WebProNews

Tag: Google Crisis Response

  • Google Maps Shows Before/After Moore, Oklahoma Tornado Imagery

    Google has a crisis response map for those affected by the giant tornado that ripped through Moore, Oklahoma. Included in that is imagery of the area from Google Maps.

    Google posted a before/after look at the area to its Google Maps Google+ account today:

    Google Maps

    Google Maps7 hours ago

    We've published post-tornado imagery of Moore, OK on our Google Crisis Response Map ( http://google.org/crisismap/2013-oklahoma-tornado ). Here's a before (collected on 29th April by CNES 2013, Distribution Astrium Services/Spot Image) and after (collected on 22nd May by Digitalglobe) view showing Briarwood elementary school and the surrounding area – http://goo.gl/9pazZ. You can check/uncheck the boxes on the right of the map link to explore more information.

    478    22 Powered by socialditto

    In other Google Maps news, the company also revealed that it has been using its Trekker camera device to capture new imager from the Galapagos Islands. This imagery will be making its way to Google Maps later this year. You can see a preview here.

  • Google Crisis Response Launches Resources For Jakarta Flooding

    As it typically does when there’s a major natural disaster, Google’s Crisis Response team has put together a resource page for those affected by flooding in Jakarta. The page helps users track affected areas, and provides updated emergency info.

    “We also have a mobile page with emergency contact numbers and lists of shelters, and enhanced search results on google.co.id to provide information directly when people search,” says Google Crisis Response software engineer Alice Bonhomme-Biais. “We’ve also included this information in our FreeZone service to reach affected users on feature phones.”

    The page and the accompanying embeddable map are available in English as well as in Bahasa Indonesia. Users will be able to see updates on flood locations and related info like traffic conditions.

    Google says it will update the content as more info becomes available.

  • Google Creates Embeddable Typhoon Pablo Crisis Response Map

    Google has been pretty good about getting out crisis response maps for major storms and other natural disasters, and Typhoon Pablo is no different. Google announced the map on its Google Maps blog, and encouraged people to share it or embed it on their own sites.

    The map includes storm warnings, shelter locations, weather info, etc. It’s in English and Filipino.

    To share or embed, just hit the “share” button at the top of the embedded map above.

    The map can also be found on the Filipino Government’s Pablo site.

  • Hurricane Sandy (Frankenstorm) Gets Google Crisis Response Maps

    Google’s Crisis Response team has put together a Hurricane Sandy map with location tracking, public alerts, radar/cloud imagery, evacuation information, shelters and storm footage.

    “Already responsible for a reported 41 deaths across the Caribbean, late-season Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall again early this week on the East Coast of the United States,” said Google software engineer Ka-Ping Yee. “Some are calling the hurricane ‘Frankenstorm’ due to its potential mix of both winter and tropical cyclone weather. Regardless of what you call it, we hope that you get the information you need to make preparations and stay safe if you are in the area. It has the potential to be one of the worst storms the area has seen in decades.”

    The location tracking includes the hurricane’s current and forecasted paths. The data comes from the NOAA-National Hurricane Center.

    The public alerts include evacuation notices, storm warnings, etc. This data comes from weather.gov and earthquake.usgs.gov.

    The radar and cloud imagery is from weather.com and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Shelter and recovery center info appears as such facilities become operational.

    The storm footage comes from YouTube, as curated by Storyful. The map, is embeddable (just click the share button to grab the code):

    Additionally, Google has launched a map for New York City with evacuation zone info from NYC Open Data, open shelters, weather info and live webcams.

  • Mississippi Flood Photos from Google Maps Satellite Imagery

    Google has put together a whole bunch of data and imagery from the Mississippi floods on Google Maps.

    On Google’s Lat Long Blog, Pete Giencke of the Google Crisis Response Team writes:

    Emerging as one of the worst flooding events along the U.S. waterway in the past century, the Mississippi River floods of April and May 2011 have caused widespread destruction along the 2,300 mile river system. Historically high water levels from heavy rains and springtime snowmelt have provided no shortage of dramatic scenes — levees breached, downtown areas completely submerged, spillways opened, and more.

    The Google Crisis Response team has assembled a collection of flood data including satellite imagery for impacted cities along the river from GeoEye, flood extent and crest data forecasts from the US Army Corps of Engineers (kml) and NOAA’s National Weather Service (kml), and shelter locations from the American Red Cross (kml).

    The image at the top is Morganza, Louisiana on May 15. The following image is from Cairo, Illinois on May 8.

    Mississippi flood imagery

    Google Crisis Response is a project of Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm. Its stated goal is to make critical info more accessible around natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Just this year it has provided data and resources for the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, the Christchurch earthquake, the Brazil floods and landslides, and Australian floods.

    Last year, it provided resources for the Pakistan floods, gulf oil spill, Qinghai earthquake, Chile earthquake, and Haiti earthquake. In 2009 it provided resources for Typhoon Morakot, the Lockheed Wildfire in Santa Cruz, the L’Aquila Earthquake, and Red River Floods.

    To see all available data for the Mississippi floods, simply search for “Mississippi flooding” on Google Maps. The data is also accessible in Google Earth via the “places” layer.