Google Deployed Person Finder after Boston Explosions

Just like after Japan and New Zealand earthquakes, the search giant has deployed its Person Finder tool in the aftermath of the Boston marathon bombings. The instrument called Person Finder combines available records allowing to track down your close ones in the wake of disaster, and now Google decided people need it again. 

The tool dubbed Person Finder was first deployed in response to the Haiti earthquake three years ago. It was also available for Japan’s 2011 tsunami, as well as the Christchurch – New Zealand earthquake.

All gathered data becomes publicly available. The company explains that it cannot and does not verify the accuracy of the collated data. However, it provides room for status updates which may contain information saying whether people have been confirmed alive and well. There is also a space for notes on each page you may use to leave your tips. The service allows to search for people’s names or parts of their names. Person Finder will bring up search results including their status. For instance, the search for “Mary” would result in a list of people with that name and updates to each of them like “someone has received information that this person is alive”.

The webmasters are free to embed the Google’s tool into their websites, and the web developers are encouraged to help improve this open source initiative of the search giant. Google revealed that after a limited time Person Finder won’t be publicly available, in order to assuage privacy concerns. The tool is known as a part of the company’s Crisis Response department.