Tools for Boston Walkers

If you live in central Boston, you can save a lot of money, time, and your health by walking instead of driving or riding as you make your way through your day.

We don't have a car so our transportation system begins with our feet. We walk as our first option, the MBTA is our second choice and taking a taxi or renting a Zipcar is the last choice.

Google Maps has a new tool for walkers.

Today I was thinking about a visit to a camera store in Cambridge. I knew that Google Maps had added a walking option to its directions. I put in my starting and ending addresses and chose "walking" instead of "by car." The initial route the systems set up for me seemed out of the way so I touched the route, a white dot popped up and I dragged the path to walk along Memorial Drive.

The system let me do it but gave me a warning "Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths." I knew that, but someone new to the area might not have known. Nice!

How many steps do you walk each day?

When I decided to get a lot healthier last winter, I searched for a great pedometer to keep track of my exercise.  I'm very pleased with the one I chose – Omron's model HJ-112.

It keeps track of my regular steps, aerobic steps, and it tells how many miles I've walked and how many calories I've burnt. Best of all I can just toss it in my pocket or bag, and it still works. No need to have it clipped to you at just the right angle.

Another nice!

They also have a model that lets you download the data to a PC. We're Apple users so we haven't tried that one.