Tracking a ship

[CruisingAgain]

In July I was able to track the Pride on my phone so I could see what time it arrived in the morning. I don't remember if it was a mobile app or using the internet. I tried some today and none of them look like what I was using that I know was real time.

Does anyone have an app or site they use to track their ship real time?

[BoDidly]

Are you thinking "Shipmate" ?

[Essiesmom]

Marinetraffic.com? EM

[Keith1010]

We use Marine Traffic.

 

Keith

[LA_CA_GAL]

http://www.cruisemapper.com/

[Hlitner]

Marine Traffic is the way to go. It utilizes the AIS system which is an electronic beacon onboard all commercial (and many private) marine vessels...including all cruise ships. You can track ships all over the world. And when you are on a ship and see other ships on the horizon you can use the program to ID all those other ships. Or course you do need access to the internet Marine Traffic gives you ship location, speed, course, etc. in real time.

 

Cruise Mapper (also mentioned above, is not quite as sophisticated in that it only deals with cruise ships. But it also has a map feature that utilizes the AIiS system.

 

For you cruise/marine junkies lets talk about AIS which means Automatic Identification System. International marine regulations require all ships over 300 tons to have an AIS Transponder aboard and operating. This sends out a unique identifier that can be intercepted by satellites and shore-based equipment. It is also integrated into a ships navigation system so that it shows (and id's) ship traffic on the bridge's navigation display. Its a very neat system somewhat similar to what we use onboard aircraft.

 

Hank

Edited November 13, 2017 by Hlitner

[Keith1010]

This is why we use MarineTraffic.

 

Hank good points as usual.

 

Keith

[Capt_BJ]

MarineTraffic is available on the web AND as an APP

 

Marine Traffic has free and pay accounts. For the most part data collected by satellite is available on paid accounts ...

 

Additional information about AIS (more than you wanted to know)

 

AIS, Automatic Identification System, was developed to enhance safety at sea. It is a short range communications system that provides a ship to ship exchange of basic navigation and identification information. Before AIS a ship would get on the radio and call out, "vessel on my port bow, what are your intentions ..." This was not always effective. AIS automates this process.

 

The AIS comprises a transmitter (which acts like a transponder

operating in the VHF maritime band) and two receivers. At 2- to 12-second intervals on a

moving vessel, the AIS broadcasts the vessel’s identification number, rate of turn, speed over

ground, position, course over ground, heading, and a date/time stamp. For vessels at anchor, this

same information is transmitted at 3-minute intervals. Every 6 minutes, the system broadcasts the

vessel’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) number, radio call sign, name, ship type,

ship dimensions, type of position-fixing device used, draft, destination, and estimated time of

arrival at the destination. The AIS signal may be received and displayed on board other

 

AIS-equipped ships or ashore at VTS centers.

 

 

Important note is AIS uses VHF-FM radio, which is line of sight, short range as the system's intent was bridge to bridge communication.

 

 

Systems like Marine Traffic capitalize on the fact that these transmissions are out there and 'free'. Anyone who lives near a navigable waterway can buy an AIS system and watch the transmission of all the AIS sending ships within range. Marine Traffic encourages shore stations set up such a system AND CONNECT IT to the internet and send all the AIS data they collect to a central site for collation and processing ..... MARINETRAFFIC.COM has thousands of volunteer receiving stations feeding them data. Many folks here know that FISHLIPS in Port Canaveral hosts the Port Canaveral webcam. They ALSO host an AIS participating station for Marine Traffic.

 

 

BUT the entire world is not covered. AIS signals tend to travel a maximum of 20 miles (varies by antenna height and other things). The 'free' monitoring stations are on land. Ships more than 20 miles out tend to 'disappear' from Marine Traffic as there is no receiver in range to feed MT. (ships within sight of one another still "see" each other via AIS.) Also there are parts of the world that just don't "play" ... you will not find many participating stations in certain countries. Cuba for example is one.

