CitySieveFrequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about how CitySieve works. Can't find your answer?
- What areas does CitySieve cover?
- CitySieve currently covers towns and cities across the United Kingdom. Results are most accurate in major cities (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, etc.) where OpenStreetMap coverage is most comprehensive. Coverage in rural areas may be less complete.
- How does the scoring work?
- CitySieve generates a grid of candidate areas within commuting distance of your key location (workplace, family address, etc.). Each candidate area is scored across several dimensions based on your survey answers:
- Amenities — counts of pubs, restaurants, parks, gyms, supermarkets, cafés, and other points of interest within the area, weighted by how much you said they matter to you.
- Transport — proximity to train stations, tube stops, bus routes, and cycle paths.
- Commute — straight-line distance to your workplace or other key location (closer is better if commute matters to you).
- Environment — green space, quietness indicators, and air quality proxies from OSM data.
- Family — proximity to schools, playgrounds, and family-friendly amenities.
- How accurate is the data?
- CitySieve uses live data from the Overpass API (OpenStreetMap infrastructure), which is continuously updated by volunteers worldwide. In UK cities this is generally very thorough, but individual amenities may occasionally be missing, misclassified, or out of date.
Commute estimates are based on straight-line (as-the-crow-flies) distance, not actual journey time. Use the Google Maps links in each result card to verify real travel times.
CitySieve results are a starting point for exploration, not a definitive ranking. Always visit an area before making decisions.
- Do I need to create an account?
- No. You can take the full survey and view results without signing in. Creating a free account (via Google sign-in) lets you save surveys and return to them later from the My Surveys page.
- Is my survey data private?
- Yes. Unsaved survey responses live only in your browser's local storage and are never sent to our servers. If you save a survey to your account, it is stored in our database and linked to your account — only you can see it. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
- How do I delete my account and data?
- Go to Account Settings and use the “Delete account” option. This permanently removes your account, all saved surveys, and your email from our database.
- Why does CitySieve use OpenStreetMap?
- OpenStreetMap is a free, open dataset maintained by a global community of contributors. Unlike proprietary mapping services, OSM data can be queried freely and in bulk — which is essential for CitySieve's approach of scoring many candidate areas in one go. OSM is also frequently more detailed than commercial alternatives when it comes to local amenity data like pubs, parks, and independent shops.
- How often is the data updated?
- CitySieve queries the Overpass API live when you run a search, so the data is as current as OpenStreetMap itself (typically within hours of contributors making edits). Results are cached briefly in memory to avoid hitting rate limits on repeated identical searches.
- Can I save and compare different surveys?
- Yes — sign in with Google, run a survey, and click “Save survey” on the results page. You can create multiple surveys (e.g. one prioritising commute, one prioritising nightlife) and switch between them from the My Surveys page.
- Why am I not seeing results for my area?
- A few possible reasons:
- The commute location you entered may not have been resolved to coordinates — try using a more specific address or postcode.
- Hard filters in your survey (e.g. a minimum number of a specific amenity) may be filtering out all candidates. Try the Full Survey to relax constraints.
- Very rural locations may not generate enough scored candidates to show results.