LooScout API

Every loo, one request away.

57,892 public toilets across 26 countries, with opening hours, prices and accessibility, as plain JSON. Build a travel app, a council dashboard, or a bot that tells your group chat where the nearest loo is.

Get an API key Try it live

Try it live

No key needed for this one

Pick a place and we’ll call GET /api/nearby, the same endpoint the map uses.

Three steps to your first loo

1
Make a key

Settings → API keys. You get a key and a token; the token is shown once, so copy it somewhere safe.
2
Send both headers

X-API-Key and X-API-Token, or the token as Authorization: Bearer ….
3
Ask for loos

Up to 60 requests a minute and 200 results a page. Plenty for most apps.

curl "https://looscout.com/api/toilets?lat=51.5145&lng=-0.13&radius_km=1&open=1" \
  -H "X-API-Key: tmk_…" -H "X-API-Token: …"

Endpoints

Base URL https://looscout.com/api

GET/toilets

List loos. Filter by area, distance, features or what’s changed since your last sync.

bbox: west,south,east,north
lat, lng, radius_km: Nearest first, adds distance_m
open, free, wheelchair, baby, neutral: Set to 1 to filter
updated_since: ISO date, for incremental sync
source: osm, api or community
limit, offset: Paging; meta.total has the full count

Example response

{
    "data": [
        {
            "id": "83ab427ba3",
            "name": "Public toilets, Soho Square",
            "address": "Soho Square, Soho, City of Westminster, W1D 3QN",
            "lat": 51.515633,
            "lng": -0.132367,
            "country_code": "GB",
            "url": "https://looscout.com/toilet/83ab427ba3",
            "open_now": true,
            "open_status": "Open 24 hours",
            "features": {
                "wheelchair": false,
                "baby_changing": false,
                "gender_neutral": false,
                "toilet_paper": false,
                "hand_soap": false
            },
            "access_type": null,
            "is_paid": false,
            "price": null,
            "rating": {
                "average": 4,
                "count": 1
            },
            "verified": false,
            "source": "osm",
            "updated_at": "2026-10-23 19:19:42",
            "distance_m": 180
        }
    ],
    "meta": {
        "total": 42,
        "limit": 50,
        "offset": 0,
        "count": 1
    }
}

GET/toilets/{id}

One loo by its id (the short code in its LooScout URL). open_now is null when we don’t know the hours. We never guess.

Example response

{
    "data": {
        "id": "83ab427ba3",
        "name": "Public toilets, Soho Square",
        "address": "Soho Square, Soho, City of Westminster, W1D 3QN",
        "lat": 51.515633,
        "lng": -0.132367,
        "country_code": "GB",
        "url": "https://looscout.com/toilet/83ab427ba3",
        "open_now": true,
        "open_status": "Open 24 hours",
        "features": {
            "wheelchair": false,
            "baby_changing": false,
            "gender_neutral": false,
            "toilet_paper": false,
            "hand_soap": false
        },
        "access_type": null,
        "is_paid": false,
        "price": null,
        "rating": {
            "average": 4,
            "count": 1
        },
        "verified": false,
        "source": "osm",
        "updated_at": "2026-10-23 19:19:42"
    }
}

GET/statistics·GET/locations

Totals, top contributors and per-area counts: handy for dashboards. Add include_locations=1 to statistics to get both at once.

GET/nearby·GET/mapNo key

What the LooScout map runs on. Compact and fast, but the shape may change without notice, so use /toilets for anything you ship.

When things go wrong

Errors come back as {"error": "…"} with a status that tells you what to do next.

Status	Means
401	Missing or wrong key/token. Check both headers.
403	Your key can’t do that (e.g. writing with a non-staff key).
404	No such loo, or it isn’t public.
413	Batch too big: 500 loos per request at most.
422	Something in the request didn’t validate; the message says what.
429	Slow down. You’ve hit 60 requests a minute; the `X-RateLimit-*` headers say when you can go again.

One small ask

Most of this data comes from OpenStreetMap, under the Open Database Licence. If you show it, credit “© OpenStreetMap contributors” and LooScout, and link back if you can. See Contributors, and our changelog for what’s new.