StreetAdvisor Blog

Enjoying a seachange in Australia

The term seachange refers to people who choose to live a less stressful life by finding somewhere near the coast to live. The lure of the beach, whether city or regional, is strong. Here are two recent reviews from two very different Australian beach regions.

At Poplar Street, West Beach, South Australia, Australia (StreetScore 76.70), resident Anders says:

"Poplar Street is positioned to provide great access to arterial roads to the City, Airport and beyond, yet is far enough away for a quiet enjoyment without traffic noise. Easy walking access to local parks (there is even a fully maintained childrens playground in the street), the local primary school and the beach adds to the overall appeal.

My immediate neighbours are elderly, but there are younger families also living in the street. Property is mainly single story dwellings around 30-40 years of age and are all well maintained with several having recently been renovated."

At Astro Avenue, Golden Beach, Victoria, Australia (StreetScore 61.68), resident lyn3840 (who also posted both of these beautiful beach photos) says:

"Terrific place for a holiday house or to retire to. Beautiful clean deserted beaches, 90 MILES of it!! Very quiet and peaceful, Not good mobile reception but we love that part of it. To getaway from work and annoying calls is so relaxing. No eating out unless you want takeaway and no pub, but they do have a bottleshop for the odd tipple or 3. People are very friendly and helpful. Animal friendly as well."

Where do you dream of escaping to? You can find your dream home location in StreetAdvisor.com, and probably see it as well thanks to StreetView. Log in now to see what you can find.

The best and worst streets and provinces in Canada

StreetAdvisor does not have a lot of data on Canada yet, though we are getting regular reviews contributed by local residents. We do have enough data however to prepare a basic comparison of the provinces and to identify the best and worst streets.

In descending order, the scores of the provinces are:

1. Alberta, Canada (StateScore 71.42)
2. Nova Scotia, Canada (StateScore 71.27)
3. Quebec, Canada (StateScore 68.88)
4. New Brunswick, Canada (StateScore 66.49)
5. British Columbia, Canada (StateScore 66.47)
6. Manitoba, Canada (StateScore 64.92)
7. Ontario, Canada (StateScore 62.75)
8. Saskatchewan, Canada (StateScore 61.08)

The best street in Canada is Colleen Crescent SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (StreetScore 88.20), where resident kddavey says:

"Our street is quite possibly one of the nicest streets in our beautiful city. There are approx. 30 homes surrounding a classic inner city park that has a playground for year round use and an ice skating rink in the winter which is almost always in use. We are a block away from our local community school, and a short stroll from hospitals, bike paths, sailing, a major shopping centre and transit, bus and light rail is very convienient.

Besides all the amenities associated with our street and the great curb appeal of our houses is the general attitude of the neighbours where we all are respectful of each others space and it makes for just a fantastic place to live and raise a family.

Every day the kids, and there are plenty of them, have the time of their lives. It is the kind of street that is going to leave lasting memories in our kids' lives for a long, long time. It just feels so safe here and that is a very good feeling to have."

The worst street in Canada is Cusick Crescent, Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada (StreetScore 22.52), where foobar says:

"This area is typical of poor city planning. Row upon row of faceless, monotone suburban housing without any community development, populated by ignorant, cultureless breeders who commute elsewhere every morning."

Thanks to all those Canadians who have already written reviews. Now its' your turn - tell us what's hot and what's not in the streets and cities of Canada at StreetAdvisor.ca.

StreetAdvisor expands local forums

StreetAdvisor is busy building more ways for its community members to share their thoughts about the local places that are important to them. We have recently put some effort into developing our forums, which will become a more important part of the site.

There are two ways you can find the forums. First, you can click on the Forums button in the search header bar at the top of the page. See the screen image below.

Second, you can click on the StreetBoard, CityBoard or StateBoard tab or any street, city or state page, and you will be taken to the relevant forum. By default, a new forum topic is associated with a city and a state. If you wish, you can also associate it with a street. The Forum for Los Angeles, California is shown in the screen image below.

