Spot Ease: Public Washroom Finder App

Event Name: The Problem Solving and Ideation Activity – “Spot Ease: Public Washroom Finder App” 

Event Coordinators: Ms. Zalak Trivedi

Details of Event: 

The Problem Solving and Ideation Activity was undertaken by the students of Shri Jairambhai Patel Institute of Business Management and Computer Applications (SJPI-NICM), Gandhinagar, as part of a Boot Camp activity. The project was carried out with the objective of addressing the challenges associated with the availability, accessibility, and maintenance of public sanitation facilities through an innovative digital solution. The activity provided students with practical exposure to problem identification, field research, and solution development for addressing real-life social issues. 

As part of the project, students conducted field visits to three different types of public toilets—private, government-operated, and locally unmanaged facilities—to study their cleanliness, hygiene, accessibility, and user experience. The observations revealed that while private toilets were comparatively clean and maintained, they involved usage charges and had issues related to Odor management. Government toilets provided useful facilities such as sanitary pad vending machines but suffered from inconsistent maintenance and inadequate water supply. The locally unmanaged toilets were found to be highly unhygienic, poorly maintained, and lacking basic facilities, thereby posing health and safety concerns for users. 

Based on these findings, students identified the absence of a reliable digital platform that could help citizens locate safe and clean public washrooms and provide a mechanism for feedback and accountability. To address this issue, they proposed “Spot Ease,” a Smart Public Washroom Finder App that enables users to locate nearby public toilets in real time using GPS and provides information regarding cleanliness, accessibility, and available facilities. 

The proposed application incorporates several innovative features, including a real-time locator, review and rating system, reporting mechanism for unhygienic facilities, gamified rewards, offline and QR access, women-centric safety features, AI-based maintenance alerts, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnerships for toilet maintenance. These features are designed to enhance public hygiene, improve transparency and accountability, and encourage community participation in maintaining sanitation standards. 

The project is expected to contribute significantly towards improved public health, data-driven maintenance of sanitation facilities, and increased citizen participation in promoting cleanliness and hygiene. Furthermore, the initiative aligns with national missions such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Smart City initiatives by leveraging technology to address public sanitation challenges. Overall, the project demonstrated the importance of innovative thinking and highlighted how digital solutions can create meaningful social impact and improve the quality of urban infrastructure and public welfare.