Google’s natural disaster alerts will soon come with more visual detail

Google’s SOS alerts are a handy tool to keep people informed in times of crisis, and now they’ll come with even more detail.

In the next few weeks, Google will begin to present more visual information for natural disasters, plus introduce a new navigation warning system.

For hurricanes, Google Maps will display a forecast cone which will show the hurricane’s projected trajectory, with information on the times it’s expected to hit certain areas.

If you’re near the hurricane, a crisis notification card will alert you of the information in the days leading up to it.

In the aftermath of an earthquake, a shakemap will display its epicenter and its magnitude, while color coding will detail the intensity of the shaking in surrounding areas.

Google is also rolling out flood forecasting, which will be first tested in the flood-prone city of Patna in India, before arriving in the Ganges and Brahmaputra regions. It’ll tell users where flooding is expected to hit, as well as its expected severity.

You don’t need to be near these locations to see all this. Simply using Google to search the name of the area where the natural disaster will or has affected will give you that visual information.

Another neat feature is crisis alerts during navigation on Google Maps, which will warn people if a natural disaster may affect their trip, and it’ll try and navigate them away from the disruption.

As before, you can share this crisis information with friends and family, share your location, and also see and report road closures. Nice one.