Forums give community members a place to talk about issues that effect neighborhoods and cities that are not necessarily connected to a street or location. Log into StreetAdvisor.com today and write a review or post a forum topic to let everyone know what is important in the world around you.

Places to avoid

All cities have streets that just don't feel right. They are not necessarily bad in an obvious way, but you don't feel comfortable walking there and you also don't want to leave your car there in case it's gone when you return. Here are some recent negative reviews of city streets.

At N 2nd Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, United States (StreetScore 37.51), visitor Zerghumper says:

"Let me start off by saying I did not feel safe walking down this street late at night. That being said there is plenty to do in this area, but unfortunately it's mostly bars so you need to come at night, so in a way its a catch 22, safe and boring by day, dangerous but entertaining by night. The trains tend to rattle your brains as you walk around. I would recommend someplace else unless you're desperate for a drink, this place is not for families."

At E Liberty Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States (StreetScore 27.20), visitor TSchafer068 says:

"Liberty is a long road and one of the main streets near downtown Cincinnati. Although E Liberty St begins at the intersection of Vine St. There not many houses on this street, but mainly gas stations, corner stores what have you. The area is known for having a higher crime rate that other areas of the city as I would suggest its not a good place to live but if you can handle it the rent is cheaper."

At N James Lovell Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States (StreetScore 17.64), visitor Barb1024 says:

"James Lovell is both cultural (thanks to the Milwaukee Public Museum) and no so much (due to large number of homeless people roaming the area and people traveling to the state office building to see their parole agents.) Also on this street, you will find the Police Safety Building, where many people go to pay traffic fines, and the main fire stations, which means a lot of sirens blaring at regular intervals throughout the day and night. For those anxious to get out of town, there are both a Greyhound bus terminal and a Badger bus terminal, almost directly across the street from each other, just north of James Lovell and Wisconsin Ave."

Are there streets near your home or work that you try and avoid? What is it about them that makes you wary? Warn your neighbors by sharing your news on StreetAdvisor.com.

Colorful street life in California

People who don't live in California (StateScore 69.15) tend to view it as a bit 'different', and the reviews we are getting reflect this. Below are three reviews showcasing the colorful street life in different Californian cities.

At Kearny Street, San Francisco, California, United States (streetScore 76.62), visitor ChrisTurk says:

"I saw a transvestite hooker being arrested on Kearny street. No, really, I did. Early evening, right in front of the pizza shop. A crowd gathered and watched as the cop patted down the hooker and the hooker (he? she?) talked smack about the cop, his mother, and the things the three of them did together the night before. Quiet a show. That's all the memory I have of the street and I doubt it's an hourly show, but I bet some creative buskers could recreate it for tourists. Not that I'm certain it was real. Fun for all ages, though."

At India Street, San Diego, California, United States (StreetScore 70.56), visitor renee10 says:

"India street runs parallel to Columbia street and ends at West Broadway. The street is colorful and vibrant with small festivals and programs being held here to promote its locals. The ‘Little Italy Festa’ is an important and popular event on this street where various people participate and cover the street pavements with beautiful drawings. The strange but striking feature of this street is that though its name is India street, the cuisines, clothing and the ambiance here gives a feel of Italy. Its like a small Italy in India."

At Del Paso Boulevard, Sacramento, California, United States (StreetScore 37.23), resident calife says:

"Del Paso blvd is not a good place to live. Its a lower class neighborhood, has a homeless shelter within a 10-15 minute walking distance, and a lot of crime. The city has tried to spruce up the area but I don't think anything can help. People will call it the "artsy " district because it has a lot of local shops but don't let that fool you. Taking a walk down the artsy district can get you robbed. The houses and apartments for rent are very cheap. I found a 2 bedroom apartment for $475/month. But then you have to risk your safety."

How do these streets compare to where you live? Log in and tell us what you see on your local streets at StreetAdvisor.com.

Focus on New South Wales, Australia, part 2

In a recent post about the state of New South Wales, Australia, there were so many good reviews to comment on that I could not fit them all in, so now here is part two on NSW.

