Healthy Active by Design

Heart Foundation’s interactive community walkability map

Background and rationale

In 2025 the National Heart Foundation of Australia developed an interactive map to help community members explore destinations in their area that are within walking distance. 

A person can drop a pin anywhere on the map to discover a variety of destinations within a walking distance of 5-, 10-, 15- or 20-minutes. The map will identify the location of destinations to which a person can walk within the time selected. A list of the available destination types will appear, as well as a list of destination types that are not available within the nominated walking time. 

After placing a pin on the map, a person can select a toggle field to 'view adjusted area'. This feature estimates the area a person could walk within the same nominated time if the phasing of traffic signals reduced wait times for people walking.

Estimated wait times at traffic lights have been calculated from averages of the measurements available through crowdsourced data for Better Intersections.Where data isn’t available, a default expected wait time has been applied. Current policy recommendations from the City of Sydney (A City for Walking Strategy and Action Plan). Transport for NSW (NSW Active Transport Strategy) and Transport for London (Gren Person Authority) have then been used to determine an adjusted walking catchment if there were to be improved signal phasing.

The walking time and associated distance reflect an average adult walking pace of approximately 800 m in about ten minutes. 

The map has been developed to help inspire behaviour change, for community members to walk more for short, local journeys within their neighbourhood.

The map also serves as an advocacy tool, with a link to sign the Heart Foundation’s petition, calling for more walkable local neighbourhoods.

Outcomes and impact

The community walkability map has received strong positive feedback from community and industry since its launch in June 2025. It has become the most visited page on the Heart Foundation’s Healthy Active by Design website with over 22,917 views in 12 months.

The map has also inspired the signing of around 750 community petitions in its first 12 months, calling for more walkable local neighbourhoods.

The map has proven an effective way to engage the Heart Foundation’s walking community with Healthy Active by Design digital toolkit, increasing education and awareness about the importance of walkable local areas for heart health.

The key behaviour change benefit as a result of using the map is increased levels of physical activity by walking to local destinations. Other co-benefits include social connection, equity and climate change mitigation through reduced car travel.

There are opportunities to further expand the map’s capability through inclusion of tree canopy, access to outdoor gyms, route planning and more. This opens up potential for future collaboration and stakeholder involvement for mutual benefit.

Investment and funding

The map was developed by Mr Jake Coppinger for $17,500 ex GST.

The Heart Foundation is grateful for funding from the Australian Government's Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, which enabled this project.

Enablers and lessons learned

In-house support from the Heart Foundation’s Digital team was crucial to the success of this project.

Ongoing web hosting fees need to be factored into project costs.

The map has a myriad of future possibilities, including to leverage for real estate and walkability index purposes. It is scalable for continued expansion and additions.