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Disaster spider

A spider listens for sounds the earth is moving
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Predicting and preparing for natural disasters is still an inexact science.

An earthquake in one part of the world leads to Tsunami in others.

The idea is to build an internet tracking system to track patterns in internet postings in the days/hours before a disaster.

As an example, some people report a bright or blue light before an earthquake. Or many people report that the tides have suddenly receded.

The internet spider would look for timestamped postings which might have predicted distaster and eventually, could be used to update a page with the potential of incipient disaster.

4and20, Aug 27 2012

Google Flu Trends http://www.google.o...ends/about/how.html
[ytk, Aug 27 2012]

Another spider - related disaster story http://www.electric...pcomix.com/spiders/
[normzone, Oct 02 2014]

[link]






       Non-poetic but shorter version to [bigs].   

       The web trembled ever so slightly before the quake.
AusCan531, Aug 27 2012
  

       Nice.
rcarty, Aug 27 2012
  

       I recall that China had (still has?) a system wherein people report behavior of animals to warn of quakes. A billion goats can't be wrong.
sqeaketh the wheel, Aug 27 2012
  

       Maybe people could have 20 secs so they could have time to turn on the camera and take off their pants.
leinypoo13, Aug 27 2012
  

       Is this in reply to the goat anno? I'm trying to keep this page clean.
4and20, Aug 27 2012
  

       Baked. This is exactly what Google Trends does. Particularly of interest is its ability to estimate flu activity, often well before any other agency has had a chance to compile statistics. (link)
ytk, Aug 27 2012
  

       That's what the NSI are listening 4
pashute, Oct 02 2014
  

       Google Flu Trends video [ytk's link]: "Personal data remains safe and private". We do not use personal records or personal identified data to create our estimates."   

       I gather from that, that they DO have personal records and personal identified data, just they are not using it. So that data can either be leaked out, or misused.   

       As a programmer and manager, I experienced many times non-intentional data leaks at large banks, government institutions and major attorney offices. (A programming error-message revealed bank account usernames and passwords, a mock-up system revealed true data about all the Israeli civilians along with their CVs, a mistake in a chosen printer sent a secret agreement of a prominent politician to the one I was waiting at, not gathered till late that afternoon... and many more) Oh well.
pashute, Oct 02 2014
  

       //As an example, some people report a bright or blue light before an earthquake. Or many people report that the tides have suddenly receded.// //behavior of animals to warn of quakes.//   

       Except that many of these things are reported every day, and only remarked on when there's a quake.   

       Given the existence of twitter/instagram/facebook, it should be possible to do a cohort study of cases where unusual behavior or effects are reported and see if they really do uptick prior to disasters. That's your first step.
MechE, Oct 02 2014
  

       This is clever, but I don't think we're networked well enough for this to be as effective as it might. Also I don't think most disasters give much advance warning aside from the things we're already tracking (earthquakes, hurricanes)   

       If it's smart enough it can use economic data to pick up on hunches. A spate of canned food and bottled water sales among people who have lived in the area over 20 years means the locals have a hunch.
Voice, Nov 17 2015
  

       // the locals have a hunch //   

       Yes, but that could just be inbreeding ...
8th of 7, Nov 17 2015
  
      
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