Google Maps is adding a very useful new feature, a public alerts layer which can help you find out about various emergencies and also get more info on them and their progress.
"Today marks the launch of a new Google Crisis Response project: Google Public Alerts, a platform designed to bring you relevant emergency alerts when and where you’re searching for them," Google
explained.
Google is working with several institutions in the US to source the information and make it available in Google Maps to the people that may need it in close to real time, as much as possible.
"If a major weather event is headed for your area, you might go online to search for the information you need: What’s happening? Where and when will it strike? How severe will it be? What resources are available to help?," Google added.
"The Google Crisis Response team works on providing critical emergency information during crises. Our goal is to surface emergency information through the online tools you use everyday, when that information is relevant and useful," it said.
The new layer depends on data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service and the US Geological Survey (USGS). This means that, yes, it's essentially a US-only feature and of not much use to everyone else.
When an alert is available for your area, or the area you're searching for, you'll see a notification in Google Maps. You can click on "more info" to get more details on the nature of the emergency.
On the dedicated page, you'll see the entire alert message as well as the areas it refers to. You'll also get a link to the source site of the information. You can check out all alerts at any given time over at
www.google.org/publicalerts.
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