Note: This post was originally published on August 22, 2008.

Since moving downtown, I find myself walking 300% more than I ever walked living in the burbs. I walk for my health, pleasure, shopping, eating out, grabbing a drink and running miscellaneous errands. With rising gas prices, walking all helps on the budget.

I noticed that cities are starting to be ranked and graded on their “walkability”. A site called Walk Score, gives downtown 50309 a score of 89 out of 100 possible points. Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle—not how pretty the area is for walking.
Here are general guidelines for interpreting a score:

• 90–100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
• 70–89 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
• 50–69 = Somewhat Walkable: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
• 25–49 = Car-Dependent: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
• 0–24 = Car-Dependent (Driving Only): Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

I was playing around this weekend and learned out to take an image and make Google Map tiles out of it. I took a great downtown map and used this approach with it and you can check it out below. If you want a full-screen version, try here.

The Google Maps team has just added a full-screen option for Google Maps Street View. I really like this option as it makes exploring downtown Des Moines via street view even more stunning.

To launch a Street View in full-screen mode just click on the the View Larger Map at the bottom of the map and then press the button at the top right of the Street View.

View Larger Map

As many of you may already know, I’m a gadget geek and I love technology, hence the blog and the job with Wells Fargo Financial technology. One of my favorite gadgets, and one that I never leave home without, is my iPhone. I’m one of “those” that got one day 1 over well over a year ago. I use it for all kind of things in addition to making and receiving phone calls. In since this blog is about Downtown, I wanted to share a few ways that I use my iPhone around downtown as well as talk about some of the exciting things other cities around the country are creating for “location-aware” devices, primarily the iPhone.

To begin with, let me share with you one of the most innovative ideas I’ve seen a city come up with to promote their city and to provide free tools to their residents. The city I’m speaking of is Washington, DC. Their Mayor and the cities’ Chief Technology Officer (I’m not sure if the City of Des Moines even has this position?) developed an innovation contest and gave away up to $20,000 worth of cash prizes to take the cities’ data and build applications that use that data to benefit residents and tourist of the DC area. Wow! What a great way to get creative tools built. Can you image if Des Moines sponsored a contest like this? The Des Moines area is full of creative technology folks and with all the technology jobs here in our area, we would be sure to have some great innovations submitted.

So what has been submitted thus far:

DC Location-Aware Realtime Alerts – iPhone users can download this free app from the App Store to see the location and type of crimes that have been committed near them in near realtime. They can also see the nearest metro station based on their current location, including the next two inbound trains in each direction.

More applications… Read the rest of this entry »

Budweiser has decided to brew a new beer, the Budweiser American Ale. The beer is brewed with caramel malted barley and has a ‘noticeably citrus aroma’. If that has you thirsty for a cold one, you can use the new Bud Map to find the nearest bar in downtown Des Moines that serves the ale.

To use the map just enter your zip code and the nearest bars will be shown on the map. The map should help you find the way to your nearest bar – although there are no promises that you will able to find your way home again. Please remember to drink responsible, and call a cab when needed.

For those traveling to Des Moines that need a place to stay overnight, downtown Des Moines has seven hotels for them to choose from. Those seven are:

• Downtown Marriott
• Embassy Suites
• Holiday Inn Downtown
• Hotel Fort Des Moines
• Quality Inn & Suites Event Center
• Renaissance Savery Hotel
• Suites of 800 Locust Street

Now I’m not in the hotel business but the number of hotels we have downtown seems a little limited. Not only in choices (i.e. no five star hotels) but also in the number of rooms for the size of the city (1,745 rooms by my count) and the events that we are currently drawing. There have long been talks of a new hotel near the Iowa Events Center as well as turing one of the older buildings downtown into a boutique-style hotel, but to-date nothing concrete has appeared. I think we could use a hotel in the Court Avenue neighborhood, and one towards the west-end of the Western Gateway Park as well as a another near the Iowa Events Center that is connected via the skywalk.

