back to article Google Maps to dish out disaster alerts

Google tried to claw back the moral high ground on Wednesday by adding a new emergency alert service to its popular mapping tool, designed to give the public up-to-the-minute information on serious weather, public safety and earthquake-related events. At the moment, the new feature is only available in the US, however. In a …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. dotdavid
    Facepalm

    Pubic alerts

    "wrote Google pubic alerts engineer Steve Hakusa in a blog post"

    I just *knew* this typo would be in the article ;-)

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge
      Coat

      Who said it was a typo?

      Perhaps his job really is to alert erogenous zones.

  2. Mr Young
    Happy

    Like TV and Radio alerts,

    the Internet is now part of the infrastructure. Shit - I forgot to mention Google...

  3. David 164

    You should also remember 2011 when they set up a service to help victims of Jupan Earthquake locate lost relatives. They also did something similar during the Haiti disaster.

    Google still does lot more good in the world than evil.

  4. Evil Auditor Silver badge
    Coat

    "...give...information on...public safety..."

    Does it trace the Tea Party members?

    1. jake Silver badge

      @Evil Auditor

      "Does it trace the Tea Party members?"

      Only for "pubic alerts" ... after all, we wouldn't want to have people looking at bits of us that we don't want people looking at. Or something like that.

  5. Paul Westerman
    Coat

    Godzilla attack?

    Someone's been playing Sim City...

  6. jake Silver badge

    Why, exactly, do I need google?

    "those publishers are the US-centric National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service, and the US Geological Survey (USGS)."

    noaa.gov and usgs.gov ... it ain't exactly rocket science.

    1. David 164

      Because that require people to visit and enter their details into two sites, Google combine the data into one site so now people can visit just one site and get that information. Eventually Google is hoping more national organisation will offer over their data to Google, enable Google to combine data of potentially hundreds if not thousands of sources into this service.

      Plus if you got a Google account you do not have to enter in any details.

      1. ItsNotMe
        Coat

        @David 164

        By any chance...do you work for the Chocolate Factory? Just wondering.

      2. jake Silver badge

        Bullshit, David 164.

        I've never had to enter personal details into NOAA or USGS.

        On top of that, I almost^W never need weather *AND* geological info superimposed on each other.

        This is yet another way for google to pull personal information from individual IP addresses. I shun google at all costs. They are a slow-motion train wreck waiting to happen.

  7. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Meh

    This moralfagging is tiresome

    "suppress its natural instincts and do something for the common good"

    It makes some people rich and brings search results. Also amazing maps, streetview and peppers you with ads. Not good enough? Not happy? Don't use it.

    Jesus Christ what's wrong with people?

  8. Gene Cash Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    How long are they going to support it?

    Are we going to hear "Google has decided that Google Public Alerts is too much of a drain and is open-sourcing the project" next year?

  9. Darryl
    Thumb Up

    Once again, love the subheading

    Now I REALLY want my phone to say "Nearest McDonalds is... oh, there's an earthquake comi-... aaaah"

    That would be fantastic

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "The House is Shaking"

    ... "Wait, I'll look. Nope. Nothing on Google Maps."

    "Part of the roof just fell in"

    "Can't be anything much: nothing on Google maps"

    "There's a canyon just outside the back door now"

    "Well, there's still nothing on... Oh, the network's gone dead... Aaaaah..."

  11. ratfox
    WTF?

    Google tried to claw back the moral high ground...

    Huh? Is this a soap opera? "Oh no, they found out about our nefarious plans! Quick, do something good to distract them!"

  12. Gritzwally Philbin
    WTF?

    Ah! The crisislanding.appspot page. Yeah, know it well.

    How is this news?

  13. Tom 13

    Some nits:

    NWS is an agency of NOAA, so the list is sort of like listing El Reg, El Reg comments, and The Onion.

    You should also check on the map source, it is more likely the US Geodetic Survey, which is also an agency of NOAA. Many people make that mistake. I got caught on it myself yesterday even though as an NWS contractor with a friend who works in the Geodetic area, I should know better. Geodetic are the people who measure it down to the 0.5 cm and revise the supercomputer globe models every 4 years.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like