The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/477967
www.sea-technology.com March 2015 / st 11 tial-ready, ship-centric information. Functioning like a vessel information drive-thru, users access the GWS through their existing geospatial platform, choose specifc data sets on offer, such as the latest vessel information, historical track informa- tion or ship density maps, and GWS then delivers the fles for immediate consumption. As GWS is supported with OGC fltering, customers can also dynamically customize the data based on geography, time and AIS message attributes, ensur- ing they only receive the exact vessel-voyage data they need. Those visual and temporal tracks can then be viewed on a map or retrieved on demand. It is targeted exactAIS data how and when users want it, without the need for specialist software, sophisticated databases and maritime analytical systems. New Porthole Into Global Shipping Stemming from the need to quickly build a picture of the world's shipping activity, exactEarth launched ShipView in the summer of 2014. This Web-based tool provides users ac- cess to all of exactEarth's GWS shipping data in a simple- to-navigate viewing platform. At its core, ShipView is built around the idea that dynamic geospatial data are best visual- ized on a map, as opposed to trying to make sense of multiple rows of data in a report or spreadsheet. Plotting the compre- hensive satellite AIS data on a set of familiar map layers and granting access through any Web browser, ShipView offers a simplifed user experience for daily monitoring of any num- ber of ships anywhere in the oceans. The platform follows the Software as a Service (SaaS) mod- el, as exactEarth hosts the entire application and all the data; choosing a Web browser is the only responsibility for the cus- tomer. The need for exactEarth to take on the majority of the heavy lifting internally was quite obvious after the discovery that not everyone could cope with the ever-increasing levels of data being delivered. In fact, it seemed as if the company was sometimes actually creating data problems for users in the process of providing information solutions. Implement- ing an SaaS model addresses this, as exactEarth takes on the responsibility of not only hosting the data and the big data processing, but also providing access through a very simple, user-friendly platform. One of the challenges of Web application development is how to provide a seamless and fast user experience. When exactEarth frst started developing ShipView their develop- ment practice was to program features and functionality and expose the application to beta test users using standard Web server technology. They quickly found that the scope and size (Top) ShipView allows users to add external map layers from any OGC WMS or Esri ArcGIS server, such as NOAA Wave Heights, exactAIS Den- sity Maps or Economic Exclu- sion Zones. (Bottom) Track- ing ships is easier than ever before. Using the time slider, users can look back up to 90 days.