Marine Traffic: sea tours with real-time information

by TM Maria Be a king in your own kingdom

Marine Traffic offers users the possibility to know maritime routes, locate the exact location of a ship at this time, the arrival time to a port and even know at what speed it navigates.

The project designers collect data that is updated in real time, using a computer, internet and an AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver that transmits position, speed and heading, as well as the vessel's name, dimensions and travel details.

white cruise ship beside mountain

Among the many possibilities, Marine Traffic offers a menu with a list of boats ordered alphabetically, in which it is detailed if they are cabotage, if they transport passengers, if they are high speed, fishing, tugboats or yachts.

At the same time that it offers to know its average speed, to know if they are moored in some port -and which-, or if they are sailing in route and where they are going.

Using the Google API map, activity and current ship position are located. The map can be adjusted to the street, satellite and simple mode, and once the routes or ships are located, you can click on them to find out the name of the ship and the nodes to which you sail.

The ports, which also appear alphabetically, can be located on the map and offer the possibility of knowing how many boats are moored, how many arrivals and departures have been registered on the day and how many are planned.

As detailed on the page, they use "efficient algorithms for the evaluation of the sea and path to determine the estimated time of arrival of the ship" and carries out a "statistical treatment of port traffic", although they clarify that the data "they should not be used for any navigational safety system or means."

Beyond the possibility of checking maps from a computer, Marine Traffic is an application for devices with Android operating system and for iPhone.