What is ground intelligence?

Everything the otter reads outside a stay's door: the road it sits on and whether that makes the street quiet, moderate or lively; every bar, café, restaurant and grocery within a 10-minute walk (800 m); the nearest stop and the walk to it; the walk from the place you named; and facts for walking back at night. It comes with every pick, every stay you share and every booking the otter watches.

What makes a street quiet?

The stay sits on a residential street, a living street, a lane or a minor road; no main road is within 100 meters; and at most 3 bars, cafés or restaurants are within 150 meters of the door.

What makes a street lively?

The stay sits on a major road or main road, or 10 or more bars, cafés and restaurants are within 150 meters of the door.

Does it work for a stay I booked somewhere else?

Yes. Forward or paste the confirmation from any site and the otter places the stay on the map; its watch page shows the same street, map and counts as a pick, next to the price checks.

Is this a safety rating?

No. The otter reads roads, venues and stops from the map. It doesn't use crime figures or score neighborhoods as safe or unsafe. Where a part of town isn't a good base for a visitor, the otter's area notes say so in one plain sentence.

Does the ground change the ranking?

Only when you ask. Ask for a quiet street, a calm trip or a walk to transit and the ground weighs in; otherwise it is shown so you can decide. Picks are never ranked by commission.

How it's measured

The otter's ground intelligence.

A listing shows the bedroom. The ground is everything outside the door: the street the stay sits on, what's within a walk, how you get around, and what the walk back looks like at night. The otter reads it from the map for every stay it shows you, says each fact once, and says where it came from and when.

Where you'll see it

Every result card
The street, the walk counted and the nearest stop, on the card's second face. On a phone, swipe the card from the stay to its ground.
An open pick
Adds the map: every venue as a dot within the walk, your spot, the stop, and the after-dark facts under it.
A booking you watch
Booked anywhere? The watch page draws the same ground for the stay you already have, beside the daily price checks.
The group's trip link
Everyone you send the picks to sees the same ground, no account needed.
Your AI assistant
Through the otter's connector, an assistant can ask for a stay's ground and get the same counts and facts, with this page as the method.

The street, in one word

The road the stay sits on, how far the nearest main road is, and how many bars, cafés and restaurants are within 150 m of the door add up to one reading, with the numbers under it.

Quiet

A small street, no main road within 100 m, and 3 or fewer bars, cafés or restaurants within 150 m of the door.

Moderate

In between: a local through-road, or a small street with a main road or a few places close by.

Lively

On a major road or main road, or 10+ bars, cafés and restaurants within 150 m. Good for nights out; light sleepers, take note.

Quiet or lively isn't better or worse. A weekend out wants the lively street; a work trip may not.

The 10-minute walk

Open a pick and its map draws two rings around the stay: a 5-minute walk (400 m) and a 10-minute walk (800 m). Inside them, every bar and pub (brass), café, restaurant and grocery is a dot, with the counts in the key under the map.

In a dense city center the map read stops at a cap before the edge of the walk. When it does, the count gets a +: at least that many, never a guess at the rest.

Getting around

Your spot: name a place (the office, the venue, the beach) and every pick says how far it is and the walk in minutes, from checked pins or the map, never a guess from the listing's own description.
The nearest stop: train, subway, tram, bus or ferry, with its name and the walk to it, or a plain “none within the walk”.
The area: the otter's own notes on which parts of town make a good base for a visitor, and which don't, marked as a judgment call.

Walking back at night

Under the map, a few facts for the walk home after dark, each one checkable on the map: how many bars and pubs are within a 5-minute walk, so whether people are about late; how far the nearest main road is; and how long the walk is from your spot. Street lighting isn't one of them: too few cities tag it on the map for the otter to say it honestly.

Sources, and what a map can't tell you

Roads come from Mapbox Streets; venues, groceries and stops from OpenStreetMap, read through Geoapify's index; the map tiles are OpenStreetMap's. Every ground section ends with one source line and when it was checked, and it shows the oldest read, so a fact never looks fresher than it is.

A map can't hear a party next door, see roadworks that started last week, know which side of the building the bedroom faces, or know about a festival on your dates. Read the ground as a strong first filter, and the guest reviews for the rest.

Questions

What is ground intelligence?: Everything the otter reads outside a stay's door: the road it sits on and whether that makes the street quiet, moderate or lively; every bar, café, restaurant and grocery within a 10-minute walk (800 m); the nearest stop and the walk to it; the walk from the place you named; and facts for walking back at night. It comes with every pick, every stay you share and every booking the otter watches.
What makes a street quiet?: The stay sits on a residential street, a living street, a lane or a minor road; no main road is within 100 meters; and at most 3 bars, cafés or restaurants are within 150 meters of the door.
What makes a street lively?: The stay sits on a major road or main road, or 10 or more bars, cafés and restaurants are within 150 meters of the door.
And moderate?: Everything in between: a local through-road, or a small street with a main road or a handful of places close by.
Does it work for a stay I booked somewhere else?: Yes. Forward or paste the confirmation from any site and the otter places the stay on the map; its watch page shows the same street, map and counts as a pick, next to the price checks.
Is this a safety rating?: No. The otter reads roads, venues and stops from the map. It doesn't use crime figures or score neighborhoods as safe or unsafe. Where a part of town isn't a good base for a visitor, the otter's area notes say so in one plain sentence.
Does the ground change the ranking?: Only when you ask. Ask for a quiet street, a calm trip or a walk to transit and the ground weighs in; otherwise it is shown so you can decide. Picks are never ranked by commission.

Plan a stay Check a listing you found →Watch a booking →

More on the method: How it works · a hands-on version: how to check a block yourself · ten Austin stays, measured: what “great location” leaves out.