Skip to main content

Google Public Alerts

       I was in the office having my lunch today with my colleagues, when we felt the tremors of a 5.2 magnitude earthquake whose epicenter was at Bahadurgarh in Haryana about 46 km (28 miles) from Delhi - the capital of India. I went back to my desk and that is when I came across this new initiative of Google - Google Public Alerts. Google Public Alerts is Google’s new platform for disseminating emergency messages such as evacuation notices for hurricanes, and everyday alerts such as storm warnings.

       Google Public Alerts is actually a project of the Google Crisis Response Team, supported by Google.org which uses Google's strengths in information and technology to build products and advocate for policies that address global challenges.Google Public Alerts has started by showing relevant weather, public safety and earthquake alerts from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service, and the US Geological Survey (USGS) when you search on Google Maps.

       You can see the latest and the most important alerts from across the web when and where they are needed the most.


       Do write in to say what you think of Google's new initiative - Google Public Alerts.
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 10, 2012 at 3:52 PM

    Dear Google,
    re: Google Public Alerts initiative

    Thank you for this service. I think is an answer to a global need for maps of disaster areas at the time a disaster occurs. Successful disaster response begins with a map. Incident Support Teams need to know where the disaster happened in order to procede to the site to assist the affected area with initial response and recovery.
    The next step for google would be to come up with a means to present the incident area by a perimeter polygon. Please see my discussions on LinkedIn Disaster Researchers and Disaster Management Professionals.
    Vivian A. Wasson, M.S., LSIT
    Springfield, Missouri
    GIS Specialist/Disaster Reservist
    Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management
    Southwest Missouri Incident Support Team (SWMOIST)
    Wasson2008@live.missouristate.edu
    http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vivian-a-wasson-m-s-lsit/48/6b9/308

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please leave your comments here...

Recommended for You

Where does Google get it's live traffic data from?

Referring to a post that I wrote earlier, Google’s - Live traffic Layer , ever wondered how Google collected this data? I was wondering the other day, how Google received live data to display it on their maps as a layer! I looked up the web and found something very interesting and am sharing the same with you all. As we all know, the traffic layer is available most accurately in several states in USA. Most major metro areas in the US have sensors embedded in their highways. These sensors track real time traffic data. Easy to miss at high speeds (hopefully anyway, traffic permitting), more commonly noticed may be the similar sensors that often exist at many busy intersections that help the traffic lights most efficiently let the most amount of people through. The information from these tracking sensors is reported back to the Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT uses this data to update some of the digital signs that report traffic conditions in many metro areas. They als...
17 comments
Read more

Google Map's Real-Time Traffic Layer...

    You can now check the traffic condition on the road before you leave for work, or a party or to your friend's place. Google's Traffic layer shows the traffic conditions in your area - LIVE!!! Live traffic data is available in major cities in the United States, France, Britain, Canada and Australia, with new cities and countries frequently added. The Google Maps API allows you to add real-time traffic information (where supported) to your maps using the TrafficLayer object. Traffic information is provided for the time at which the request is made. Consult this spreadsheet to determine traffic coverage support.     Let us now have a look at the Google Maps API - Trafiic Layer example. Copy the following code in a simple text file and save it as html. Click on this html file and it will open in your default browser. You will then see the traffic conditions in your area - LIVE...     The output of the above code looks as seen in the r...
4 comments
Read more

Why this difference?

       Several of you must have observed this like I did, that the Google geocoder returns different results on the Google Maps website and Google Maps API v3 for the same address string. To understand why this difference exists, I dug deeper into the web and came up with the following.        The first and foremost place to look for an answer was the Google Maps API FAQ section. The FAQ section did not let me down of course! The FAQ section says: The API geocoder and Google Maps geocoder sometimes use different data sets (depending on the country). The API geocoder occasionally gets updated with new data, so you can expect to see results changing or improving over time.         What I concluded from the above is that, in a lot of cases Google licenses data from other companies like DigitalGlobe, Infoterra Ltd & Bluesky, GeoEye, Getmapping plc, Tele Atlas, etc. When negotiat...
3 comments
Read more

Web based GIS for polling booths in West Bengal...

         The election commission of India will install web-based GIS in West Bengal's polling booths to help the State Chief Electoral Officer track them on their web site. The system will provide a map showing the exact spatial location of all 51919 polling booths and nearby landmarks, with their latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. Boundaries of the parliamentary and assembly constituencies of the booths, along with all the administrative boundaries will also be provided in the GIS-based map.          The software will give a 360-degree view of the entire area falling within the 200-meter radius of each polling booth, including approach roads and nearby installations. It will show every detail of the polling station, such as the number of voters, number of polling and security personnel deployed, details about the current law and order situation and reports of past violence or disturbance in the are...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reverse Geocoding

    The term geocoding generally refers to translating a human-readable address into a location on the map. The process of doing the converse, translating a location on the map into a human-readable address, is known as reverse geocoding. You can read more about geocoding here .     The Geocoder in Google Maps API v3, supports reverse geocoding directly. While geocoding, we supply a textual address and that gets mapped as a location on the map. However, in reverse geocoding, instead of supplying the textual address, we will supply a comma- separated latitude- longitude pair and get a textual address as the result. You can have a look at the geocoding example here , before proceeding to the reverse geocoding example.     The reverse geocoder often returns more than one result. Geocoding "addresses" are not just postal addresses, but any way to geographically name a location. For example, when geocoding a point in the city of Agra, India,...
Post a Comment
Read more