(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
SatLav service finds nearest public toilet | Technology | Guardian Unlimited
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20071201171908/http://www.guardian.co.uk:80/technology/2007/nov/29/news.mobilephones

12.15pm GMT

SatLav service finds nearest public toilet

Getting caught short in the centre of London is no fun. Trying to persuade a sympathetic restaurant manager into letting you use his conveniences will often result in the short shrift: "Toilets are for paying customers only."

So a new text service, which promises to tell you where the nearest public toilet is in the City of Westminster, should be well received.

The council's authority covers 8.5 square miles and encompasses nearly every popular shopping and socialising district of the capital.

So whether you're drinking after work in Soho, or splashing the Christmas cash in Knightsbridge, a quick text message to 80097 with the word 'toilet' will prompt a quick-response text back with details of the nearest facilities and their opening times.

The only problem is that you have to spend more than a penny to make use of the service.

The 'SatLav' mobile phone service costs 25p for each text, with Westminster city council paying a further 9p to cover the cost.

The service locates the sender of the text message and automatically finds the nearest public toilets to them.

Unfortunately for Guardian Unlimited, the service can only recommend its nearest Westminster convenience – at the Strand, some 1.4 miles and 25-minute walk from its Clerkenwell offices.

But within the council's boundary the service includes details of 40 council-run and leased toilets plus those run by the GLA, London Underground and some department stores.

Westminster council said its aim was to make a "substantial impact on reducing street urination".

The council claims "45,460 litres of urine is at risk of ending up in the city's streets and alleyways through irresponsible and anti-social behaviour."

The figure is the amount collected from city urinals every year.

Westminster cabinet member for street environment councillor Alan Bradley said: "From today onwards nobody should ever get caught short again, and we understand how important that is, be it for a young mum with children in tow, older people or friends on a shopping trip or night out."

The SatLav service was the brainchild of 26-year-old student Gail Knight, from Clapham Junction, who won a Westminster city council innovation competition.


Guardian Jobs

Browse technology jobs