Walkscore only for a few countries?

Sounds like this would be something your LEED Coach can advise on. Have you tried asking them?

I looked for alternatives and did not see any. Would it hurt to submit the credit doc with Walkscore and see if GBCI pushes back? Unfortunate when LEED does not translate credit options like this to non-U.S. locations and I feel as though a good part of the onus is on them in this kind of situation.

Hi Maria.  As Tristan mentioned, there isn't clear guidance here for using this streamlined Option 3 on international projects.  One other option to consider, in the absence of a roadmap for this, would be finding a published, third-party scientific study from a journal that maps neighborhood walkability near your project site.  For instance, for Stockholm, this peer-reviewed study from 2011 compares the walkability of 32 different neighborhoods and ranks them.  You can check to see what parameters are used to assess 'walkability' and confirm that these are similar to what WalkScore uses, i.e., access to amenities (land-use mix is a proxy), block length, intersection density, and so make the case for equivalence.  You'd be able to translate whatever walkability score the particular researchers found for your particular neighborhood to WalkScore by scaling appropriately - WalkScore ranges from 0-100, divided into quantiles.  Even, say, for instance, the study groups Swedish neighborhoods qualitatively, by low, moderate and high walkability - those could roughly translate to WalkScores of <33, 33-67 and >67. It may be worth discussing with your LEED Coach if you are contacting them.

Yeah, I guess Walkscore for only selected countries. I hope everyone can use Walkscore.

By the way, I just noticed that while the online Reference Guide indicates we'll get 8 points for our Walk Score of 96, the new v4.1 credit form (v02) only indicates a maximum of 5 points.  Not sure which is correct, but just be aware of this discrepancy when you're calculating possible points for the project.  

I let usgbc know of this discrepency. Max of 5 points is allowed in v4.1 NC. 

They made a mistake and copied the CI chart over to NC. 

CI allows up to 8 points for Walkscore. 

some additional background, a couple years ago me and a few others lobbied usgbc to award points for Walkscores. LEED v4 O+M: Multifamily awards projects for Walkscores, so why not the other v4 rating systems??? They initially said no because many locations around the globe are not provided with a Walkscore. My response "so let these projects use Opt 1 and 2". 

From my experience Opt 1 + Opt 2 typically achieves one additional point when compared to points achieved from the Walkscore. 

Thanks so much, David, for the above information and for letting the USGBC know about the issue.  And thank you for helping push the Walk Score option through as it makes documenation so much simpler.  

Maria P, Please advise if you received any direction or confirmation for using Walkscore for your project.  We are in a similar boat, the Walkscore is very favorable and we would like to count on the additional 2 points. However, project not fully registered/activated yet to be able to ask LEED Coach oursleves. 

Any lessons learned would be appreciated. Thanks.

(1) additional point is available to CS v4.1 projects if the project is located on a site whose surrounding existing density within a ¼-mile (400-meter) offset of the project boundary is 35,000 square feet per acre of buildable land....my guess is that the Opt 3 point scale was simply not adjusted to include all (6) points available to CS project through Opt 1 + Opt 2. 

If the project's Walk Score is 90+....then there is a good chance that all (6) points are available if you complete the density and diverse use calcs. 

I have found that Opt 1 + Opt 2 typically achieves one more point when compared to the points awarded from the Walk Score. A strategy of mine has been to turn on the points available from the Walk Score early in the project and then near the end of the project if we are looking for the 50th or 60th point I evaluate the Density / Diverse Use calcs to pick up another point. 

sure, I'll connect up with the Location & Transportation category expert within the USGBC and post their response. stay tuned.

I got a response from LEED Coach regarding the 6th point in CS through option 3 and according to them only 5 points are available for CS through option 3. It's really too bad since the project is in the city center and is clearly elligible for all 6, so it would have been nice to skip the surrounding density credits. Their exact response was:

A LEED v4 BD+C: Core and Shell project is eligible to earn points using the project location’s walkscore, by substituting the LEED v4.1 version of Surrounding Density and Diverse Uses and following Option 3. Under Option 3 a LEED v4.1 Core and Shell project can earn 1 –5 points. If the walkscore for your project is 93 this would earn the project the full 5 points. 

A project following Option 3 is not eligible to earn any points under Options 1 or 2, therefore the maximum number of points available is 5 if using walkscore. 

Hopefully things will change for CS projects!