Publicly Accessible Restrooms on Long Beach Island
Description
Locations of publicly accessible spaces, often provided by borough or town officials, frequently go unadvertised and are left unrecognized. This data set presents public bathrooms listed by the Long Beach Island (LBI) Chamber of Commerce and the Long Beach Township Beach Patrol (2022). By combining the LBICOC data with data from the LBT Beach Patrol, it is possible to begin exploring the availability of publicly accessible utilities along barrier islands in NJ. The initial data sets were gathered from two main sources, and then combined. Long Beach Island Chamber of Commerce (2020) reported locations including shower, foot shower, and handicap accessible locations. Long Beach Township Beach Patrol reported locations in 2022 of restrooms provided by the Long Beach Township Borough. The data were then geocoded using Google My Maps and ArcGIS Online software for visualization. On LBI there are a total of 20 publicly accessible restrooms, averaging 3 locations per borough. Of these locations, 4 are porta potties and 16 are running water facilities. 5 locations also provide both outside showers, and foot showers. 16 of the 20 facilities are located on the ocean-side of LBI Boulevard, especially due to the higher number of parks and recreational spaces. 12 of the facilities are located on the south-side of the island, reflecting the higher population density of this area. It is unstated if any or all of the utilities are seasonally accessible. Geocoding publicly accessible lists into usable maps can make a major difference in the use of that information. In the case public restrooms, this information is now navigable and exact to locations that the public may not have been able to find otherwise. This improves improves the recognition of public health utilities, as well as brings attention to areas that may be lacking resources. Evaluation of publicly available utilities located on additional New Jersey barrier islands would be beneficial in assessing the demand equilibrium for such facilities in the state's coastal towns. More information about the extent of the facilities offered should be released by local governments along with a larger effort to increase public knowledge. The dataset on the locations of public bathrooms on LBI listed in a database available to download and access on Mendeley Data as an Excel .csv file format. Swensen, Shelby (2023), “Publicly Accessible Restrooms on Long Beach Island”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/pv9ss6dttg.1 The online visualization generate from these data are available to view on the ArcGIS Online website: https://www.arcgis.com or on Google Maps: Public Restrooms on LBI