Google uses 2 billion Android devices to predict earthquakes

Two billion Android devices silently warn of impending earthquakes. Photo: Google .

From 2021 to 2024, Google undertook a massive project that has the potential to improve public safety globally. During that time, the company leveraged motion sensors on more than 2 billion Android phones to create a global network capable of detecting earthquakes and sending automatic alerts to millions of people in 98 countries.

Google’s Android Earthquake Alert system harnesses the massive scale of smartphones, which continuously collect motion data unless users explicitly opt out. The technology has identified the epicenter and magnitude of more than 11,000 earthquakes with the same accuracy as professional seismometers, without the need for expensive systems.

Google’s report in the journal Science offers the first comprehensive analysis of the system’s effectiveness since its quiet launch. The company pledged to bring alerts to as many people as possible, and the number of people who received them increased tenfold over the three years.

The advantage of this warning system lies in the huge number of devices. Algorithms developed by Google aggregate signals from many mobile phones over a large area, simultaneously processing sensor data to accurately match the phone lines, geology and construction materials of buildings in the area.

Warning on Android phone. Photo: Google.

This method allows the system to detect even the slightest tremors by recognizing patterns of simultaneous movement. However, two major earthquakes in Türkiye in February 2023 showed some limitations.

Initially, the system underestimated the severity of the earthquakes, sending out 4.5 million alerts. After reviewing the incident and upgrading the algorithm, Google's team decided the alerts should have been more urgent, and are now reaching 10 million devices.

“This shows that they have been working to improve the system since 2023 and have achieved clear positive results,” Harold Tobin, a seismologist at the University of Washington, told Nature magazine.

Meanwhile, transparency has become a central issue in the scientific debate surrounding the system. “For a system like this that serves public safety, the Android team has a responsibility to be completely transparent about how it operates so that regulators can make their own judgments,” Tobin said.

Google insists it is open about how its technology works, but the exclusivity of its algorithms and privacy concerns around user data remain barriers to wider scrutiny.

Allen Husker, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, said the system was impressive because most countries do not have earthquake early warning systems. He added that having the independent scientific community have access to the system’s data and algorithms would help build confidence in its reliability.

Google describes its earthquake warning system as a supplement to public safety, and the company wants people to recognize and appreciate it in its article, not as a replacement for formal systems run by governments or scientific agencies.

Source: https://znews.vn/google-dung-2-ty-thiet-bi-android-de-bao-truoc-dong-dat-post1570261.html