Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Real-Time Ship Tracking on Google Maps

MarineTraffic.com

MarineTraffic.com have produced a Google Map showing real-time information about ship movements throughout the world.

The system is based on AIS (Automatic Identification System). The International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT to carry an AIS transponder on board, which transmits data on position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as the vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details.

MarineTraffic uses this information to plot the real-time position of marine vessels on a Google Map. The vessels' positions are shown on the map by tags in the shape of boats. The tags are colour-coded to show whether the vessel is a tanker, passenger vessel, cargo vessel, yacht etc. Clicking on a tag brings up a wealth of information about the vessel and its current destination.

MarineTraffic say they can expand their coverage to include any area worldwide. Anyone can install a VHF antenna, an AIS receiver and start immediately sending and seeing data on the map.


Other Marine Maps
  • Hi-Def San Francisco -real-time ship tracking in the San Francisco Bay
  • Isle of Wight Live Ship Tracking - live tracking of ships around the Isle of Wight
  • Live Piracy Map 2008 - A piracy map created by the International Chamber of Commerce purports to show all the piracy and armed robbery incidents during 2008.
  • Bluemapia - Bluemapia is a boating social network built around Google Maps.
  • World Port Source - Interactive satellite images, maps and contact information for hundreds of ports throughout the world.
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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can do the same with my phone - track it on-line in real-time for free. I have registered for free at cell phone tracking service Buddyway at http://www.buddyway.com and now can track my phone for free :)

Anonymous said...

Do you have this for the atlantic?

Keir Clarke said...

The map is centred on Greece as this is produced by the University of the Aegean. If you zoom out though you will see that there seems to be a lot of coverage throughout Europe and then sketchy coverage for the rest of the world. If you read the last paragraph of the post it says that anyone can set up a "VHF antenna and an AIS receiver" and send data to the map. So I assume outside of Greece the map is dependent on people sending data to the University.

Anonymous said...

hei.. i really need a vessel tracking and the container movement history till current done anyone know the good one?

Anonymous said...

hi guys,
the job is nice but forbidden!
according to imo rules, these data can't be published and the reason is very simple: the ship's security - don't forget why the a.i. system was introduced

Anonymous said...

PUT IT LIKE THIS A FOUND MY SHIP ON HEAR AND IF ITS CORECT AM PROPELY LOST

Anonymous said...

Do the Somali pirates use this tracking information (or other similar sources) to locate ships for attacks? After all they don't just go 600 miles out nowhere with tiny boats and wait for something to come by.

Keir Clarke said...

Somali pirates - as far as I understand this works via aerials on land which have a range of normally 15-20 nautical miles. If you look at the map the ships being tracked are only those close to the shore.

So I guess it depends on how close ships hug the Somalian coast.

Admin said...

You can also try the http://www.vesselfinder.com
The precious info is when and where the ship has been seen for last time. The site is free, requires registration only

Anonymous said...

ShippingExplorer is a cost-effective software to track vessels with live data. www.shippingexplorer.net

Admin said...

You can also try vessel tracking by VT Explorer. The coverage is huge but unfortunately it is a commercial service :(

chrish said...

Thanks for the gfreat post about real-time vessel tracking. Lots of great info here. Keep up the good work!

Captain OZ said...

You could see vessel traffics for STRAIT OF ISTANBUL, MARMARA SEA and PORT OF IZMIT at www.GemiTrafik.com