Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have unveiled a free Android app that harnesses a smartphone’s ability to detect whether its movement is likely caused by an earthquake or by human activities.
The MyShake app, launched on Friday, then transmits the data to a processing centre where it can be used, along with the information from millions of other smartphones, to potentially warn users of imminent tremors from nearby quakes.
The accelerometers in the smartphones are actually similar to the ones used in seismology,” said Qingkai Kong, lead researcher at the Seismological Lab at University of California, Berkeley.
“Even though they are relatively low quality, we thought there’s a potential to use them to detect earthquakes”
The app runs in the background and consumes only a small amount of power.
“Low power consumption is important and we tried to make the impact on the users as small as possible,” said Qingkai.
The researchers admit the system does have limitations, including the fact the accelerometers in smartphones are relative poor quality.
The app has the potential to warn of impending tremors, but Roger Musson, a seismologist with the British Geology Survey, said it is only of practical use when the community at risk is some distance from the earthquake.