I did some research on a lot of different travel sites and complied together in one place some information on our six downtown hotels. Hopefully this will help you or your visitors decide where to stay based on their needs when visiting downtown Des Moines. I think first you should be aware of the “star rating” system that is being used:

These are hotels that offer only the highest level of accommodations and services. The properties offer a high degree of personal service. Although most five star hotels are large properties, sometimes the small independent (non-chain) property offers an elegant intimacy that can not be achieved in the larger setting. They are generally located in the heart of downtown or in resort locations. The hotel lobbies are sumptuous, the rooms complete with stylish furnishing and quality linens. The amenities often include: DVD players, CD stereos, garden tubs or Jacuzzis, in-room video library, heated pools and more. The hotels feature up to three restaurants all with exquisite menus. Room service is usually available 24 hours a day. Fitness Centers and valet and/or garage parking are typically available. A concierge is also available to assist you. Typical National Chains: Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, W. Downtown Des Moines: None

Read the rest of this entry »

Last month I wrote a post on Des Moines finally making it on Google’s Street View tool. Why Google’s Street View is very cool, it could get even cooler. It was published today that a new satellite has been launched into space will provide Google with even more unprecedented resolution.

It’s a joint venture between a commercial satellite imaging provider and the Department of Defense. In return for undisclosed terms, Google got two considerations: its logo on the side of the launch vehicle, and exclusive use of the mapping images that the satellite produces. The new satellite hardware is a significant improvement over previous generations. Its camera drops the resolution of images down from a meter to half that figure—apparently, the hardware goes down to 0.41m.

Until Google publishes pictures from that new satellite, here’s a new tool added to our Downtown Maps page that allows you to see downtown three different ways simultaneously:

1. With Google Street View
2. With Google Street Maps View
3. With Microsoft’s Bird’s Eye View

A full screen version of the tool is more fun to play with and is available as a link under the tool. Please just don’t use these tools on your mobile device while driving, as this post’s picture shows what can happen.

Read the rest of this entry »

A factor in a lot of people’s decision to move somewhere is the crime rate. So I thought I would set out and try to do some research and find out what’s Des Moines’ crime rate compared to some other mid-western cities and what crimes are happening here in the local area.

I moved to the Des Moines area from Fort Lauderdale, Florida back in May of 2003. Based on feelings alone I think Des Moines has a pretty low crime rate, I mean you hear about a shooting now and then on TV, but those almost always come from the East Side or South Side of Des Moines. At least that’s my perception. Currently, Des Moines has about 360 police officers on the force.

A recent report on WHO-TV though says that ‘s been a violent year so far in the Des Moines metro area. Accordingly, the metro area has seen more homicides in the first seven months of 2008 than it did overall in 2007. Last year, eight people were murdered in Des Moines. So far this year, nine people have been the victims of homicide. The Des Moines Police Department has stated that since 2005, every one of Des Moines’ murder cases has been solved and that the vast majority of murder cases are not random acts. Officials say overall, from burglaries to graffiti, it’s been a busy summer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Since moving downtown in March, I find myself walking 300% more than I ever walked living in the burbs. I walk for my health, pleasure, shopping, eating out, grabbing a drink and running miscellaneous errands. With rising gas prices, walking all helps on the budget.

I noticed that cities are starting to be ranked and graded on their “walkability”. A site called Walk Score, gives downtown 50309 a score of 89 out of 100 possible points. Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle—not how pretty the area is for walking.
Here are general guidelines for interpreting a score:

• 90–100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
• 70–89 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
• 50–69 = Somewhat Walkable: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
• 25–49 = Car-Dependent: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
• 0–24 = Car-Dependent (Driving Only): Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

Read the rest of this entry »

Des Moines has finally made it to the big time, we are among the few cities that have had their downtown’s added to Google Map’s Street View application. Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps that provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level. When it was launched on May 25, 2007, only five American cities were included.

Google Street View displays photos that were previously taken by a camera mounted on a car, and can be navigated using either the arrow keys on the keyboard or by using the mouse to click on arrows displayed on the screen. Using these devices, the photos can be viewed in different sizes, from any direction, and from a variety of angles. Lines that are displayed along the street that is shown indicate the direction followed by that street view camera car.

Trying it out your self at maps.google.com