How the minutes are measured

Two public sources sit under every page. The list of schools is IPEDS, the US Department of Education's directory of colleges. Buildings, campus outlines, hotels and shops come from OpenStreetMap, the open map that volunteers maintain.

• Where a visit starts. We read each school's own visit page for the building where tours or information sessions begin, then find that building on the map. A second read of the page checks the first. Until that's done for a school, we fall back to a building the map itself labels as admissions or a visitor center, and failing that to the edge of campus. Every page states which of the three it uses.
• Walking minutes. The distance as the crow flies, with 25 percent added for real streets and paths, at 80 metres a minute (about 3 mph). It can't see a river, a rail line or a fenced field, so we say "about".
• Driving minutes. Straight-line distance plus 35 percent, at 25 mph, plus three minutes to park. No traffic.
• Commencement venues. Named on the school's commencement page, then located on the map. Stadiums and lawns are measured to their nearest edge.
• Breakfast, suites and kitchens. What the hotel's brand promises at all its hotels. We don't inspect rooms.
• Near each hotel. The closest named place to eat, grocery, pharmacy and rail stop no more than about a 10-minute walk from the hotel itself.

How far to trust it

We tested both rules against real routes in November 2026, and wrote the pass mark down before running anything. Walking: across 60 hotel and campus pairs, half our figures landed within about a minute of an actual walking route and 95 percent within five. Driving: across 60 pairs, half were within a minute and a half of a car route and 97 percent within five. Both passed. The misses were places where a road or a railway forces a detour the straight line can't see. Schools also move their welcome centers and hotels open and close, so treat a page as a well-informed starting point and confirm the details that matter.

The map is re-read monthly. If you spot an error, write to us; fixing it on OpenStreetMap too helps everyone who uses that map.