What you need to know
- Google has announced new tools its bringing to Search and cities to help combat rising temperatures.
- In the month ahead, Google Search will provide excessive heat warnings to users with information on when the heat wave should begin and end.
- Google is also looking to bring more "cool roofs" to cities to help bring down temperatures in more heat-prone areas.
We've just entered springtime here in the northern hemisphere, and Google is looking to implement a new method to help people and cities adapt to rising temperatures.
According to a Google Keyword post, the company is planning on bringing extreme heat alerts in Search in the months ahead. Google states that to ensure users will gain accurate temperature information, it's working with the GHHIN (Global Heat Health Information Network).
Upon searching, if your area is under an excessive heat advisory or warning, Search will offer details about when a heat wave is predicted to begin and end, along with tips on how to remain cool and other health concerns. Google will also rely on user location data to provide these warnings.
This is the latest effort to protect users from dangerous climate conditions. Google already has systems in place to warn users about earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters that may occur in their area.
Google also details on Tree Canopy, a part of its Environmental Insights Explorer, which will also gain some useful updates for cities as the weather heats up. The initiative utilizes both AI and aerial imagery to display a city's current tree cover — a tactic used to combat high temperatures. While Austin, Texas uses this new tool to understand and reduce "heat islands," Tree Canopy has been expanded to include 350 cities globally.
Google states that more cities will gain this same technology to help create a cooler living environment.
In terms of heat islands — urban areas with the tendency to experience higher temperatures — those also getting looked at. Google wants to help incorporate more "cool roofs" into cities with areas that are more prone to the scorching heat. Cool roofs will reflect sunlight back into the cosmos without absorbing much of it, effectively bringing about a cooler building or home.
Google also announced it is donating $5 million dollars to the World Resources Insitute and its project, which uses sensors, AI, and satellite imagery to understand humidity, tree cover, and heat vulnerability.
