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
10 st / March 2015 www.sea-technology.com AIS messages are complex and multifaceted, containing an abundance of information about a vessel, including po- sition, speed, course, rate of turn, etc. In addition, on any given complete satellite pass of the exactEarth constellation, around 100,000 messages can be received, and it is only with exactEarth's technology that not only can the data make sense in an extremely quick manner, but the data can also be deliv- ered securely to customers, allowing for the creation of their essential NRT operating pictures. This big data management highlights the clarity exactEarth brings to global AIS data, so that the data can be rapidly and easily consumed by authori- ties worldwide. Satellite AIS Data on Demand As much as satellite AIS data has buoyed safe navigation and authorities' maritime domain awareness, the detail of those AIS messages, their frequency and their formats have presented data management and interoperability challenges for customers. In particular, the specialized, multimessage structure of satellite AIS data has made it diffcult for users to easily share and integrate this NRT data with other GIS and geospatial tools, not because it is text-based, but because it is a complicated multimessage structure that is not human- readable and requires specialist software to decode. That lack of data interoperability has moored the inherent value of AIS data to the confnes of specialized information systems, in- hibiting users' abilities to leverage this maritime intelligence to plot new innovations, make useful connections and make more informed business decisions. To transform its satellite AIS data into an integral and ac- tionable beacon of marine intelligence, exactEarth created exactAIS Geospatial Web Services (GWS), a customizable, on-demand data distribution model that allows users to eas- ily access and integrate NRT ship information into existing Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) compliant geospatial platforms, such as Esri's (Redlands, California) ArcGIS and Google Earth. GWS transforms the data into a single mes- sage structure that is human-readable, delivered in standard formats that do not require specialist software to read, and can be visualized on a map. An OGC-certifed solution, GWS synthesizes and transforms text-based AIS messages into spa- T here is no disputing that the world's waters are busy. On any given day, they support the weight of thousands of small boats, container ships, passenger liners, tankers and cargo ships, providing vital, fuid transit corridors that rival the busiest road networks. In the commercial trade arena, the oceans are unrivaled—according to the International Mari- time Organization (IMO), more than 90 percent of global trade is carried by sea, and the amount of cargo transported by sea reached 8.4 billion tons in 2010. Shipping is indeed the anchor of the global economy, without which the majority of the world's stores would be empty. However, all of this vessel traffc against the backdrop of vast, open waters presents sizable navigation, monitoring and tracking challenges. Knowing who is on the water at any given time and where they are headed is essential to maritime safety, yet it is one of the most challenging questions to an- swer with certainty. That critical situational awareness—the who, what, where and when on the water—is what exactEarth's (Cambridge, Canada) exactAIS information provides. An information an- chor for the marine environment, exactAIS receives and deliv- ers in near-real time (NRT) global AIS messages to customers via a secure Internet link, providing an unparalleled, global view of the maritime picture at any given time, for any given area of ocean. exactEarth has been delivering to its customers an unri- valled view of the maritime domain for years, but it is in the delivery methods themselves that exactEarth began to see a need for change. Critical Technology for Maritime Domain Awareness The exactView system utilizes a patented algorithm for de- tecting AIS messages in orbit, even from the densest shipping areas of the world. This proven technology offers a complete NRT picture when it comes to understanding global maritime traffc movements. For many years, the exactEarth satellite constellation (currently comprising eight polar-orbiting satel- lites) has been the premier source of global coverage of vessel positions, routes and traffc for commercial and government customers alike; with numerous observations per day of any given point on the Earth. ShipView Simplifes Tracking of Global Shipping User-Friendly Software Service Maps Big Data Quickly via Web By Graham Stickler