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Google Launches Hurricane Isaac Site

Posted by samzenpus on from the one-stop-hurricane-news dept.

redletterdave writes "Google Crisis Response, one of Google's thousands of active projects that merges various Google tools like Maps, Docs, Forms and Earth, posted a new webpage on Monday dedicated to Tropical Storm Isaac — soon to be Hurricane Isaac — in an effort to disseminate helpful information about the hurricane's path, its forecasted track, and how local residents can stay safe during this emergency situation. Google's Crisis Map for Hurricane Isaac allows the user to set up and see public alerts from weather.gov, flood gauge forecasts, surge zones, evacuation zones and routes, barrier resources and relevant YouTube videos for each impacted area."

30 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Actual Google site by GSPride · · Score: 5, Informative

    The actual Google Crisis site is:

    http://google.org/crisismap/2012-tropical-system-isaac

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    1. Re:Actual Google site by guttentag · · Score: 1

      Romney should deliver his victory speech aboard an aircraft carrier floating past New Orleans City Hall. In doing so, he could reinvigorate the portion of the Republican base that believes things were better off under Bush.

    2. Re:Actual Google site by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I found the site rather content-free except for YouTube entries linking to YouTube. I would have hoped any information would have been at a glance on that page.

    3. Re:Actual Google site by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Thank you! This is actually hard to find using Google. Type in "hurricane Isaac" and started scrolling down.

      Nope...nope...nope..."Robert Reich: George W. Bush As Hurricane Isaac", looked for the -1 troll button but was on the wrong site.

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    4. Re:Actual Google site by inKubus · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm a big fan of wunderground's Wundermap.

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      Cool! Amazing Toys.
    5. Re:Actual Google site by John+Napkintosh · · Score: 1

      Came here to post this. The wundermap has been out for quite some time, and it's pretty handy. These two sites seem very similar; the sidebars are practically the same.

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      Long signatures suck.
  2. Ahaha! There it is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    I do find it amusing, though, how this query, https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hurricane%20isaac, doesn't return Google's crisis site.

    Search giants, indeed ;)

    1. Re:Ahaha! There it is. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They're just trying not to get sued by some random Microsoft backed consumer watch dog for favoring their crisis site over others. Also, the Microsoft crisis site requires Silverlight so many are SOL either way. :)

  3. Like rock and roll by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2, Funny

    I never expected Google to be a company that cheaply jumps on the latest fad that blows by.

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    1. Re:Like rock and roll by ackthpt · · Score: 1, Funny

      I never expected Google to be a company that cheaply jumps on the latest fad that blows by.

      We need them to work on the technology of controling the weather ... push it to the east a hundred miles would be a good start.

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      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Like rock and roll by SternisheFan · · Score: 2

      I never expected Google to be a company that cheaply jumps on the latest fad that blows by.

      We need them to work on the technology of controling the weather ... push it to the east a hundred miles would be a good start.

      A "self-driving" google hurricaine?

    3. Re:Like rock and roll by MrAnnoyanceToYou · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Actually, it's kinda a logical extension of their original (somewhat overblown) mission of collecting as much data as possible, organizing it, and disseminating it as useful information to people. Lots of people have tried it (there was a disaster a few years ago where Wikipedia was used as an information store, as I remember) and it seems like a decent thing to do.

      On top of that, Google is an advertising-based Internet startup that seems to have incongruously lasted 10 years longer than its expected lifespan. What part of, "Jump on every fad," doesn't fit into that?

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    4. Re:Like rock and roll by ackthpt · · Score: 1

      I never expected Google to be a company that cheaply jumps on the latest fad that blows by.

      We need them to work on the technology of controling the weather ... push it to the east a hundred miles would be a good start.

      A "self-driving" google hurricaine?

      Ya know... I think that sounds even more fun than a flying car. Where can I get one? (c=

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      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    5. Re:Like rock and roll by gnapster · · Score: 2

      I live a hundred miles to the east, you insensitive clod!

    6. Re:Like rock and roll by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

      no, you misunderstand. google actually launched hurricane isaac. that's how advanced their r&d into alternative energy is

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    7. Re:Like rock and roll by neonv · · Score: 1

      It is completely inappropriate to WANT a hurricane to devastate a state just to delay a few people you don't like. Grow up.

