In cooperation with Digital Product School, the city of Munich has launched the Open Source Factory to work on city problems. In 3-month batches, talent from all over the world works on open source solutions using agile methods. The idea for the development of an app to better locate toilets for people with limited mobility in Munich was initiated by city council members Sibylle Stöhr and Sofie Langmeier.
The project was backed by their respective departments.
Finding a toilet can be difficult
Imagine searching for a toilet in a crowded city, especially in an environment that is not very familiar to you. For a person facing mobility restrictions, finding an accessible toilet becomes an even more difficult challenge - be it in public or semi-public facilities. As the city of Munich constantly wants to improve the experience for citizens with disabilities, this became a more and more present topic in public discussions.
All information at your fingertips
The DPS team "Amazingo" worked on the topic for 12 weeks and soon started a partnership with CBF Munich. Fortunately, CBF Munich had already done an excellent job over many years in identifying and preparing data on toilets suitable for disabled people. The team developed a web application, optimized for mobile use, showing a map with all toilets pinned on it. Using the search functionality or current location, one can easily find the closest toilet nearby. Further filters on certain features can be applied. A card for each toilet gives more details, such as pictures, layout, access instructions etc.
“I hope that the project will now get the tailwind it needs and after more than three years of waiting, an app with the necessary information will finally be launched.”
Oswald Utz
Disability Officer of the City of Munich
When targeting people with disabilities, aspects like usability, accessibility and inclusivity become very crucial.
Every individual user has specific accessibility needs, based on their wheelchair and movability. A filter helps to identify the toilets that are really accessible for them.
Members of the Digital Product School community continued their work on the platform and added further improvements. The Inclus Web-App got officially launched in May 2023, showing 1028 toilets. The platform is optimized for mobile use and offers a channel to report issues while approaching or using a toilet.
What's next?
Including more cities in Germany.