[fusionadvocate]

>"[...] and builds user trust with each successful alert"

So the company notorious for killing projects is going to tackle infrastructure grade systems? I don't trust Google to tackle this problem.

[homebrewer]

I live in a seismically active (and poor) area. Dunk on Google all you want, they're the only organization who provide earthquake alerts in my area. The government has better things to spend money on (like pervasive corruption), but Google usually sends a notification 30-60 seconds before a perceptible earthquake happens.

[Aachen]

Note that they're also one of the only ones who can unilaterally choose to preinstall this on a majority of devices around the world. Of course I agree that it's good that they do it, for free and all, but to put it in perspective it's either each government for themselves or one of the two global superpowers that have devices with accelerometers and constant internet connectivity on every square kilometer of this oblate spheroid

[ianburrell]

Google (and Apple) has been partnering with ShakeAlert from USGS for quake reporting on west coast of US. But that takes network of seismometers and detection system.

I could see smartphone seismometers being useful for areas that don't have all that. OTOH, if phones are useful seismometers, it should be possible to make cheap, dedicated ones.

[el-salvador]

We’ve had this Google service in El Salvador for a while, and it’s really cool. The first time we received an earthquake alarm we felt like we were living in Japan. I never thought we would have Japanese-style earthquake alerts here.

iPhone users were a bit annoyed though, because it only worked on Android phones.

[kccqzy]

Google alone tackling this problem for 10 years and then killing it is still better than no one solving this problem and no one getting 10 years of free earthquake alerts.

[kobalsky]

big companies doing stuff for free can kill industries.

10 years is enough the ensure that any professional and company trying to make a living from earthquake early detection systems is working on something different.

yeah, someone will pop up after they inevitably kill it, but this stuff can end up delaying progress.

[atim1412]

Local government is disincentivized to build a system because they already has something up for free from the Big Tech.

Case in point: No one built a group-chat for our government officials cause Telegram is free.

[bitpush]

Are you always this salty, so it is only certain topics that make you do this?

Always curious why people comment like this when they have a choice to, you know, not do it

[transcriptase]

I assume you’ve never had the delightful experience of relying on a product Google built or acquired then let decay or killed outright because it doesn’t contribute to ad revenue and the people who cared leveraged it in their promo packet to go elsewhere.

[baxtr]

But isn’t that also what makes us special? Like not everyone is the same and stuff?

[thewebguyd]

> Always curious why people comment like this when they have a choice to, you know, not do it

Not OP, but it's still an important consideration - one can be both glad Google is working on this, but also cautiously optimistic given Google's history. IMO it's right to be wary of private entities taking care of what should effectively be a public service.