Last night in Los Angeles Earthquake appeared, following with the tech giant Google shared an interesting visualization of what Android phones detected. Basically the Android Earthquake Alerts System gives phones running the mobile operating system into mini seismometers.
Android engineering VP Dave Burke tweeted a video showing Los Angeles earthquake. “Android phones and #USGS gave Southern California residents an early warning to the 4.5 earthquake last night Here’s what the phones’ sensors, acting as seismometers, detected. Yellow and red concentric circles are expected locations of the P and S waves.”
Android phones and #USGS gave Southern California residents an early warning to the 4.5 earthquake last night Here’s what the phones’ sensors, acting as seismometers, detected. Yellow and red concentric circles are expected locations of the P and S waves. https://t.co/duKZnnIjE3 pic.twitter.com/9q4GLvLm9O
— Dave Burke (@davey_burke) September 19, 2020
That data is then compiled in real-time. Google is not yet using this system to send alerts. Rather, Google surfaces a card in Search for users looking up “earthquake or other related queries. It asks if you felt shaking to “share a fast, accurate view of the impacted area.”
This feature will improve more in the future which will indicate the real data. Meanwhile, in addition to this phone-based network, Google in August integrated the early warning ShakeAlert system from California and the United States Geological Survey.