At Tangarra Street, Enfield South, New South Wales, Australia (StreetScore 67.14), resident darkrhino93 says:

"This street is so convenient. It has a chemist, Italian restaurant, newsagent, convenience store, and is a stone throw away from a garden centre, and enormous park, swimming pool and easy transport to pretty much anywhere in Sydney."

At Greenhaven Drive, Umina Beach, New South Wales, Australia (StreetScore 81.58), resident greenisgood says:

"Greenhaven Drive, Umina Beach is a relatively long (no through road) with well established houses to one end, together with lovely beach houses set high in peaceful private driveways, at the start of a hillside, at the other end - most of the homes have glorious views over the treetops and out to the ocean. It is most suited to families with a nice park situated on the corner of Greenhaven Drive and Brisbane Street, and has a strong Neighbourhood Watch and community feel. It is situated only a 15-20 minute leisurely walk to the glorious sands of Umina and Ocean Beach with its newly built surf clubs, and nicely renovated 4-star Ocean Beach Holiday Park.

Plus there is an assortment of cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, post office, chemists, doctors/dentists and a school all within this walking distance. The 41/2 Star Mantra Resort and the Ettalong Beach to Palm Beach Ferry is approximately 8-10 minutes drive away. The Woy Woy train station to Sydney CBD and Newcastle is approximately 10 minutes drive away. In summary :- although Greenhaven Drive is not in the hub of Umina Beach, it is in perfect proximity of everything Umina Beach has to offer, but without the bustling noise, cars and crowds!!"

StreetView of Sydney showing Harbour Bridge and Opera House

At Edgar Street, Towradgi, New South Wales, Australia (StreetScore 85.48), resident f10n4 says:

"I love this street. The neighbours are lovely, they play cricket on the street which reminds me of my childhood. The location is awesome, being only 10 mins walk from the beach. The houses are nice, though a friend once described the street as "a bit Desperate Housewives" lol. You can hear the ocean at night when the tide is high.

The only thing not going for it is there are not too many places to go at night nearby. A few local restaurants in Corrimal are good, but not really enough. The Towradgi hotel very close by is a rort, way too expensive and crowded and the service is terrible - a bit too much like Sydney. The Towradgi bowling club is fine though, with some nice views.

It's a short drive to Wollongong city though so nightlife can be found there, and Thirroul is only 10 - 15 mins in the other direction is you like a more hippie atmosphere.

Crime is low, I don't feel like I have to worry about my car on the street. The population is mostly older people with some younger families but not many. The houses are all older - not new McMansions. The people here are really down to earth and you can tell they love it here.

I love living here and given half a chance I would stay here as long as I can."

At O'Reilly Street, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia (StreetScore 59.75), former resident f10n4 says:

"It's a short street on the southern side of Parramatta. Most of the old houses are being replaced with apartments, making the traffic and street parking more and more difficult. The street is fairly close to Westfields Parramatta which is good if you like crowds and shopping. It's also walking distance from the rest of Parramatta city and that's convenient for meeting friends, catching trains, buses and the beautiful Parramatta Park. The noise pollution is not too bad though the street is one street away and parallel from Great Western Highway, but you get used to the traffic noise.

What's missing from the street is a sense of community with the whole suburb. I found my neighbours in my building were extremely nice and friendly, but beyond that you just don't get to know anyone. There are no community markets are community focus places. There is no village atmosphere where you can go to a local butcher and have a conversation for instance. Westfield tends to kill off any community spirit, and also kills off many small businesses trying to compete in the neighbourhood.

In the ten years I lived there I had two break-ins: one was into my lock-up garage, the other years later was into my car. The phone booth on the corner is constantly being vandalised. There are a few nice apartment blocks on the streets with some nice gardens, but there's one particular one on the corner of Pitt St which is horrendous, always graffitied, always with real estate signages out the front, always noisy. I moved out 12 months ago and am now living on the coast where it's much more quiet, safe and where the people are friendlier."

The choices we all make about where to live make fascinating reading. You can tell your story on StreetAdvisor.com.

