Patent ID: 8738422

Claim:
A method performed by a computing system for providing location assessments of geographic locations, the computing system having a processor and a memory, the method comprising: receiving a request for a location assessment, obtaining, by the computing system, from a location assessment provider the location assessment for an indicated location, the location assessment including a score, wherein: the score is based in part on distances between the indicated location and each of multiple geographic-related entities having point locations that are situated in the same area as the indicated location; the score is based in part on categories of the multiple geographic-related entities, wherein each of the multiple geographic-related entities belong to a category of geographic-related entities and are stored in a computer-accessible database, and wherein at least one geographic-related entity belongs to two or more of the categories of geographic-related entities; the score is based in part on features situated in the same area as the indicated location but not having point locations or features that otherwise indicate a pedestrian-friendly or bicycle-friendly environment, the features being stored in a computer-accessible database; the score is based in part on a population density metric, the population density metric reflecting a population of the local area around the indicated location relative to the population of a larger region surrounding the local area; the score is determined by: retrieving multiple geographic-related entities and features from databases and weighting distances between the indicated location and each of the multiple geographic-related entities having point locations, the applied weighting being inversely related to the distance and directly related to the existence of features not having point locations or features that otherwise indicate a pedestrian-friendly or bicycle-friendly environment; and retrieving the population density metric and weighting the geographic-related entities and features by the retrieved population density metric; and displaying, by the computing system, a representation of the determined location assessment in conjunction with a representation of the indicated location.