Project 13 / 22
PUBLIC
A crowdsourced public-bathroom map accessed through QR codes placed throughout Boston.
- Category
- Art + Experience
- Status
- Concept
- Year
- 2014
- Medium
- Social software · place
Summary
PUBLIC was a civic mapping project designed to make public bathrooms easier to find through a simple physical-digital network.
Users could place PUBLIC QR-code stamps around the city. Scanning one opened a shared Google Map showing nearby public bathrooms, along with community-contributed information about each location. Users could find facilities near them, read and write reviews, and add new bathroom locations to the map.
The project used a low-tech physical marker as the entry point to a continuously evolving public resource, allowing the city itself to become part of the interface.
Project record
01 / Overview
A community-built map of publicly accessible bathrooms, distributed through QR-code stamps placed around the city.
02 / The idea
Finding a bathroom in a city can be surprisingly difficult, especially when the information is fragmented, outdated, or hidden inside individual businesses and buildings.
PUBLIC explored whether a simple physical marker and a shared digital map could turn scattered local knowledge into a useful public resource.
03 / What I did
Concept development, interaction design, graphic identity, QR-code system, map structure, and physical deployment strategy.
04 / How it works
PUBLIC stamps could be placed in visible locations throughout the city. Scanning the QR code directed users to a shared Google Map containing community-submitted bathroom locations.
Users could find nearby public bathrooms, read reviews and notes from other users, contribute reviews, add new bathroom locations, and expand the usefulness of the map over time.
05 / The physical layer
The QR stamp was more than a link. It acted as a distributed piece of public infrastructure, allowing the project to exist simultaneously in physical space and online.
As more stamps appeared and more users contributed locations, the system became increasingly useful through participation rather than centralized maintenance.
Artifacts / working material
02 recordsStatus & links
Concept
This archive entry documents the work in its current state. Additional photographs, process material, and links will be added as the record develops.