Water fountains and washrooms in North Van: there’s an app for that!
I was volunteering at an event recently, and someone asked me about maps of water fountains and places to refill water bottles while out on their bike, walking with their kids, or needing to water the hound dog. Later, I dug into it a bit, and it turns out “there is an app for that” - who would have thunk it?
The Drinkstop app shows water fountains for your area, and is iPhone and Android compatible.
Local governments do the hard work of installing and maintaining them, so thank your municipal workers and councillors. The City of North Van even maintains a helpful web map. There are a lot more fountains than you might think. Here’s a sample:
Map of water fountains in the City of North Vancouver. Source: City Map
When you gotta go, you gotta go
Similarly, there are public washroom locator apps. I tested a handful of them, as this can be a much more urgent need. I found the Go-Here app to be the best for us here on the shore and across Canada, but there are still some errors and omissions. It’s from a Canadian association of “people who really need to know”, and we can all benefit. Yes, it’s also available for iPhone and Android.
Open Street Map
I find this resource the most accurate, but also the hardest to use. What’s great about it is that you can contribute to and benefit from the most accurate crowd-sourced information out there, but it has a more difficult learning curve, and doesn’t as easily filter for drinking fountains and washrooms. However for a few sites I checked around my neighbourhood, it more accurately shows the washrooms & water fountains. Here’s a link to explore for yourself. The Open Street Maps community is about more than washrooms and drinking fountains - it really is a fantastic open-source/crowd-sourced resource all of us.
Whether you're walking, biking, or enjoying time outdoors with family and pets, these tools make it easier to stay hydrated and find necessary facilities.
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