The thing about natural disasters is that sometimes you don’t know when they will happen. Of course how this impacts you varies, such as do you live nearby? Do you have loved ones in the area? Or are you just curious and concerned in general? Regardless of your reason, Google has launched a new feature for its Maps and Search services in the form of SOS Alerts.
As you can see in the image to the right, SOS Alerts will be a new feature for Google Maps and Search, where users will be able to find out information about a natural disaster or a crisis if it happens to hit close to home. It will be featured at the top of Google’s search results page and in Maps when a user tries to look for more information, thus making it pretty obvious/prominent.
Google has worked with a number of agencies to get this feature up and running, as well as to gather information. This includes the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, and more. This SOS Alerts feature will be applied across Search and Maps for both the web and mobile, including the mobile web as well as for mobile apps.
Filed in . Read more about Apps, Google and Google Maps.