Google builds the largest earthquake detection system on your phone

If you carry an Android smartphone, did you know that it could be part of the world’s largest earthquake detection system? Thanks to a collaboration between Google, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the concept is being examined as a cost-effective alternative to creating public infrastructure to detect and alert the public to an earthquake in their area.

Google builds the largest earthquake detection system on your phone

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Why Android Earthquake Alert System?

Earthquakes are a daily occurrence all over the world. The sooner millions of people who live in an earthquake-prone area are notified of an earthquake (before things start shaking) so they can fall and take cover, the safer they are. However, conventional earthquake warning systems are costly to build and deploy. Since all smartphones have a few accelerometers – a device that detects rotation – Google thought we might be walking around with a solution to its earthquake detection system. Turns out their hunch was right, and smartphones could expand their influence into life-saving emergency media devices.

Tested by Android device owners in California

Google and collaborators first published the Android platform as a California earthquake alert system. Working with USGS and Cal OES, Google used ShakeAlert to send earthquake alerts. The ShakeAlert System was developed by the country’s leading seismologists. It receives signals from more than 700 seismometers spread across the state. While California has been able to create this infrastructure, many other earthquake-prone areas of the world are not. But the large Android worldwide network of millions of smartphones acts as individual seismometers that could fill the gap.

If an individual phone’s accelerometer detects something that it thinks may be an earthquake, it sends the signal to Google’s servers. Next, the algorithms get to work, and combine this data with information from other smartphones to see if an earthquake really occurs. To be effective, the system races the speed of light (basically the speed of the phone’s data) versus the speed of the earthquake.

If an earthquake is detected, the system will be able to quickly share accurate information about the extent of the earthquake to those who may be in danger because of it.

Google is currently testing the system and is cautiously rolling out future phases as they build confidence in the system’s reliability. Ultimately, plans plan to deploy them to areas that do not have conventional seismic monitoring systems.

Android phones can detect both types of earthquake waves

There are two different types of earthquake waves, and Android phones can detect both. The primary wave or P wave is the fastest and first wave to be transmitted when an earthquake occurs. Followed by a secondary wave or S wave which may be slower but is usually larger and cause more damage to more people. If Android can issue early warnings when a P-wave is detected, this could help minimize damage when an S-wave appears.

When anonymous data begins to hit Google’s servers, Bayesian filters and other machine learning algorithms work to determine if what the phones are reporting is an actual seismic event. If so, the warning alerts go out. Phones closer to the epicenter will have fewer warnings than those in more distant areas; However, they can play a critical role in helping to protect those who will experience the larger secondary wave.

Google works with seismologists to find alerts appropriate for different earthquake levels. When time is of the essence, alerts should convey the important information succinctly.

Once Google improves its earthquake alert system, it plans to release an API. This paves the way for developers to take the framework created by Google and create solutions to the many important use cases that can make coping with earthquakes easier. Imagine if there were systems built to shut off gas valves, transportation management systems such as traffic lights could be manipulated to keep people out of danger and more with future development.

Currently, Google is focusing on optimizing its system to reduce the number of false positives.

Google includes this capability as part of Google’s mobile services, making it available for most Android phones in use today.

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