If you’re using Google Maps, you may also see SOS Alerts right on the map if any alerts are active in the area you’re viewing. For example, instead of seeing emergency phone numbers, you may see a link to make a donation for that crisis. The information you get may be different from what people closer to the crisis area see. If you’re outside the crisis area, you won’t get a notification, but you can still find SOS Alerts by searching for information about the event. Tap the notification to see the full alert on Google Search. If you’ve installed the latest version of the Google app ( Android and iOS) and your location is turned on, you may also receive a notification on your mobile device’s home screen. SOS Alerts joins Google’s existing portfolio of services for responding to crises, including Google Person Finder, Google Crisis Map and Google Public Alerts.If you’re near a major crisis and you search for related words or phrases on Google, you may see a banner indicating that there’s an ongoing crisis, followed by emergency information and resources such as useful translations or phone numbers. This new feature is coming to Search on the desktop, mobile web and the Google apps for Android and iOS, as well as Google Maps for mobile. In addition, the map will also show real-time updates about road closures and transit updates. Like in the search results, Maps will show information about the event and relevant phone numbers and sites.

In Maps, Google will also pop up this information when relevant. If you are close to an area where a disaster has struck, Google may also send you notifications that direct you to all of this information. In Search, Google will show an overview of the situation, maps, relevant news stories, emergency phone numbers (if available), websites and other relevant information. The company worked with a number of agencies, including the Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and many others to source this information.

These new so-called “SOS Alerts” will now prominently feature at the top of the company’s search results and in Maps when a user looks for information about an incident or an affected area. Google is launching a new feature for both Search and Maps today which is meant to give its users better information when a natural disaster or other crisis hits their area.

Hey google what does sos mean