QuakeSense - Earthquake Alerts

QuakeSense is a global earthquake notification app powered by multiple data sources.

Key Features:

1. Comprehensive global data sources, including the US Geological Survey (USGS), European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), China Earthquake Networks Center (CEIC), Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), and Central Weather Bureau (CWB) of Taiwan;
2. Earthquake data visualization with detailed event information;
3. Server-side earthquake notifications that allow you to receive global alerts without opening the app;
4. A native Swift UI app with no ads and no privacy concerns, offering a simple and user-friendly interface;
5. Optimized for large screens on iPad and macOS.

Earthquake Early Warning:

The most feasible early warning method leverages the fact that electromagnetic waves travel faster than seismic waves. When an earthquake occurs, the time difference between the slower seismic waves and faster electromagnetic waves can be used to alert users in advance.

However, achieving low enough latency across all stages remains technically challenging:

1. Delay in detecting seismic signals at monitoring stations;
2. Delay in processing and calculating the epicenter and transmitting data to a central server;
3. Delay in calculating the distance between the user and the epicenter;
4. Geological differences affecting seismic wave speed require individualized calculations, introducing additional delays;
5. Delay in mass notification through the Apple Push Notification Service (APNs).

These accumulated delays could surpass the time it takes for seismic waves to reach users, making effective early warnings challenging to deliver purely via an app.

Therefore, QuakeSense focuses on global earthquake notifications. After an earthquake is detected, our server will push notifications to users potentially affected—no need to open the app to receive alerts.