ais tracks and mariner-sourced information for sailing in poorly charted areas
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TRANSCRIPT
Using AIS Tracks & Mariner-Sourced
Data in Poorly Charted
Areas
Gwil Roberts Mariners Workshop,
Vancouver 2013
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
Overview!
• Global issues in trade and Climate Change are shifting shipping
patterns – sometimes into poorly charted areas!
• Hydrographic Offices have always prioritized their survey work to
follow existing shipping routes!
• There will be a long gap before all the new shipping routes are
surveyed to today’s standard!
• Historical AIS vessel tracks and Mariner-sourced depth data can
provide useful information to the shipping community!
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
Decrease in Arctic Ice Cover is Shifting Shipping Lanes !
Ice Cover 1979 vs. 2012 (NASA)!
“Trans-Arctic shipping …will be supplemental !and provide additional capacity for a growing!transportation volume” Center for Circumpolar !Security Studies!
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For Canada this means more shipping in frontier areasThere are nautical charting considerations!
Many of these routes are poorly charted, some with occasional track soundings of questionable quality!
e.g. these two areas!
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Prince Albert Sound, NWT!
Although most of Canada’s navigable waters have been well charted !There remains the reality of sailing in poorly charted areas!
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Repulse Bay, NU!
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Frozen Strait, NU!
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The Problem: Shipping in Poorly Charted Areas!
• Many frontier and Arctic areas remain poorly charted
• Global Climate Change is shifting traditional shipping routes, some into
poorly charted areas
• HOs are swamped with demands for new charting that they cannot
fulfill
• Large Public Sector program funding for wide scale charting programs
remains unlikely in the near term
• The problem is world wide
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One Possible Solution: Get Mariners to Gather the Information!
• Ships are already sailing in uncharted areas – by following
historically safe tracks!
• Safe tracks usually have been set by mariners with local knowledge!
• Crowd-sourced programs, properly designed and monitored, can
provide useful map and chart data when there is no alternative!
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Using Historical AIS data: e.g. Alaska!
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Marine Exchange of Alaska (MXAK) AIS tracking StationsAlaskan Maritime Safety Network!
MXAK have established a network of AIS receiving stations which collect ship tracks in their vicinity !
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PacTracs Database: Traffic Density Studies!
These ship tracks can be used for a variety of purposes dealing with Risk Management of shipping in Alaska!
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The data can be classified by many attributesincluding vessel draft!
Consequently we have tracks of vessels of known draft successfully navigating an area!
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Historical Tracks –> Analysis –> Most Common Route by Draft!
We can use the successful tracks to determine safe – or Preferred Tracks in poorly charted areas!
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Extracting the Median Path!
A number of successful transits will produce a median track line and the dispersion – or width - of the Preferred Track!
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In Canada AIS Data is Acquired by CCG Research on this data is carried out by MARIN (Maritime Activity & Risk Investigation Network)
Dalhousie University Industrial Engineering!
ww.marin-research.ca
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Marin and MARIS!
• MARIS is a GIS program developed in the MARIN Risk Lab!
• MARIS Displays information such as traffic density, vessel size, draft, type etc.!
• Historical vessel tracks are also available!
• The dispersion of vessel tracks through poorly charted areas may be of value to mariners sailing there!
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
Mariner-Sourced Bathymetry For Improved Charts!
www.amc.edu.au
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
Mariner-Sourced Bathymetry For Improved ChartsThe TeamSurv Approach!
Mariner-Sourced Bathymetry For Improved Charts!
e.g. offshore service vessels autonomously gather depth data !from existing onboard navigation systems !
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
The TeamSurv Logger and Processed Results!
The TeamSurv Logger connects to the ships echo-sounder and a GPS Rx and records the data to a USB stick!
www.teamsurv.eu!
Mariner-Sourced Bathymetry For Improved Charts!
TeamSurv processes the data !and provides it back to contributors in useful form!
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The ARGUS Approach!
argus.survice.com!
ARGUS™ & ARGUS-LX™ Autonomous Hydrographic Surveying!
An autonomous system that collects data during the routine use of commercial marine vessels!
Compact automated unit onboard interfaces with the vessel’s navigation and echo-sounding system!
Data is ported to central server, processed and amalgamated data is sent back to all participating vessels!
Mariner-Sourced Bathymetry For Improved Charts!
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
Conclusions!
• An Analysis of Historical AIS Tracks can produce Preferred Tracks as a Marine Information Overlay on ECDIS!
• These tracks cannot replace a true systematic charting survey BUT in
the meantime they provide a path known to be safe for a fixed draft!• Preferred Tracks are meant as background information to allow
mariners to make the best decision under difficult conditions!• Supplementing ships with autonomous data logging systems that feed
back depth data increase the quality of information available to the
mariner until systematic surveys are done !
NEW PATHS, NEW APPROACHES
Thank You!
Gwil Roberts!Michael J. Casey!Hillario Lamotte!
IIC Technologies!