 

 

What about the satellite aspect? As stated, AIS is intended for bridge to bridge, short range. BUT that transmission also goes UP. Because it goes UP a properly configured satellite can capture this data and send it back down to earth. As with all things satellite this is $$$. Hence this data is collected by Marine Traffic but it is not FREE as with the land stations, and if you want to see it, it costs. (You may see some of the data as just a ship position, with a ship type and a time ..but no additional data....)

 

 

You can learn more about AIS at: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AISmain

 

 

and how MarineTraffic.com works on their website

[chengkp75]

Commercial ship tracking services like marinetraffic and vesselfinder primarily use the land based AIS system, since the AIS system is a low powered VHF (line of sight) radio system, and only works when in range of a land based AIS station. These sites will try to sell you the "satellite" upgrade for a price. This system uses the satellite AIS system, but again, this is a satellite trying to pick up weak radio signals from thousands of ships in it's footprint, so too many "pings" for data on ships cause data "collisions" which can drop data, corrupt data, or freeze the system (at the commercial site, not the AIS satellite). So, commercial sites are limited in how many updates they can request, so ships out away from land are not really "real time" tracking. Companies are working on ways to increase the data stream on AIS satellites to limit the data collisions and data drop, but that's a few years down the road.

 

Shipmate and Cruisemapper also use the land based AIS system, but when a ship is out of range of any station, instead of showing the last known, confirmed, position like marinetraffic does, it will show a position based on the itinerary. When ships divert because of storms, mechanical problems, or medical emergencies, this tends to make these sites really incorrect in placing the cruise ships.

[TruckerDave]

and when you get board with tracking ships you can go to "flightradar24" and track airplanes all over the world. :D

[Capt_BJ]

Shipmate and Cruisemapper also use the land based AIS system, but when a ship is out of range of any station, instead of showing the last known, confirmed, position like marinetraffic does, it will show a position based on the itinerary.

 

 

I believe when I was taught navigation this was called the DR position aka DERIVED by using the last course and speed to DERIVE where you would be in the future .... in days of old the DR position was often used for days until one got a FIX by celestial means .....

 

 

Today sites like Marine Traffic also predict WHERE a ship might be based on the last report of course & speed ... and altered by the place they plan to visit next .... aka destination

[chengkp75]

Shipmate and Cruisemapper also use the land based AIS system, but when a ship is out of range of any station, instead of showing the last known, confirmed, position like marinetraffic does, it will show a position based on the itinerary.

 

 

I believe when I was taught navigation this was called the DR position aka DERIVED by using the last course and speed to DERIVE where you would be in the future .... in days of old the DR position was often used for days until one got a FIX by celestial means .....

 

 

Today sites like Marine Traffic also predict WHERE a ship might be based on the last report of course & speed ... and altered by the place they plan to visit next .... aka destination

 

That's what I learned when I was taught navigation as well. However, you mark your chart with a DR position differently than you do a "fix", or am I out of date? However, Shipmate and Cruisemapper do not differentiate between known positions and derived, or assumed, positions, giving people false information, as has been noted on many threads here where folks say "what's with X ship?" "Cruisemapper says it's in Belize but the bridge cam shows it at sea, and someone reported on CC that it had gone back to X port for a medical emergency".

 

I've never seen a DR position on marinetraffic, and I use it to track my ship all the time. When we are out of range of land based, it will show the last reported position with a time since that position was reported. It does show "shadow" ships, which if you mouse over them it will say "cargo ship, position received by satellite", and if you subscribe to their "premium" package it will give the details of the ship. These are the limited satellite positions the site can get, not a DR position, and again they are typically hours in between updates.

[Capt_BJ]

it bothered me all last night

 

I had the terminology wrong ....

 

DR = Dead Reckoning ..... aka simple geometry of vector math ... start here, apply speed time and direction and you SHOULD be here .....

Edited November 14, 2017 by Capt_BJ