Would you like to know where this or that sea vessel is now, which ships are located near you, and which dock in Buenos Aires, Sumatra or Singapore? The MarineTraffic.com web service gives you a unique opportunity to get a lot of useful information on the location and movement of the vessel you need on the map, its route, speed, cargo, weather in a given region, and so on. In this article, I will tell you about the real-time traffic map of the vessels on the Marina Traffic website, and also explain in detail how to use the capabilities of this service.

AIS navigation

As you know, AIS (Automated Identification System) has been involved in navigation since the beginning of the 90s, the main purpose of which is to increase the monitoring and safety of maritime transport. Its capabilities make it possible to identify a vessel, its course, dimensions and other parameters using VHF radio waves. The system covers an area of ​​about 9 million square kilometers of coastal areas around the globe, including about 2,500 ports in areas of the most active maritime traffic.

In 2004, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) demanded that ships with a gross tonnage of more than 300 tons must install a special AIS transmitter on board the ship. The latter is responsible for transmitting in real time to a special receiving station all the necessary information about the vessel, including its speed, course, location, name, dimensions, and other relevant data.

The MarineTraffic.com site I am reviewing receives data from more than 1200 AIS receiving stations around the world. After collecting the data, they are transferred to the processing center, where they are processed, and applied to the map placed on the service. At the same time, the indicated map of the movement of ships is available online both through the browser of a stationary PC, and through the corresponding application for mobile devices.

So what is Marina Traffic?

"MarineTraffic" - the world's popular network service for location tracking sea ​​vessels... The resource collects in real time data about the position of the vessel (as well as information about its course, speed, tonnage, and so on). And it displays it on the corresponding map, thereby greatly facilitating the work of people directly connected with the sea.

The purpose of the vessel traffic map service is to increase the transparency and efficiency of maritime transport. The site allows tracking the location of many ships, making data on them available to ordinary users. At the same time, the resource is actively developing, inviting interested parties to take a direct part in its formation and further progress.

If you want to look at you need to check out my selection of the best services here.

How to use the marine traffic map in real time

After going to the marinetraffic.com website, you will immediately be taken to the service's working map.

I recommend scrolling down the work screen and using the Russian interface instead of the default English. At the same time, I will warn the reader that most of the interface will one way or another remain in English.

Then you will need to go through the registration procedure (after which you will have access to a number of special options of the "My fleets" level, allowing you to track the vessels you have chosen). To do this, click on "Login" at the top, then on "Register", and go through the registration procedure via e-mail.

The map shows various types of vessels schematically in different colors (transport, tankers, passenger, high-speed, special, fishing, etc.)

By hovering the cursor over the vessel you need, you can get information about its name and destination. More detailed information is available only after paying the appropriate fee for using the site (annual subscription, subscription depending on the number of vessels you have chosen, and so on).

Service control panel in Russian

The control panel of the Marine Traffic service is divided into two main parts - the left panel and the top panel.

The left pane contains the following options:

The top panel has the following options:

Conclusion

With all the richness of the capabilities of the Marina Traffic website, its free functionality is rather limited, being of interest only in terms of familiarization with the capabilities of the service. The entire completeness of information on the vessel traffic map necessary for the user can be obtained only by paying for the paid functionality of the site, which is really quite impressive, and is fully useful to people associated with the sea and sea transportation.

Which in real time shows the movement of all aircraft in the sky. MarineTraffic, on the other hand, is a similar ship program that can contain information on all ships at sea. And judging by customer reviews, it is the best in this area.

Let's see what this marine radar is capable of ...

MarineTraffic is a real-time, up-to-date sea map showing cargo and transport vessels, private yachts.

The program is connected to an international automatic identification system that collects and broadcasts information about sea vessels: type, affiliation, class, course, and so on.

In addition to basic information, the Marine Traffic program contains specifications ship: year of construction, carrying capacity, displacement and dimensions.

The app uses a map service Google maps overlaid with ship information from AIS. As a result, on the screen of your iPhone, you will see a map with the symbols of sea vessels of various classes and displacement (from small tugs to the largest container ships).

In addition to information about vessels, in MarineTraffic you can track the movement of both an individual vessel and several in a separate category "My Fleet" (this function is available after creating an account). There is also an interactive search for nearby ships or ports.

I would especially like to note the work of the Marine Traffic application with additional reality (for an additional fee):

Point the camera of your iPhone at a visible vessel and MarineTraffic will display all the information that is freely available about it.

