Our friends in Canada are getting a new treat today. Well, some may not call it a treat. But Public Alerts now work in Canada on Google Now, Google Search, and Google Maps. These alerts will warn you of drastic weather changes directly on your phone, tablet, or PC. Google is launching the alerts for severe weather in English and in French for our Northern neighbors.
Google says that providing people with warnings and information before sever weather hits is a very critical way of helping ensure safety of users. Google’s Public Alerts is a great platform that is designed to provide accurate and relevant emergency alerts when and where you need them. An alert will show up on your desktop or mobile devices when you search for relevant keywords such as flood or with location-based queries such as Toronto or Calgary. If you’re using a device running Android 4.1 or later and has Google Now enabled, you’ll see the information appear automatically on cards.
Google also says thanks to Public Safety Canada and Environment Canada:
We couldn’t have launched Public Alerts in Canada without Public Safety Canada and Environment Canada. Their meteorological data will ensure our users are notified of severe weather when relevant. We also appreciate their commitment to open data standards such as the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
The images above show how the alerts would look in both maps and Google Search. They are pretty similar to how those of us in the US have seen them since we got them a while back. It’s great to see this Public Alerts service heading up North to Canada. Hopefully we’ll see more countries and regions get support soon. As this is one of the more “important” features in my opinion.
Those of you in Canada, have you had a chance to check these Public Alerts out yet? Let us know what you think about them in the comments down below.