Watch the movement of ships in real time. Positions of ships in the Kerch Strait

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

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

Video: MarineTraffic - 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, including photos.

How does Marinetraffic work?

AIS technology, an automatic identification system, is used to create a vessel map. Each ship has a transmitter that constantly transmits information over the air using radio waves. Mobile and satellite communications are not used here, so this technology is cheaper than analogues. Any receiver operating on VHF or VHF frequencies can pick up the signal.

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

AIS (AIS Automatic Identification System) is a system that allows you to identify and track online vessel movement with an accuracy of 10 meters. Besides AIS vessel locations provides information about their type, dimensions, destination, speed, expected time of arrival, and makes it possible to familiarize yourself with the history of routes and the expected course. The specified information is presented in a card, to open which you need to click on the object of interest. Online access to ships' AIS provided directly by ships using a radio frequency transmitter. Some ships or ports may not be viewable due to range limitations, interference, or weather conditions affecting radio communications. If " marine traffic” does not display the object you want, please try again later.

Real-time vessel traffic map covers the whole world and provides the user with the opportunity to see their arrangement in various ports and areas 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 according to AIS in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and the port of St. Petersburg. Note that ship deployment displayed with a slight delay. You can find out the time that has passed since the last coordinate update by hovering the cursor over an object.

MarineTraffic - what is it?

Marine traffic is a shareware service to track the location of a vessel online. On the world map you can find any ships that are in port or at sea. In the service options you can also track the location of the vessel by its name in real time.
When you select a vessel on the map, a window pops up with information about the vessel online:

• ship name
• type of vessel (container, tanker, passenger ship, etc.)
• ship status
• ship speed
• ship course
• ship's draft

Operating principle of Marine traffic and AIS systems

Nowadays, almost all ships are equipped with an automatic identification system, AIS, which allows you to track the ship and avoid collisions between ships. At what maximum distance can a ship be tracked on a map? It all depends on the height of the antenna located on the ship itself and at the nearest station on land. Conventional AIS stations cover a range of about 40 nautical miles (about 75 km). In some cases, the location of the ship can be tracked at a distance of 200 miles, and this is, not a little, 370 km. But this is the case if the AIS station is located high above sea level, for example on a mountain, and the ship itself is equipped with a good antenna. Thus, anyone can track a vessel online using the Marinetraffic service.

How to track a ship on the map?

If you have the name of a ship, the easiest way to find out the ship's location is to enter it in the map search and the system will immediately show the ship's position and information about it. If you know that the ship has not yet left a certain port or it could not have gone far from it, you can try to find the desired port in the same search form. And then use the familiar mouse actions to point at all the vessels and view information about them. Also, to make your search easier, you can filter ships by type. For example, select only passenger, fishing or cargo ships. The service is intuitive and if you have the skills to use a map, then finding out the location of the vessel in real time will not be difficult for you.

Real-time ship traffic map. AIS

AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a system in shipping that serves to identify ships, their dimensions, course and other data using VHF radio waves.

Recently, there has been a tendency to interpret AIS as an Automatic Information System, which is associated with the expansion of the functionality of the system compared to the ordinary task of identifying vessels.

In accordance with the Convention, SOLAS 74/88 is mandatory for ships of over 300 gross tonnage engaged on international voyages, ships of 500 gross tonnage or more not engaged on international voyages, and all passenger ships. Vessels and yachts with a smaller displacement can be equipped with a class B device. Data transmission is carried out on international communication channels AIS 1 and AIS 2 in the SOTDMA protocol (Self Organizing Time Division Multiple Access). Frequency modulation with GMSK keying is used.

Purpose of AIS

AIS is designed to increase the level of navigation safety, efficiency of navigation and operation of the vessel traffic control center (VTCS), environmental protection, ensuring the following functions:

as a means of preventing collisions in ship-to-ship mode;

as a means of obtaining information about the vessel and cargo by competent coastal services;

as a VTS tool in ship-to-shore mode for controlling vessel traffic;

as a means of monitoring and tracking ships, as well as in search and rescue (SAR) operations.

AIS components

The AIS system includes the following components:

VHF transmitter,

one or two VHF receivers,

global satellite navigation receiver (for example, GPS, GLONASS), for ships flying the Russian flag, the GLONASS module in the AIS device is strictly required, the main source of coordinates. GPS is auxiliary and can be taken from a GPS receiver using the NMEA protocol;

modulator/demodulator (converter of analogue data to digital and vice versa),

microprocessor based controller

equipment for input/output of information to control elements.

Operating principle of AIS

The operation of AIS is based on the reception and transmission of messages in the VHF range. The AIS transmitter operates at longer wavelengths than radars, which allows the exchange of information not only over direct distances, but also in areas with obstacles in the form of small objects, as well as in bad weather conditions. Although one radio channel is sufficient, some AIS systems transmit and receive on two radio channels in order to avoid interference problems and not disrupt the communication of other objects. AIS messages may contain:

identification information about the object,

information about the state of the object, received automatically from the object’s control elements (including from some electro-radio navigation devices),

information about geographic and time coordinates that AIS receives from the global navigation satellite system,

information entered manually by facility maintenance personnel (safety-related).

The transfer of additional text information between AIS terminals (paging) is provided. Transmission of such information is possible both to all terminals within the range, and to one specific terminal.

In order to ensure the unification and standardization of AIS, the International Radio Regulations stipulate two channels for use for AIS purposes: AIS-1 (87V - 161.975 MHz) and AIS-2 (88V - 162.025 MHz), which should be used everywhere, with the exception of regions with special frequency regulation.

The digital information transmission rate in the AIS channel is selected at 9600 bps.

The operation of each AIS station (mobile or base) is strictly synchronized to UTC time with an error of no more than 10 μs from the built-in GNSS receiver (in the Russian Federation, according to signals from the combined GNSS receiver GLONASS/GPS). To transmit information, continuously repeating frames of 1 minute duration are used, which are divided into 2250 slots (time intervals) each lasting 26.67 ms.

Text uses 6-bit ASCII codes.

Displaying information about the environment in modern AIS is possible in 2 modes - both textual in the form of a table with a list of nearby vessels and their data, and in the form of a simplified schematic map depicting the relative positions of vessels and distances to them (calculated automatically based on the data transmitted by them geographic coordinates.) AIS is included in the list of equipment that is required to be provided with uninterruptible battery power.

Search and determination of the vessel's position

Attention! Court positions sometimes they may not correspond to real ones and lag behind by an hour or more. All coordinates of vessel positions are presented for informational purposes only. Search data from AIS cannot be used for routing

When searching, you will find accurate information about the movement of ships on the map according to the data AIS and you can see their photographs. In order to find a ship, select a sector on the map where the number of ships currently located there is indicated. We click with the mouse, for example, on the region of Europe and get the picture that you see above.

If you zoom in on the area, you will see specific vessels. The map receives updates every few seconds. When you hover your cursor over a ship, you can see its name; on the site you can get other information you are interested in for searching.

To find the ship you are interested in, enter the name of the ship and, if possible, its location in the search bar and press the search key. The AIS map will show the vessel's position in real time.

This map informs not only about ships, but also the cargo carried on them, which can be useful to ship charterers. Stay with us and not a single ship will be lost.