And this, from your smartphone.
© Unsplash / Andrew Buchanan
Your Android smartphone will become a real detector of an earthquake. In a statement, Google has announced that it is to be read in conjunction with the american Institute of geological studies (USGS) to establish ” ShakeAlert “. It is a feature available on Android smartphones, and which will prevent the users from an earthquake in the approach, even before the first tremors.
“A few seconds of warning can make a difference by giving you the time you put in the ground, cover yourself and hold you before the earthquake do not happen “, can we read the announcement from Google.
For this, the device will be based on the over 700 seismometers in the United States. But to go even further, Google has developed a program featuring a network of millions of smartphones so that they can communicate among themselves on the data of accelerometer. Supposed to measure the movement, the latter may also capture the first tremors of an earthquake.
“A small seismograph “
“We saw an opportunity to use Android to give people accurate and useful information on earthquakes when they are looking for, and the warnings of a few seconds so that they are safe with their loved ones if need be “, explained Marc Stogaitis, an engineer at Google.
Of course, there is a need for a smartphone to be deposited on a flat surface, without moving, for that it could potentially capture of the first signs. But it is enough that there are a dozen cameras catching the same waves for a information of earthquake in approach can be confirmed.
In a first time, Android will “ShakeAlert” in the State of california. The firm of Mountain View says that it is the State the best equipped in terms of infrastructure. Then, more and more territories in the United States will be equipped before Google decides to extend the system to the whole world.
“Your Android phone can be a small seismograph connecting to millions of other telephones to form the largest network for detection of earthquakes in the world,” exclaimed Marc Stogaitis.
There is soon a year, a project of the same size had been made public. A team of researchers from the University of Berkeley sought to use the network of fiber-optic cable under the oceans to reach the same purposes from a critical problem : two-thirds of the earth’s surface does not have sensors, seismic activities, and ” there is a huge need for the seismology of the seabed “, said the author of the study in question.
