MyShake Earthquake Application, Since 2016

The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory

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MyShake is a free app for Android phones that has the ability to recognize earthquake shaking using the sensors in every smartphone. The app, developed by researchers at the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and the Deutsche Telekom Silicon Valley Innovation Center, runs “silently” in the background of the phone using very little power – just like step-tracking fitness apps. The app itself has an integrated neural network, designed to separate sensor readings that represent normal human activities from those that look more like earthquakes. When the shaking fits the vibrational profile of a quake, the app sends the anonymous information to a central system, where it is aggregated with the information from other users.

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MyShake is a collaborative research project of the UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory and the Deutsche Telekom Silicon Valley Innovation Center, with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Team: Louis Schreier (Project Lead, Vice President of Deutsche Telekom Silicon Valley Innovation Center); Richard Allen (Project Lead, Director of Berkeley Seismological Laboratory); Roman Baumgaertner (Technical Lead, Mobile Platform); Siddartha Pothapragada (Senior Software Engineer); Garner Lee (Lead Engineer, Backend Developer); Arno Puder (Project Manager and API developer, Professor of Computer Science, San Francisco State University); Steven Allen (App Developer); Jennifer Strauss (External Relations Officer); Qingkai Kong (Algorithm Development); Douglas Neuhauser (Information Systems Officer); Qingkai Kong (Algorithm Development); Douglas Neuhauser (Information Systems Manager); Stephen Thompson (IT Systems Administrator); Jennifer Taggart (Web Developer); Stephane Zuzlewski (IT Database Administrator).