  4. Intensity level by SternisheFan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Isaac should make landfall (at most) as a Category 2 hurricaine, according to info as of Monday 5 pm Eastern. 7 years ago Irene was a Category 5 before making landfall, and was downgraded to a Category 3 by the time it made land.

    1. Re:Intensity level by Antipater · · Score: 1

      There was a hurricane named Irene seven years ago, yes. It was never a cat 5, and never made landfall. So...huh? Are you possibly talking about Ike, 4 years ago, which peaked at cat 4 but made landfall as cat 2?

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      Everything is better with chainsaws.
    2. Re:Intensity level by SternisheFan · · Score: 2

      Right you are sir. Ike landed near Galveston as a Cat 2, Irene hit North Carolina as a Cat 1.

    3. Re:Intensity level by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Intensity isn't everything. Location matters too. Isaac is weaker, sure, but it's expected to strengthen in the Gulf a little and the predicted path near landfall is surprisingly similar to that of Katrina, kind of on the east side of New Orleans or over the top. That's the worst situation for landfall in that area, because the counter-clockwise flow of the hurricane will tend to push the water up into Lake Pontchartrain on the north side of the city and up the canal system that connects the city to the ocean on the SE side. A Category 2 is not nearly as bad as the stronger hurricanes, but it's still bad depending upon timing with respect to tides and how long the rainfall lingers. The predictions for storm surge don't look too serious so far (look at the maps of "storm surge probabilities" and "storm surge exceedance" at the National Hurricane Center), but they're still looking at a 50% chance of exceeding a metre or so (looks like the max is 3-5 feet at the 50% confidence level). This *should* be inside the levee limits. The system *should* be able to handle that, but complicated systems have a habit of failing in inconvenient ways. Hopefully people are taking the evacuations seriously in the areas where it's been recommended.

    4. Re:Intensity level by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      Isaac should make landfall (at most) as a Category 2 hurricaine, according to info as of Monday 5 pm Eastern. 7 years ago Irene was a Category 5 before making landfall, and was downgraded to a Category 3 by the time it made land.

      I don't know about NOLA, but Northern Florida has been pretty squishy underfoot for weeks between the actual tropical storms and the systems that probably would have become tropical storms if tropical storms could form over land. And, after all, it wasn't the wind that trashed New Orleans in Katrina, it was the water. If the ground there is as saturated as the ground in the Florida Panhandle, the extra rainfall could make a real mess of things.

      On the plus side, they hopefully have fixed the worst of the levee-related problems by now.

    5. Re:Intensity level by mjr167 · · Score: 1

      By similiar to Katrina you mean it's a tropical storm in the gulf of Mexico?

  5. Thanks for removing the link to Google CR site by hsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but retaining the link to the link to IBTimes.

    Worthless.

    http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/

    1. Re:Thanks for removing the link to Google CR site by sootman · · Score: 4, Funny

      Slashdot has just about hit the point of "A common household item can kill you! We'll tell you which one, at 11."

      "Google has created a potentially lifesaving website. Here's some guy's blog post about it."

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    2. Re:Thanks for removing the link to Google CR site by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Damn straight it is lifesaving. Did you look at the map's color legend?

      Less intense is light green at 12 dBZ, up through deep, dark red at a whopping 64+ Dragon Ball Zs.

      I don't know where Super Saiyan 5 is, but it looks off the low green end. This thing will FUCK YOU UP. I seen it on TV!

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  6. Relevant Youtube videos? by Antipater · · Score: 2
    I can see it now.

    "No, hold on, man. We can evacuate in a minute. There's this even better hurricane video we should watch next!"

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    Everything is better with chainsaws.
  7. Better data at the NHC website by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 2

    Sure there is some youtube links on Google's mashup site.

    More timely information can be found on the National Hurricane Center's interactive website

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  8. Bloated as hell page by ZorinLynx · · Score: 2

    Wow, this page is so incredibly slow and clunky. Google, you can do SO MUCH better. Come on.

    Meanwhile, http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ provides all the information you could want about the storm, and it loads instantly.

    Sometimes all you need is the content.

    1. Re:Bloated as hell page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > Wow, this page is so incredibly slow and clunky

      Stop using Netscape 6.0. It's 2012, for fuck sake. And if it matters, I loaded it almost instantly three times.

      (BTW, who is modding this? Anything against Google is by default insightful?)

  9. What can we really infer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Either Obama has directed a secret army of weather control satellites to interrupt the republican convention or God *really* hates Republicans. Which theory will Fox News promote?