Google Maps Layer Adds List of Public Restrooms
New York City is expanding access to public restrooms, including through location sharing. Hopefully, more cities follow suit.
Google Maps can help you find a bathroom.
Traveling to New York City can be fun, but if you need to use the restroom, it can get rather tough. Public restrooms aren't easy to find, and they aren't always clean, often leaving you at the hopeful mercy of a restaurant, hotel or store.
NYC officials are hoping to change this as part of a new initiative called "Ur In Luck," through which they've created an interactive layer on Google Maps where the city's more than 1,000 public restrooms are located. They'll also be building 46 new public restrooms across the city's five boroughs while renovating 36 existing ones as part of the initiative.
"Our new Google Maps layer will make it easier to find relief when you've got to go," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement, as reported earlier by The Verge, adding that the new and renovated bathrooms would "make it easier for New Yorkers to embrace the best parts of this city: our shared outdoors spaces."
You can access the Google Maps feature by clicking on a specialized link from the city's LinkNYC website and kiosks. The link will either open the Google Maps app on your phone or launch a website on your computer, displaying public restrooms dotted around the city.
Each restroom location on the map includes information about the operator, the times it's available, accessibility features and stall types (all we need is a cleanliness rating).
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Using data to access city services
New York City's efforts to expand access to bathrooms is the latest in a long history of cities attempting to use technology to help improve access to services. Though not all cities provide interactive bathroom maps online, some do try to mark them on information kiosks.
App developers, meanwhile, have attempted to fill in the gaps. More than a decade ago, toilet paper maker Charmin partnered with the website and app SitOrSquat, which encouraged people to upload information about public restrooms to a publicly available map. Though the app is no longer listed on app stores, other app developers have attempted to replicate a similar experience.
Unlike most apps, New York City's official program won't rely on the public to add or update information about toilets to the system. Instead, the city said its data will be available through its OpenData initiative, and will be updated biannually.