Methodology and sources
Current method version: v1
What we measure
CityPulse describes the structure of an area, not what is happening right now: reachable green space, trees, services on foot and the character of the urban fabric. Every number has a source, a year and a stated threshold.
The city is divided into H3 hexagonal cells at resolution 9, about 0.1 km² each. An address is mapped to the cell that contains it: the profile describes the walkable surroundings, not the single building.
All distances are measured along the pedestrian network at 4.8 km/h (80 m per minute): 5 minutes are about 400 m. Only tree canopy is measured as the crow flies, within 500 m, because it describes an area and not a route.
The scores
Standard score
Geometric mean of public green space, tree canopy and services on foot, with equal weights. Each value counts as at least 1, so a single zero does not wipe out everything, but a serious shortfall is not offset by the other indicators. It is the same for everyone and comparable across cities.
Your score
The same geometric mean, with the weights from 0 to 4 that you choose. If you state a preferred density, the match with the area also counts (100 in the same class, 50 in the next class, 0 in the opposite one) with weight 2.
Position in the city
The share of the municipality's residents who live in areas with a lower score for you. Cells without residents are not counted.
Missing data
Missing data never counts as zero: the indicator is left out and the other weights are renormalised. Areas with incomplete data show a warning.
Bands
- 0–39 poor
- 40–59 fair
- 60–79 good
- 80–100 excellent
Thresholds and curves (v1)
Each indicator becomes a value from 0 to 100 with a linear curve between two thresholds, anchored to published standards or practice.
| Indicator | Scores 100 | Scores 0 | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local green space (≥ 0.5 ha) | ≤ 400 m | ≥ 1,200 m | WHO: 0.5–1 ha within 300 m; Natural England equates 300 m with a 5-minute walk |
| Neighbourhood park (≥ 10 ha) | ≤ 1,000 m | ≥ 2,000 m | Natural England: 10 ha within 1 km |
| Tree canopy | ≥ 30 % | ≤ 0 % | 3-30-300 rule (Konijnendijk 2023) |
| Food shop | ≤ 400 m | ≥ 1,600 m | Walk Score: full score within a 5-minute walk |
| Pharmacy | ≤ 400 m | ≥ 1,600 m | Walk Score: full score within a 5-minute walk |
| Doctor | ≤ 800 m | ≥ 1,600 m | 15-minute city: daily services within 10–20 minutes |
| Nursery school | ≤ 800 m | ≥ 1,600 m | 15-minute city: daily services within 10–20 minutes |
| Primary school | ≤ 800 m | ≥ 1,600 m | 15-minute city: daily services within 10–20 minutes |
| Bus, tram or water bus stop | ≤ 400 m | ≥ 800 m | Industry standard: 400 m |
| Metro or train station | ≤ 800 m | ≥ 1,600 m | Industry standard for rail: 800 m |
| Road noise (Lden) | ≤ 53 dB | ≥ 70 dB | WHO 2018: 53 dB Lden; 70 dB is the typical level of a motorway |
| Annual mean PM2.5 | ≤ 5 µg/m³ | ≥ 25 µg/m³ | WHO 2021: 5 µg/m³; EU limit from 2030: 10 µg/m³ |
| Departures per hour, 7–9 am on a weekday | ≥ 60 /h | ≤ 0 /h | v1 assumption, to be calibrated: one departure a minute from nearby stops |
| Nearest playground | ≤ 400 m | ≥ 1,000 m | Fields in Trust (UK): a local play area within 400 m on foot, a neighbourhood one within 1,000 m |
| Nearest protected cycle lane | ≤ 300 m | ≥ 1,000 m | ITDP, “People Near Protected Bikeways”: a protected lane within 300 m; zero at 1,000 m is a v1 assumption |
Public green space = ⅔ local green space + ⅓ neighbourhood park. Services on foot = mean of the six categories; for transport the better of stop and station counts. For tree canopy the curve rises: 0 at 0%, 100 from 30%.
Character of the area
Population density (residents per km² within 500 m): low below 1,500, medium up to 10,000, high above. Land-use mix (normalised entropy from 0 to 1): single use below 0.3, mixed up to 0.6, highly mixed above. The classes are assumptions to be calibrated on the pilot cities.
Preset profiles
| Profile | Public green space | Trees nearby | Services on foot | Quiet | Frequent transport | Nearby playgrounds | Cycle lanes | Preferred density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | High |
| Family | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | Medium |
| Over 65 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Medium |
| Working from home | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Low |
| Commuter | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Medium |
Data sources and licences
- OpenStreetMap: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0.
- Copernicus Urban Atlas: free access, with source attribution.
- Eurostat, 2021 census grid: reuse with attribution.
- Public transport timetables (GTFS): ATM via Comune di Milano, CC BY; Trenord via Regione Lombardia, CC BY 4.0; Tper, CC BY 3.0 IT; data source GTT S.p.A. – Gruppo Torinese Trasporti, www.gtt.to.it, for non-commercial use; ACTV; Roma Servizi per la Mobilità, CC BY-SA; Cotral; ANM; EAV, IODL 2.0; AMAT Palermo via Comune di Palermo, CC BY 4.0 (tram CC BY-SA 4.0); AMT via Comune di Genova, CC BY 4.0; Autolinee Toscane, GEST and Trenitalia via Regione Toscana, CC BY; Trentino Trasporti, CC BY 4.0; AMTAB; CTM, CC BY 3.0 IT; ARST and Trenitalia via Regione Sardegna, CC BY 4.0; TEP Parma; AMTS Catania, IODL 2.0; ATM Messina via Comune di Messina, CC BY.
- Air quality: interpolated maps from the European Environment Agency (EEA), CC BY 4.0. Meant for comparisons at European scale, not for checking compliance with legal limits.
- Playgrounds: City of Milan (play areas, CC BY 4.0), City of Bologna (play equipment, CC BY 4.0), City of Turin (children's play areas, CC BY), City of Genoa (municipal play areas, CC BY 4.0), City of Florence (play areas, CC BY 4.0), City of Padua (public park play equipment, CC BY 4.0), City of Verona (play areas, CC BY 4.0) and City of Pavia (green areas, CC0 and CC BY 4.0), together with OpenStreetMap.
- Search step maps: Natural Earth, public domain.
- Milan NIL boundaries: Comune di Milano, CC BY.
- Base map: OpenFreeMap, with data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
CityPulse is a free, non-commercial service. The code is released under the Apache 2.0 licence. The derived data contain OpenStreetMap data and follow the ODbL; the transit frequencies of Rome and Palermo derive from CC BY-SA timetables (Roma Servizi per la Mobilità; AMAT for the tram) and are shared under the same licence.
Privacy
- The address search runs entirely in your browser: what you type never leaves your device.
- Shared links point to a cell of about 0.1 km², not to the house number.
- No cookies and no account. Preferences stay in the page address and, for convenience, in this browser tab. Your profile, if you save it, stays in this browser only and is never sent anywhere.
- Map tile requests reveal to the map service which area you are looking at, as with any web map.
Change log
- v1 · First version: core of public green space, tree canopy and services on foot; noise, air and transport frequency planned where data exists.