Google Earthquake alerts for Android

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DjShadow

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#284541 29-Apr-2021 11:58

This has just been launched today in New Zealand and Greece: New Google trial will send earthquake alerts to Android phones in New Zealand | Stuff.co.nz

I've got a Samsung Galaxy A30 (Spark) for work, it did pick up a firmware upgrade this morning but I can't find any setting relating to this, has anybody else found it? Be interesting to see how it compares to Geonet.

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#2699498 29-Apr-2021 12:05

I imagine for a broad coverage from Lollipop it would likely be a play store services update rather than firmware.

Covid notifications was rolled out with Store Services rather than FW. Because it hits more devices at once and doesn't rely on approval

https://blog.google/products/android/introducing-android-earthquake-alerts-outside-us/

Hrm. So use the accelerometer, to gauge whether having one. And compare with others rather than get an alert.

Groucho

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#2699501 29-Apr-2021 12:13

I just read this news myself. Be interesting to see how it pans out. We'll assume data is only accumulated when it knows the phone has been sitting in place for a while given seismographs are typically dynabolted to concrete so they can accurately sense ground movement.

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#2699529 29-Apr-2021 12:22

Interesting. I wonder if there's any impact on battery life. Is the accelerometer always on anyway? Or would this require it to be on all the time? I noticed a drop in battery life when I installed Google Fit as a step counter, which probably uses the accelerometer.

afe66

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#2699683 29-Apr-2021 15:08

Why not just use geonet app? Earthquake volcanoes tsunamis

I doubt people in chch would have needed their phone to tell them an earthquake happened nearby via my phone accelerometer?

frankv

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#2699700 29-Apr-2021 15:33

afe66: Why not just use geonet app? Earthquake volcanoes tsunamis

I doubt people in chch would have needed their phone to tell them an earthquake happened nearby via my phone accelerometer?

I imagine that this might be more useful in countries other than NZ, where they don't have an extensive network of seismometers.

And, although it has a facility for warning people of an actual (or impending?) earthquake, initially the benefit is the Big Data aspect. Thousands to millions of "seismometers" recording the effect of earthquakes for most of every night gives opportunities to model, in great detail, how earthquakes propagate around the country. Once you have that, you can detect an earthquake in (say) Wellington, and warn people in (say) Blenheim that it's going to arrive in a couple of minutes. Not much help for Wellingtonians, admittedly.

But, perhaps with enough data, you might even be able to detect some pre-cursor small tremors and therefore predict large earthquakes, both in time and location, and give people time to evacuate and/or turn off power & gas & water. It's not uncommon (e.g. San Francisco) for fires to do more damage than the earthquake itself.

jamesrt

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#2703761 8-May-2021 20:41

afe66: Why not just use geonet app? Earthquake volcanoes tsunamis

I doubt people in chch would have needed their phone to tell them an earthquake happened nearby via my phone accelerometer?

Reading the article, it seems clear the intention is to provide advance warning of quakes, even if it just seconds in advance.

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#2703768 8-May-2021 21:28

Watch some videos of similar systems in Japan, those few seconds of pre warning let people "drop, cover, hold" and get to safety before the quake hits. If you hear the alert you should immediately prepare for the quake to hit and make yourself then others around you safe!

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clinty

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#2712141 24-May-2021 11:51

So the alert came in just as my chair wiggled lol

Am in Riccarton

https://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/2021p386465

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Clint

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#2712144 24-May-2021 11:54

Snap. Was going to say that the inbuilt alerting just triggered

cruxis

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#2712146 24-May-2021 11:56

That was the coolest thing, got a google alert here in christchurch,20 secs before the shakes arrived. Impressive.

Oblivian

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#2712152 24-May-2021 12:02

I didn't have my phone on the bench here at harewood, but could hear tones going off on mobiles. So something sure got the message out near instantly.

At the same time however. Was the usual bit of rumble 'is that someone running on the upper level' type thing. Before creak, creak whack. By that stage the brain was going.. is it.. isn't it. So the alerting timing wasn't noticed so much

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Poll

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#2712165 24-May-2021 12:21

Was really impressed with how quick the notification comes up, bit of a shame it cannot be configured to Metric units as it listed the shake as 10 miles away.

Oblivian

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#2712763 25-May-2021 09:50

A lot of people blaming GeoNet for it and how high the initial estimation was. Sigh.

There's an opt out option under location/location services if anyone want's to. Along with the ELS and Location Accuracy setting

clinty

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#2716410 31-May-2021 21:52

That one came in as the lights rattled :(

Starting to wonder what Canterbury has done to annoy Mother Nature - possibly the nitrate levels?

Clint

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#2716412 31-May-2021 21:59

clinty: That one came in as the lights rattled :(

Starting to wonder what Canterbury has done to annoy Mother Nature - possibly the nitrate levels?

Clint

Maybe its the water.... the water seeping down into the fault lines...... and seeping deep past these plates into the earths hot crust......cuppa tea anyone?

:-)

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