Google Turns Smartphones into Earthquake Detectors

Google has launched an earthquake warning system in California that would allow smartphones running the Android operating system to be used as detectors of potential seismic activity. The new system, named 'ShakeAlert', created in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey, uses signals from hundreds of seismometers across the state, which are activated and send alerts to users via Android smartphones.

– We have already seen that by using Android, users receive timely and useful information about seismic activity during searches, as well as data on how and where to take shelter if needed – wrote chief software engineer Marc Stogaitis on the Post blog. Stogaitis urges all those who own smartphones with Google’s Android operating system to take advantage of the earthquake detection capability.

– Smartphones are typically equipped with a small accelerometer that records movement, so they can detect the ground shaking caused by an earthquake, says Stogaitis, adding that this means an Android phone can also become a mini seismometer, and thanks to millions of its users worldwide, the largest global network for earthquake detection could be created in the foreseeable future.

Android phones that detect shaking indicating seismic activity are capable of automatically sending a signal to a data center, where computers quickly process all relevant data to determine whether an earthquake has occurred.

– We are actually trying to race against the speed of light, which is about the speed at which smartphone signals travel compared to the speed of an earthquake. Fortunately, the speed of light is much greater – says Stogaitis. 

In California, earthquake warning systems are being implemented because this U.S. state has a very developed network of seismometers. It is expected that the warning system will expand to other locations next year after a telephone network is established there that will enable earthquake detection. 

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