Parking Score measures how a city’s parking lot land use compares to other cities with similar metropolitan area populations. All red highlighted area on the map indicates an area where the land that’s primary purpose is parking passenger vehicles. A low parking score means the city devotes much less land in its central neighborhoods to parking than the average. Conversely, a high score translates to more land dedicated to parking compared to the average for a city of that size. This scoring system was created to evaluate cities on an equal basis and should not be used outside of this context.
What is included on this map?
This map generally includes surface parking and above ground parking structures which are marked on OpenStreetMap and/or visible in Google Maps imagery. It does not include underground or podium parking (parking lots that take up the first several floors of a building).
What does “Central City” mean?
“Central City” is a term invented for this map to encompass the densest, most centrally located, and most valuable real estate in a metropolitan area. “Central City” is a blanket term for a city’s Central Business District, Downtown, Financial District, or adjacent connecting neighborhoods of interest. For example, New Orleans’s Central Business District seamlessly connects with the World Renowned French Quarter Neighborhood. These areas were combined into the Central City of New Orleans. For details on each city boundary see this detailed methodology.
