33514B4C-54F2-464A-BCC7-35F441B7E21A eng utf8 dataset dataset John V. Thomas U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy, Office of Sustainable Communities Environmental Research Specialist 202-564-6677 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (MC 8623R) Washington DC 20460 thomas.john@epa.gov https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth pointOfContact 2026-05-20 ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification 2007 Smart Location Database 2013-07-09 publication US Environmental Protection Agency originator U.S. EPA Office of the Administrator (OA) - Office of Policy (OP) Washington, DC publisher A large body of research has demonstrated that land use and urban form can have a significant effect on transportation outcomes. People who live and/or work in compact neighborhoods with a walkable street grid and easy access to public transit, jobs, stores, and services are more likely to have several transportation options to meet their everyday needs. As a result, they can choose to drive less, which reduces their emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants compared to people who live and work in places that are not location efficient. Walking, biking, and taking public transit can also save people money and improve their health by encouraging physical activity. The Smart Location Database summarizes several demographic, employment, and built environment variables for every census block group (CBG) in the United States. The database includes indicators of the commonly cited “D” variables shown in the transportation research literature to be related to travel behavior. The Ds include residential and employment density, land use diversity, design of the built environment, access to destinations, and distance to transit. SLD variables can be used as inputs to travel demand models, baseline data for scenario planning studies, and combined into composite indicators characterizing the relative location efficiency of CBG within U.S. metropolitan regions. This update features the most recent geographic boundaries (2019 Census Block Groups) and new and expanded sources of data used to calculate variables. Entirely new variables have been added and the methods used to calculate some of the SLD variables have changed. More information on the National Walkability index: https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-location-mapping More information on the Smart Location Calculator: https://www.slc.gsa.gov/slc/ The Smart Location Database summarizes more than 90 different indicators associated with the built environment and location efficiency. Indicators include density of development, diversity of land use, street network design, and accessibility to destinations as well as various demographic and employment statistics. Most attributes are available for all U.S. block groups. This data in this map includes not only the Smart Location Database, but also data from two other public data tools that use the Smart Location Database and other inputs to measure location efficiency: EPA’s National Walkability Index provides walkability scores based on a simple formula that ranks selected indicators from the Smart Location Database that have been demonstrated to affect the propensity of walk trips. The National Walkability Index data is labeled field “NatWalkIndex”. GSA’s Smart Location Calculator is a simple tool for exploring how workplace location affects worker commute travel. Indicators include worker commute mode-share, work-related vehicle miles traveled, estimated work-related greenhouse gas emissions, and workplace accessibility via transit. The Calculator provides a Smart Location Index (SLI), which ranges in value from 0-100, where 0 indicates the least location efficient site in the region, and 100 indicates the most location efficient site. These scores are relative to the region and should not be compared across regions. The Smart Location Index data in this map is labeled as field “SLC_score”. EPA Office of Community Revitalization and EPA National Geospatial Support Team completed John V. Thomas U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Policy, Office of Sustainable Communities Environmental Protection Specialist 202-564-6677 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (MC 8623R) Washington DC 20460 thomas.john@epa.gov https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth publisher irregular United States place EPA Place Names 2015-01-31 publication Environment Human Land Transportation theme EPA GIS Keyword Thesaurus 2007-11-02 publication 020:072 theme Federal Program Inventory 2013-09-16 publication These data are available for public access and use and carry no restrictions. See the Smart Location Database Technical Documentation and User Guide (2021) for data sources (https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-location-database-technical-documentation-and-user-guide), limitations, and methodologies used to calculate the variables in the Smart Location Database. Although the majority of SLD variables are consistent in the data source and calculation method to previous versions, it may not be appropriate to compare all variables with version 2.0 directly. Changes in data sources and methods are explained in detail in this guide. See the National Walkability Index User Guide and Methodology and or email SLC@gsa.gov for more information on the data and methodology of the Smart Location Calculator. EPA Public Domain License licenseUnrestricted https://edg.epa.gov/EPA_Data_License.html eng utf8 true -138.21454852 -12.68151645 6.65223303 61.7110157 Ground condition 2010 2010 The Smart Location Database (SLD) enables the consistent comparison of different locations across the U.S. in terms of their land use characteristics, infrastructure, and accessibility to nearby destinations. SLD attributes were selected for their utility in travel demand modeling studies. However they may also be relevant to land use scenario planning, community development, and public health studies – particularly when obtaining local data is not possible or practical. Planned updates to the SLD will summarize these environment and accessibility characteristics in the form of a Smart Location Index that represents a block group’s relative location efficiency when compared to other block groups within the same metropolitan region. https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth https://edg.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/public/OA/SLD/SmartLocationDatabaseV3.zip download https://geodata.epa.gov/arcgis/rest/services/OA/SmartLocationDatabase/MapServer OGC:WMS download https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-location-mapping information https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/smart-location-database-technical-documentation-and-user-guide information https://edg.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/public/OA/EPA_SmartLocationDatabase_V3_Jan_2021_Final.csv download dataset Attribute value ranges were tested for validity. See report for full discussion of corrective measures taken. See report for full discussion of data completeness. See report for full description of processing steps. unknown 2021-04-20