According to a post on Google’s LatLong blog, the new service not only notifies about what is happening, but how severe the emergency will be and what resources are available to help you, which could be significantly valuable to those far from home and unfamiliar with the area. It is “designed to deliver you relevant emergency alerts when and where you are searching for them.”
The company also said that it is now combining feeds from other sources like the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service, and the US Geological Survey (USGS) into Google Maps. Which are all now accessible online when you search via Google Maps, but Google intends to add data from other public safety organizations in the future.
Offering a peek into how the program will function, Google presented the hypothetical example of a flood in Indiana. For instance, if you searched “flood Indiana,” you would see a Google Maps page offering links to local flood-related businesses. However, if there were a flood warning, Google would state there was a “Flood Warning in Northern Indiana” (see image below) and offer a “more info” link, which would lead to a page like this offering more details on the progress of the flood.
The concept, according to Google, is to empower the public with better information to make decisions during a crisis. Until now, however, the search engine giant does not seems to be integrating dynamic data from its Google+ social network, similarly as it does in its search results, to offer information for people using the new service, (or any other social media networks, like Twitter and Facebook), which might yield even more relevant data.
This is not the first time Google is venturing to use its dominance in search to aid public safety. In 2008, the company introduced Google Flu Trends, which examines search data to indicate where the flu is spreading. Also, last year, Google rolled out Google Dengue Trends, which performs a similar service related to Dengue Fever. Google also has a Crisis Response Team that focuses on providing information to the public during emergencies.
This suggests that searches for places with active public alerts will display a message which offers relevant information. Besides, you can also go directly to the Public Alerts page to view a list of current emergency warnings throughout the world. Each warning is displayed on the map as a hotspot, which you can hover over or click on to view more information. Thus, clicking on the emergency post reveals all details compiled from various government resources, and users can learn the latest news and recommendations about how to protect themselves.
However, other social networks like Twitter and Facebook have been valuable assets during times of disasters, including being actively involve during emergency communications after the deadly Joplin, Mo. tornado last spring.
Moreover, Google’s new system is a public service, but it will also compete with Facebook’s relentless efforts to inform people of a disaster. This past summer, Facebook officials met with members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the California Emergency Management Agency to discuss ways to coordinate disaster notifications and responses.
In addition, the social media network Facebook has a page called Global Disaster Relief, which helps notify members of efforts to respond to disasters around the world, but it has only attracted 681,000, just a fraction of Facebook’s total membership.
An important thing that lacks, is that only Facebook members can utilize the disaster page, while Google’s new service will be open to anyone who has Internet or mobile service, so it likely will attract many more users.