Seems like you can’t swing a virtual dead cat around the Intertubes these days without reading about iPhone apps. I and others of my ilk are most likely to get wound up about location-related mobile apps; these naturally often involve navigation for the iPhone, not to mention other phones. But there’s a host of other apps providing all manner of location-based services beyond navigation. For example, if you’re out and about and nature calls, as it is wont to do, now you can use your iPhone to find a clean restroom — “restroom” being that quaint American euphemism for toilet.

Personally, I prefer the European term WC, or water closet. Whatever you prefer to call it, if you’re a fussy sort, public toilets can be a source of grave stress. If you fall into that category, then you need to download SitOrSquat.

First, props are in order: I first spied this just now on BoingBoing, which profiles a new book on the market: Best iPhone Apps: The Guide for Discriminating Downloaders. Second, it is ridiculously ironic in a post post-modern way to be blogging a blog about a book (made with archaic dead-tree based technology) about the best applications for a cutting edge smartphone. And I’m posting this with a laptop from the local coffee shop — I feel like I got hit on the head and came to in the next William Gibson novel.

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way … of all the apps BoingBoing auteur Mark Frauenfelder could have chose to profile from the book, he chose SitOrSquat. The fact that he chose that one — and I chose to follow up on it for my own blog, is perhaps telling (not to mention the founders of SitOrSquat, or all the people that use it), but Freud and psychoanalysis is beyond the scope of GPS Maniac. So let us dispense with SitOrSquat, and the eponymous blog/website. To wit:

The Birth: Sit or Squat was born on October of 2007 as a silly little personal blog. In September of 2008 it became something bigger, much bigger.

The Story: The act of relieving oneself is somewhat an artform. It is rarely talked about yet we do it everyday. If we are home, most of us feel comfortable enough that the process doesn’t even faze us. However, the real dilemma comes when our personal space is not our personal space. This dilemma is commonly known as, public restroom. A few drops on a toilet seat can set off red alerts to one person while another may not even blink an eye. We’ve all got different taste and where we put our bare bottoms can certainly be a priority.

Sitorsquat.com is a site that is dedicated to telling you where the closest place to relieve yourself is and whether or not that place is worth even sitting or squatting (or standing) at. We all find ourselves needing a public restroom every once in a while, whether it’s walking down a city block or driving on a highway with a few whining kids in the backseat. This application is designed to be viewed either on your computer or your mobile device.

So there you go. Not a hipster or Apple fan boy/girl? Right now you also have the choice of SitOrSquat in BlackBerry and Android flavors, or you can simply text the word “sitorsquat” to DOTCOM (368266) to get directions to the nearest SitOrSquat community-approved comfort station (another American toilet euphuism, this one form the genteel South).

If this subject is near and dear to your … er, heart, you may be interested in serving as a tester for SitOrSquat. Just email testers@sitorsquat.com. If you’re of a more technical bent, there is the SitOrSquat application programming interface.

And in case you’re wondering, yes, Best iPhone Apps considers SitOrSquat to be the best public toilet finder app. It’s description sums it up nicely:

RESTROOM RADAR: SitOrSquat’s map shows you the closest points of relief. Green and red icons indicate open and closed businesses (yellow means the database doesn’t have that info). Select a business to see complete details, including photos, comments, and whether the facilities are clean (“sit”) or dirty (“squat”).

Below is a screen cap of SitOrSquat; as always click it to big it.

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