Google gives Android phones earthquake recognition function

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Google provides Android phones with an earthquake detection function. The company has the control system transmit data from small vibrations to seismological bodies in order to send warnings.

Phones on the Android Earthquake Alerts System will send a location notification if the phone thinks a possible earthquake is taking place. That happens when the phone’s accelerometer detects vibrations. To do this, Google’s location services must be on and the device location function activated, the spokesperson said. The location that the function sends is ‘at city level’ and therefore not exact. In addition, the phone sends three fake locations to hide the user’s real location. If a number of reports come in from nearby phones, Google can issue a warning if there is an earthquake in a region.

For now, the project only works in the west coast of America. Google works there with the United States Geological Survey and the Office of Emergency Service in California. Android users are logged into the Android Earthquake Alerts System. The update with which the phones are updated is implemented in the same way as with the corona API from Google and Apple, i.e. via Play Services. According to a spokesperson for the company, this is an opt-out where users can unsubscribe themselves.

In addition to transmitting vibrations to seismological institutes, the system can also be used to warn users in time of an earthquake. For the time being, the latter only happens in California, where Google already has collaborations. This will be expanded to other countries in the coming year. However, users can already get information about an affected area through Google’s search function if they search for terms such as ‘earthquake nearby’.

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