More 'Vibe' Scores: Royal Oak Neighborhoods Rated

of this two-part package look at Royal Oak's overall "Vibe" score and nearby communities. This second part focuses on Royal Oak's neighborhoods:

Community "" compiled by MapQuest at its new mqVibe.com site include neighborhood-level breakdowns for some cities, including Royal Oak. Sub-pages for downtown Royal Oak, Vinsetta Park, Norwood Estates and other sections list up to 10 nearby sites by popularity – in terms of the web giant's data, that is.

For now, zero-to-10 results are based mainly on how often MapQuest users hunted for addresses or maps. "Vibe rankings are based on users’ implicit intent to visit local businesses as expressed by their searching and getting directions online," explains the  2-week-old national site, still in shakeout phase.
Visitors can cast positive or negative votes to "reward and express dissatisfaction for a local businesses," the firm adds at its FAQs page. "Unlike traditional ratings sites, your votes can actually change the public’s perception of the neighborhood as a whole."

Because it can be amusing to see how personal knowledge matches or differs from conventional wisdom, particularly the computer-generated kind, here's a look at what mqVibe says about areas in Royal Oak. For the record, we also never heard of a neighborhood called Emlo Park.

Neighborhood

'Vibe'

'Best Vibe'

Downtown

9.3

BlackFinn Restaurant & Saloon

Norwood Estates

4.6

Habitat Galleries

Vinsetta Park

4.0

Coffee Beanery

Gardenia Grove

3.0

Royal Café

Northwood

2.9

IHop (restaurant)

Washington Heights

2.6

Benito's Pizza

Oakmount Park

2.4

Landmark Main Art Theater

Center Street

2.2

BlackFinn Restaurant & Saloon

'Emlo Park' (13/Main)

2.2

Dynamic Flowers

E. Parent/S. Main

2.2

Holiday Market

Oak Run

0.3

Hansons Running Shop

Source: mzVibe.com