We're delighted to announce a new online initiative aimed at providing at-your-fingertips data on public toilet facilities worldwide.

Welcome indeed to www.publictoilets.org, where users can submit their own recommendations as to where to find relief across the globe. The press release explains:

You can search for public toilets in 18 countries and find out information that includes the address and detailed information about the facility as well as geographic coordinates. A user can submit comments and enter new locations. There is a wiki linked from the main page of the database with a framework for information related to public toilets. A mailing list is supported too. It is hoped that public exposure to this resource will add to it's content and help expand coverage.

At present, the only country well represented in the convenience stakes is The Netherlands, which likely points to the site's origin.

Rather strangely, the remaining 17 countries listed each boast just one entry, always in the capital city. Try Madrid, for example:

McDonald's Alcalá
C/ Alcalá nº 396
28017 MADRID

Busting for a leak in Oz? Help is at hand:

McDonald's
Shop C124 Lower Ground Floor Canberra Centre, City Walk
2601 CANBERRA
ACT

And in Blighty, well, yes, you guessed it:

McDonald's
Buckingham Palace Road SOUTH Unit 26,115
SW1W 9SJ LONDON
LONDON

Hmmm. We'll leave it readers to decide quite what's going on here. In the meantime, we can report with enthusiasm that Oz's own online dunny map is finally fully functioning. Long-term readers will recall that when we first investigated this sensational resource back in 2003, it wasn't actually working. Well done the Lucky Country's Department of Health and Ageing. ®

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