MarineTraffic is a maritime analytics provider, which provides real-time information on the movements of ships and the current location of ships in harbors and ports.
A database of information on the vessels includes for example details of the location where they were built plus dimensions of the vessels, gross tonnage and
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) number. Users can submit photographs of the vessels which other users can rate.
The basic MarineTraffic service can be used without cost; more advanced functions such as satellite-based tracking are available subject to payment.
The site has six million unique visitors on a monthly basis. In April 2015, the service had 600,000 registered users.
How it works
Data is gathered from in excess of 18,000
AIS AIS may refer to:
Medicine
* Abbreviated Injury Scale, an anatomical-based coding system to classify and describe the severity of injuries
* Acute ischemic stroke, the thromboembolic type of stroke
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equipped volunteer contributors in over 140 countries around the world.
Information provided by AIS equipment, such as unique identification, position,
course, and
speed
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...
, is then transferred to the main Marine Traffic servers for display via the website in real time. The site uses data from
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...
on its base map, and the paid version lets users display ship locations on Nautical Charts.
History
MarineTraffic was originally developed as an academic project at the
University of the Aegean
The University of the Aegean ( el, Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου) is a public, multi-campus university located in Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, Syros and Lemnos, Greece. It was founded on March 20, 1984, by the Presidential Act 83/1984 ...
in
Ermoupoli
Ermoupoli ( el, Ερμούπολη), also known by the formal older name Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis ( el, < "Town of "), is a to ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
.
In late 2007, Professor Dimitris Lekkas published it as a trial version.
Community
MarineTraffic is highly dependent on its community of radio amateurs or AIS Station operators, its photographers and translators.
In support of the community, MarineTraffic recently made available a free AIS processing tool, under a Creative Commons license.
See also
*
Flightradar24
References
{{Reflist
2007 establishments in Greece
Navigation system companies
Greek websites
Marine websites
Companies based in Athens