Google on Thursday announced its collaboration with the Ministry of Urban Development to make information about thousands of public toilets in India's National Capital Region and Madhya Pradesh available on the Google Maps.
It will add locations, addresses and opening hours of over four thousand communal and public restrooms to Maps, aiming to provide easy access to information to people in India and help improve sanitation.
With over four thousand listings covering Delhi NCR including Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad, Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh - Indians and visitors alike will now be able to easily find the nearest public toilet on Google Maps both on the mobile app as well as on desktop. This service will be accessible to users both in English and Hindi language.
"When you search for "public toilet" on Google Maps in an area where the service is available, you'll see a list of restrooms near you, including the respective address and opening hours. For instance, if you're traveling on the national highway eight in Gurugram, locating a public toilet can be challenging and most often the only option is going to nearby restaurants and cafes. Having this information handy can make things much easier," said Product Manager Google Maps, Sanket Gupta.
Improving sanitation is an important cornerstone of the government's Swachh Bharat campaign for a clean India. This includes making information about existing sanitation facilities easily accessible to people. The Ministry of Urban Development plans to continue to provide information about public restrooms for more cities.
Google is beginning to roll out these new local listings on Google Maps today, and they will be available to users both on desktop and Google Maps for Mobile (Android, iOS).