  6. Then we compare

    A count of nearby cafes means little on its own, so every score is a comparison. A Transport score of 92 means the address beats 92 out of every 100 addresses in its city. We run the same comparison against the council area and the suburb, so you can see whether an address is strong for the city as a whole or only for the street it sits on.

    What each score band means
    Score What we call it What it means
    90–100 Exceptional Better than 9 out of 10 addresses in the city
    75–89 Strong Better than 3 out of 4 addresses in the city
    50–74 Above average Better than the typical address in the city
    25–49 Below average Below the typical address in the city
    0–24 Limited In the bottom quarter for the city

  7. What we do not measure

    A geoscore says nothing about price, crime, noise, air quality, the view, the neighbours or how the light falls in the afternoon. We would rather be clear about the gaps than claim to cover everything.

    What we do show is the sort of thing a listing leaves out: busy roads, industrial land, flight paths, level crossings, and waste and power infrastructure.

  8. How often it changes

    We update what we know about an area as our sources change, and re-score the addresses it affects.

  9. Found something wrong?

    If a shop has closed, a school has moved or a path has opened, tell us. We would rather hear it from you than wait for the source to catch up.

    Report an issue

Try it on an address you know

The method is easier to judge on a place you can already picture. Search somewhere you have lived and see whether the numbers match what you remember.

Search an address