New App ‘WalkNYC’ Allows New Yorkers to Conquer the City, One Block at a Time

Passionate New York City walkers will now be able to track each block they pass through in a new app, entitled ‘WalkNYC.’

‘WalkNYC,’ a free app released in the middle of May, tracks which blocks users walk across the five boroughs by highlighting the street one walked across, working passively even when the app is closed. Users also have the ability to compete with other New Yorkers through the app’s leaderboard, to see how the blocks you’ve walked compare to others.

Puccio said his wish to walk every block of the city inspired him to create ‘WalkNYC.’

“There’s something freeing about walking around New York that almost feels unreal, especially back when I was just visiting,” Puccio told Straus News. “The fact that I could wander around the city late at night, being the only one on the street, “for free,” kind of blew me away.”

“The thing that always stopped me from actually walking every block was the overhead,” Puccio added. “Keeping track of which blocks I’d walked would be a pain, enough that I never really started. So over the last couple of months I made an app that just checks off each block once you’ve walked it.”

Puccio first began developing the app in February this year, initially utilizing Google Timeline location data to track the blocks travelled. However, after realizing the data wasn’t providing enough detail for precise block tracking, Puccio restarted and developed his own tracking system.

There are roughly 120,000 blocks across the five boroughs of NYC. In developing a new tracking system, Puccio turned to NYC’s open data portal to understand what even counts as a city ‘block,’ which is unique to New York. From there, the next hurdle was balancing tracking accuracy with the high amount of battery it took for GPS (satellite-based navigation network) to consistently track where the user was. Puccio reworked the application’s tracking mechanism to use the phone’s pedometer, which detects movement of the hands and hips to signal movement. When the app detects movement, only then does the GPS turn on--saving battery life while preserving accurate tracking.

After continuous testing and having friends give feedback for the app, Puccio finally made the platform available for the public in mid-May. Since its release, users have commented on the app’s novelty, praising how it allows users to see how much of the city they’ve actually walked.

One app user “’jordylordyartichoke’ reviewed the app positively on the Apple Store, rating the app five stars and saying “Love this app!! I love open world games like Breath Of The Wild that feature tracking maps. I love NYC. These are some of favorite things, thank you for making this! Already 32 blocks in :)”

Similarly, ‘marzellaK,’ a Reddit user, said the app has allowed them to explore the city in a new light.

“Very cool! Almost every week I walk on a street where I think like I’ve never walked before,” marzellaK wrote on the platform. “It’s crazy how much ground there is still to be covered. I wish I had that app for the past 15 years!”

Puccio said he hopes the app will allow users to appreciate the city spontaneously, encouraged to walk new blocks.

“Whenever people ask me what’s best about New York, I tell them it’s the people, the food, and the architecture, and I’m hoping the app gets people experiencing all three more often, and organically,” Puccio wrote. “I love this city, and honestly WalkNYC is my little love letter to it. My hope is that it gets more people to fall in love with New York, and the people who already love it to fall a little deeper.”

For the future of ‘WalkNYC,’ Puccio said he is working towards exporting the application to be accessible to android users, as well as the ability to create individual groups for coworkers and friends to compete on their own private leaderboard.