Searching for places made easy on StreetAdvisor

Many new community members like to seek out familiar places and see what they look like on StreetAdvisor, especially as they can look at the street they grew up on via StreetView. When searching for streets and cities, the search results that Google maps (and hence StreetAdvisor) provides can be confusing. That's why it's really important to give the search engine as much information as possible. Here's one scenario that illustrates how small changes in your search query can yield very different results.

I type in a search for "Madison" (click on the link to go to the search results page). Below is a screen image of the search. It shows that I have found the town of Madison, Wisconsin, United States (CityScore 76.72).

Maybe I wanted a street, such as Madison Ave in New York City. In that case, I should search for "Madison Ave" (click on the link to go to the search results page). That takes me to Madison Avenue, New York, New York, United States (StreetScore 97.33).

Maybe I was looking for a town, not a street. In that case I should make the search service find a city by adding a state to my search. I want Madison Missouri, so I search for "Madison MO" (click on the link to go to the search results page). I find exactly what I was looking for - the town of Madison, Missouri.

It can be frustrating when searching is not as simple and intuitive as we want it to be. But while we may be smart, computers are not, and they need all the information we possess in order to deliver a useful service to us. That's why adding a street type (st, rd, ave) or a state (full name or abbreviation) can make all the difference to your search results.

How do you feel about where you live? Log in to StreetAdvisor and tell us all about it, or upload a photo to show us!

StreetAdvisor delivers the first implementation of Google StreetView in Australia

StreetAdvisor implemented Google's StreetView in our US site StreetAdvisor.com some time ago. Today Google has made StreetView available in Australia, and StreetAdvisor was ready and waiting to drop the StreetView code into our Australian site. StreetView is live in StreetAdvisor.com.au now!

We believe we are the first site to implement StreetView in Australia. Below are two examples: of Challis Avenue, Potts Point, New South Wales, Australia (StreetScore 70.56) and Challenger Parade, City Beach, Western Australia, Australia. From coast to coast, we have Australia covered!

Have a look at your street today in StreetAdvisor and tell us what you think!

How to find the best and worst streets in your neighborhood

Once you've joined StreetAdvisor and written a review of your street, and maybe your city too, you may be wondering what else you can do. One of the fun things about the many new features StreetAdvisor introduced recently is proximity awareness.

Say I've started with a search for Portland Oregon (click on the link to go to the search results page). This is what it looks like. Below the city outlined in the red box, reviews of streets within that city are listed in decreasing proximity from the center of town.

Then I click on the Portland, Oregon, United States search title, which takes me to the Portland Overview page. This page lists the best streets in and around the city.

Another fun thing to do is to find the best and worst streets in your neighborhood. Click on the Reviews tab and use the Sort by feature. Click on the drown down menu and select one of the options, such as Highest Rating or Lowest Rating. Here are what these searches look like.

Browsing StreetAdvisor is now much more exciting. For streets with multiple reviews, such as Market Street, San Francisco, California, United States (StreetScore 90.83), you can do this kind of filtering down at the street level to see how different community members rate the street. The image above show the best reviews, and the image below shows the worst reviews.

Moving up to the state level, you can find the best and worst streets across multiple cities. Try  California, United States StateScore 69.06), where streets in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Freso and many more smaller cities and towns are rated.

We think these new tools make browsing StreetAdvisor much more fun, but don't take our word for it. Try them out yourself then tell us what you think. StreetAdvisor offers many avenues to share your opinions. You can write a street or city review, comment on reviews written by others and discuss issues by posting topics in forums. Log in to StreetAdvisor today to get started.

Focus on the UK

StreetAdvisor is live in many countries around the world, and we want to give every country lots of attention. Thus far we focused on the United States and Australia while noticing growing interest in Canada and the UK. We'd like to thank people in the UK for their interest in StreetAdvisor, and for writing some fantastic reviews. Here are some of the best recent UK reviews.

