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Too bad Google gets the credit for the amazing https://www.shakealert.org https://www.shakealert.org system developed by the USGS and other public entities. Alt

Too bad Google gets the credit for the amazing https://www.shakealert.org https://www.shakealert.org system developed by the USGS and other public entities. Altering the user is the easy part, detecting the earthquake is the hard part.

canadaduane 4y ago
"altering" made me laugh a bit. I think you mean "alerting"! :)
pythonaut_16 4y ago
That's a narrow take. Detecting an earthquake early and alerting millions of people quickly are both hard problems, and both had to be solved for this to work. Much of the hard work on Google's side just happens to overlap with other use cases that they've already scaled.
- ilyt 4y ago
  Were it be built from scratch earthquake detection is still harder part than message distribution. "deliver same message to subset of subscribers" scales horizontally pretty easily.
  - pythonaut_16 4y ago
    Be my guest to go build one then. Oh but if you're truly committed you'll need to avoid Cloud computing resources, avoid Twillio, don't use any Google services, no Firebase Cloud messaging... You probably shouldn't use Android phones either... And remember any delayed or failed messages put people's lives in danger... Or we can just admit that Google as a whole had some impressive achievements here alongside the Earthquake team.
    - lttlrck 4y ago
      Come on, this is a mean-spirited mischaracterization of what they wrote.
      - pythonaut_16 4y ago
        I thought it was fair given their oversimplification of what delivering messages at scale requires. The point isn't that the Earthquake Detection isn't impressive. Why do we have to deny Google any credit here? Is it just because they're a big tech company? IMO it feels like another "I could build Dropbox in a weekend" comment.
amf12 4y ago
Android also has a "detection" feature in non ShakeAlert locations. Android phones' accelerometer is used to detect earthquakes and warn other phones in the area: https://crisisresponse.google/android-alerts/ https://crisisresponse.google/android-alerts/ Android phones' accelerometer also detected the tremors: https://twitter.com/davey_burke/status/1585148438844694528 https://twitter.com/davey_burke/status/1585148438844694528 It's a pretty cool technical problem to solve while optimizing latency.

canadaduane 4y ago

"altering" made me laugh a bit. I think you mean "alerting"! :)

pythonaut_16 4y ago

That's a narrow take. Detecting an earthquake early and alerting millions of people quickly are both hard problems, and both had to be solved for this to work. Much of the hard work on Google's side just happens to overlap with other use cases that they've already scaled.

ilyt 4y ago
Were it be built from scratch earthquake detection is still harder part than message distribution. "deliver same message to subset of subscribers" scales horizontally pretty easily.
- pythonaut_16 4y ago
  Be my guest to go build one then. Oh but if you're truly committed you'll need to avoid Cloud computing resources, avoid Twillio, don't use any Google services, no Firebase Cloud messaging... You probably shouldn't use Android phones either... And remember any delayed or failed messages put people's lives in danger... Or we can just admit that Google as a whole had some impressive achievements here alongside the Earthquake team.
  - lttlrck 4y ago
    Come on, this is a mean-spirited mischaracterization of what they wrote.
    - pythonaut_16 4y ago
      I thought it was fair given their oversimplification of what delivering messages at scale requires. The point isn't that the Earthquake Detection isn't impressive. Why do we have to deny Google any credit here? Is it just because they're a big tech company? IMO it feels like another "I could build Dropbox in a weekend" comment.

amf12 4y ago

Android also has a "detection" feature in non ShakeAlert locations. Android phones' accelerometer is used to detect earthquakes and warn other phones in the area: https://crisisresponse.google/android-alerts/ https://crisisresponse.google/android-alerts/ Android phones' accelerometer also detected the tremors: https://twitter.com/davey_burke/status/1585148438844694528 https://twitter.com/davey_burke/status/1585148438844694528 It's a pretty cool technical problem to solve while optimizing latency.