TOtheLOO - Public washroom locator for Toronto
TOtheLOO is a “back of the napkin” type map quickly coded up on a random bench in Cabbagetown, Toronto. It addresses a pressing need for the use of a washroom in a city that I found myself a visitor in during a pandemic.
Why?
Toronto (like every other city in the world) is grappling with a pandemic. One of the many societal side-effects of this is that there is a sudden shortage of washrooms open to the public. Here is a nice article about why this is a problem and why it shouldn’t be a problem.
What is this tool?
It is a map drawn up to show where the nearest City-owned washroom facility is. It uses this publicly available dataset and includes some private listings (shown with a red marker). This is by no means a definitive, exhaustive or up to date guide to finding relief - these are strange times with situations changing drastically within a matter of days. What this tool does hope to give you is a statistically better chance of finding some place in a pinch. It is better than you walking aimlessly around, or turning up at local businesses that used to offer a washroom, only to be told in a rather rehearsed manner that “the W/C is out of order”, which is just code for “we don’t understand what the health guidance is on this matter so we’ve just opted to not deal with the situation”.
Why can’t I see my current location?
It’s is a map and not navigation software. Dealing with location services is a complicated technical and ethical challenge that I’m not inclined to spend time on. And I quite like the delights and pitfalls of reading a map.