At The Broadway, Plymstock, Plymouth, United Kingdom (StreetScore 58.22), resident boots says:

"Plymstock has great facilities for the over 55's with Age concern, clubs, groups and outings. The are an inordinate number of G.P. services and there is an N.H.S. Physiotherapy centre. Along with the majority of the housing stock being bungalows, in recent years there have been housing developments.

I live on Dean Hill; it's very central to all of Plymstock and the surrounding areas. Although the road is busy in rush hour, on the whole I don't notice the noise outside of these times. The neighbors are friendly, something I'm not used to and the facilities in the area are outstanding, with the library, doctors' surgeries, shops and parks all within walking distance. Apart from my commute to work, I don't use my car much at all."

At Holmewood, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom (CityScore 35.07), resident klomas describes it as:

"The sort of place you would send your mother-in-law, should have been leveled when they closed the colliery. The county that the world forgot. the last place on earth still being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century."

At Springfield Road, Merton, England, United Kingdom (StreetScore 77.74), resident Bernie says:

"Really happy with the street, neighbors are helpful and welcoming. Everyone takes pride in their property and everything from parks and the common as well as Wimbledon Village or Wimbledon Town Centre and its transport links."

At Ryecroft, Doncaster, England, United Kingdom (StreetScore 44.34), resident monkey12 says it is a:

"Great place to live if you love car parks. The first thing you'll notice are the empty drive ways and blocked roads due to a small number of brainless idiots that seem to want to spoil this lovely estate."

Photo of Arundel Avenue, South Croydon, United Kingdom (StreetScore 80.40) by Photomonkey

Life seems happier at Holmwood Garth, Ringwood, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom (StreetScore 71.68), where resident MontyMoo says:

"Ringwood is a busy market town on the Hampshire Dorset border. Easy reach of Bournemouth and Southampton. I grew up there and one of the things I miss is the close proximity to the New Forest and beautiful countryside. About a mile from Holmwood Garth, nearer the centre, is a good swimming pool and gym. It was Ringwood Comprehensive when I was there (probably called something different now) but it was a great school and I received high quality education from excellent teachers.

There are two junior schools too. Holmwood Garth is on the way out of Ringwood, away from the main road. Very quiet and a "panhandle" so no through traffic. A good pub nearby; The Elm Tree. Ringwood is very busy with tourists in summer but that does mean that the shops are reasonable - we have a Waitrose!"

Long Acre, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom (StreetScore 88.20), is much loved by visitor malatia, who says:

"Covent Garden is well-known for being a retail wonderland. However, a lot of attention is given mainly to the main piazza in Covent Garden, disregarding Long Acre. Long Acre is one of the longer streets in Covent Garden, stretching from Leicester Square to Drury Lane. It is quite a beautiful, bustling street, and ideal for those wishing to explore London by foot.

There are also many high-street chains along Long Acre, including H&M, Zara, French Connection, Warehouse, and so on. There are also jewelry stores, some cafes (including Starbucks and Caffe Nero's) and hairdressers. The nearest tube is Covent Garden."

A different area of London is not so popular with malatia. Cannon Street Road, Poplar, Greater London, England, United Kingdom (StreetScore 33.12) is described as:

"Noisy, dirty, and boring! I have lived on this street for a year, and have not enjoyed the experience. Although the streets are cleaned three times a day, they are somehow always covered with trash, including boxes and chicken bones from the nearby fast-food place.

As for noise levels, this is one of the busier streets, and as a result there is a lot of traffic, especially at peak times. This is not helped by the youths who blare their music loudly whilst driving around, which happens at least once an hour. There tends to be a lot of noise at night-time, too.

In addition, the other residents have not been friendly and have often been outright rude due to the differences between my religion and theirs. As a result, I haven't felt safe walking in the area late at night. My flat mate was even followed home once on her way back from work when she used to work in a pub.

The only plus side is that this street is close to both Brick Lane, with its thriving nightlife, and the beautiful scenery at the Thames."

Do you live in (or have you travelled in) the UK? What would you like to tell us about the streets and cities in the UK? Log in to StreetAdvisor today and share your experiences.