Android Phones To Be Updated With Real-Time Earthquake Alerts Globally
Image via Shutterstock
Google is launching a new feature for Android devices that aims to alert users to approaching earthquakes instantly. The tech giant first started rolling out this feature to smartphones in April in a few select countries, and is now expanding the list.
Early warnings during earthquakes are key to helping people evacuate or take cover, but public infrastructure to alert everyone in the vicinity of an approaching quake can be costly.
Google aims to use its wide network of Android smartphones to fix the issue, providing users with timely earthquake information as well as real-time warnings.
As part of this joint network, each Android smartphone can work as a mini seismometer, joining millions of other devices to form the world’s largest earthquake detection network, as per Live Mint.
This sensing feature is already built-in for most smartphones, which contain tiny accelerometers that can sense when a quake might be happening.
When a smartphone detects what it thinks could be a quake, it sends a signal to Google’s earthquake detection server, along with the relevant location information. The server will then combine information from multiple smartphones in the area to figure out if an earthquake is happening.
Last week, Google launched the feature to users in Turkey, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It hopes to roll out the feature first to countries at higher risk for earthquakes.
[via Live Mint, cover via Shutterstock]
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