Google transforms Android smartphones into seismic detectors

Google added a California earthquake warning feature on Tuesday, saying it’s working to make Android-powered smartphones function as tremor detectors.

Android phones will receive alerts caused by an early-warning “ShakeAlert” earthquake program introduced by
the US Geological Survey and its collaborators on the West Coast.

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According to the program web site, ShakeAlert uses signals from hundreds of seismometers around the state to cause warning messages that “an earthquake has begun and shaking is imminent.”

People with smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating software have also been invited to let handsets become part of a crowd-sourced earthquake detection network.

Android phones that detect what earthquake activity may be will automatically send a signal to a data center
where computers quickly analyze aggregate motion and position data to determine whether a quake is occurring, according to Google.