"Nearby" doesn't mean the same thing to every resident — BlockWatcher's radius control lets you decide how wide that should be.
By default, BlockWatcher centers activity on your set address or block. The radius setting adjusts how far out from that center point counts as "nearby" for the purposes of your feed and alerts — a single block, or a few surrounding streets.
A tighter radius keeps your feed focused on just your immediate block — useful if you only care about your direct surroundings. A wider radius is better if you're watching a corridor or want visibility into a broader area, like a neighborhood association tracking several blocks at once.
Whatever radius you set, the same combined feed of permits, licenses, violations, and 311 requests applies — widening the radius simply changes how much of the surrounding area feeds into it. See Understanding Your Activity Feed for how that feed is structured.
Radius options range from a single block up to a few surrounding streets, letting you scale from a personal-residence view to a corridor-level view.
Generally yes — a wider area naturally picks up more activity. If your feed feels too busy, narrowing the radius back down is the quickest fix.
Not currently — radius applies to the whole combined feed rather than per signal type. Splitting radius settings by category is a reasonable future refinement as usage patterns become clearer.