If you’d like to be reminded how fragile our little planet is, go download the QuakeWatch iPhone app, the earthquake tracking app from Terence Worley. The QuakeWatch iPhone app (99 cents) maps out the largest or most recent earthquakes (your choice). Each quake that is mapped has more info attached to it, like the exact latitude and longitude of the earthquake, the magnitude of the quake on the Richter Scale, the depth of the quake and the time it occurred.
Invariably, what you’re left with is a sort of terrifying map filled with red markers showing you the enormous amount of earthquakes that have recently happened. Granted, nearly all of these are of a magnitude so minimal at depths so deep that they’re not exactly disaster-movie criteria. Still, it’s a sight to behold the massive amount of earthquakes that do occur daily. As an added bonus, the iPhone app lets you email the quake data to anyone you want.
QuakeWatch does falter when it comes to charting earthquakes near a specific location. One of the features of the iPhone app allows you to hone in on a point in a map and ask for any data within a radius of your choosing.
While I tried to find out about earthquakes within a 10 mile radius of Chicago, the nearest info I received was for Oklahoma, even though I’m quite sure that Illinois has experienced at least a few minor earthquakes over the past year or two. It could be an issue of how far back the data in the iPhone app goes, but it’s at least frustrating to not know either way.
That aside, this is an interesting iPhone app if you’re at all curious about earthquake data. As an added bonus, there is also a button on the iPhone app that links to an off-app Web site with tsunami data. So if natural disasters are your thing, this might be the iPhone app for you.
