This post is not about programming at all, but just about solving old problems with new computing tools. The old problem is finding the neighbourhood to rent the apartment in, and the tool is a map. Not just a map, but the Google Map. While looking at map when renting is a good advice, Google Map has a killer feature that unlocks a very new option.

Google Map can quickly recalculate the best public transportation route between two points on-the-fly while you drag one of them. This allows you to quickly learn what neighbourhoods provide a good commute to your specific office. You quickly uncover all possible commute options you have by moving the start marker around a neighborhood in order to filter then out the worst from your Craigslist search.

You may have other priorities rather than just getting the best commute, of course: quality schools, places to go out, parks nearby, et cetera.  I only describe how to filter by one criteria, and it doesn't have to be primary.

I only have four "small" requirements to daily commute:

  • Public transportation. Driving a car in a big city is a nightmare, and commuting by bus or train allows you to read an interesting book or magazine (well, for now);
  • Zero transfers. Each transfer drains your lifepower, and robs you of several minutes you could have been standing calmly, reading.
  • Short total walk (5-10 minutes). Walking extra 10 minutes on a flat surface will have zero effect on your health, but will rob you of 10 minutes--or even more if you cross a lot of traffic lights.
  • Overall time about 30 minutes. While you can do something while commuting, in-city public transport distracts you too much. 10 minute shorter commute saves you about 2.5 days per year, so investing 20 more minutes into commute time screening repays itself.

So for me, an ideal commute is a 30-minute ride on a bus or train directly to the office. And without Google Map I wouldn't know that I actually can accomplish this, and live in a cheaper neighbourhood at the same time. The map also uncovered a train stop I didn't pay much attention to--right next to the office.

So, here's a 6-minute video how to scan the area with a couple of tips of Google Maps usage.

(Here's a raw mkv if YouTube is banned in your country).

That was exactly how I scanned the city when I was looking for my new home. It turned out that I avoided the areas many people prefer to live in, but I found the best place specifically tuned for me instead.

Please, bear in mind that I know very little about the City of San Francisco, so I might have missed something, or discarded certain areas too vigorously. But knowledge may play against you: say, you know that you can arrive to Embarcadero by any train, and this prevents you from even trying to find closer public transport stops to your specific office, which Google Map does for you automatically.

There are more features in the Map I didn't show, and more ideas still implausible. You can set more preferences (click "More options," and select Bus/Train or prefer "Fewer Transfers"). You could use waypoint search if you were looking for a good commute for two persons at once (make a route between two offices, add a waypoint, which represents the home, and drag it over the map), but waypoints don't work for public transport for some reason, and this doesn't scale well for three, sadly. And if you know more tips, make your videos and comment here, I'd be happy to hear about them!