Every day more than 120 thousand ships broadcast information about themselves through MarineTraffic AIS. Imagine that among so many you need to find one, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. To simplify the search, the developers have implemented the ability to enable or disable the display of vessels by class: passenger, cargo, tanker, high-speed or fishing vessel, yacht, and so on. Each type is indicated by a corresponding color.

Until Russian becomes international, which is unlikely to ever happen, programs like MarineTraffic will only be available in English. People who read English with a dictionary will find it difficult to understand the program interface and the information provided. For people of specialized professions, this will not be difficult.

I’m not a sailor and I don’t understand marine terminology at all, but even I liked MarineTraffic for the completeness of information, interface, convenience and quality of performance. I would not give 299 rubles for a specialized application, but I recommend it to all sailors.

Marine Traffic Is a resource with which you can track the position of ships on the AIS (Automatic Identification System) map. This is done very simply: in the search box, you need to enter the name of the vessel, and the service will show where it is in this moment... In addition to the name and type of the ship, you can find out its course, the country to which it belongs, the speed of movement and other useful data.

The service is convenient to use - ships of different types are highlighted in different colors, the direction of their movement is shown, those who are at anchor are separately indicated.

Video: MarineTraffic is the world's most popular online vessel tracking service

When you hover the cursor over the icon, information about the ship appears in a pop-up window: name, country of registration, destination. If you click on it, the system will show more detailed information, right down to the photo.

How does Marinetraffic work?

AIS technology, an automatic identification system, is used to create a map of ships. Each ship is equipped with a transmitter, constantly transmitting information on the air using radio waves. Mobile and satellite communications are not used here, so this technology is cheaper than analogs. Any receiver operating at VHF or VHF frequencies can pick up the signal.

Broadcast coverage depends on several factors. The most significant are the transmitter power and the height of the receiving antenna. But even the weakest repeater can broadcast within 75 km. This is enough for the ships to recognize each other's presence from a safe distance.

We present to you a unique map with which you can find the location of any ship in the world's oceans, as well as determine the direction of its movement.

The technology on which the card is based relies on a network of satellites capable of receiving encrypted signals from the Automatic Identification System, or AIS. This system is designed specifically for civilian navigation and is an encrypted signal transmitted by the ship into orbit. The signal contains basic information not only about the direction of movement of the vessel, but also key data about it - name, type, speed, cargo, port of destination, etc. The information received by the satellites is transmitted to the ground, where it is automatically processed.

The result of such processing was embodied in interactive map ship traffic, which can be seen below.

Interactive ship traffic map

Search for a ship by its name

A legend is attached to the map, thanks to which it is possible to determine the type of ship being monitored. Similar data can be obtained by clicking on its icon on the map. It is possible to observe the movement of ships both in satellite mode and in the mode of overlaying a real picture. In addition, knowing the name of the ship, you can find it on the map. To do this, you must enter the name in the appropriate field in English. If everything is done correctly, the map will center itself on the selected ship.
Video instruction for finding ships on the map

Map update

Almost all data shown on the map is updated in real time. At the same time, it is worth remembering that the speed of movement of the ship in the open sea is relatively low, so if it seems that the ship is not moving, then perhaps it is worth just waiting. However, the reason for the "freezing" of the ship may be not only this - the AIS satellite network still has "white spots" in the world's oceans, into which ships periodically fall. In this case, you just need to wait until the ship can again communicate with satellites - its location will be updated.

AIS (English AIS Automatic Identification System) is a system that allows you to identify and track ship movement online accurate to 10 meters. In addition to location of AIS vessels provides information about their type, dimensions, destination, speed, expected arrival time, makes it possible to get acquainted with the history of routes and the proposed course. The specified information is presented in a card, to open which you need to click on the object of interest. Online access to AIS vessels provided directly by ships using a radio frequency transmitter. Certain ships or ports may be unavailable for viewing due to range restrictions, interference, weather conditions affecting radio communications. If " marine traffic”Does not display the object you want, please try again later.

Real-time ship traffic map covers the whole world and provides the user with the opportunity to see their arrangement in different ports and regions of the world. To find ships in other regions and ports, you need to zoom out on the map and select the desired sector.

The Answer-Logistic portal focuses on the current movement and positions of vessels by AIS in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and the port of St. Petersburg. Note that location of ships displayed with a slight delay. You can find out the time elapsed since the last coordinates update by hovering over the object.