An AIS data visualization model for assessing maritime traffic situation and its applications

Abstract

Correct appraisal of the marine traffic situation is important for safe shipping. However, the traditional maritime traffic survey and analysis are not good ready for easily indicating the dangerous shipping area. We propose a novel visualization model to appraise the maritime traffic situation based on Ship's Automatic Identification System. The rate of ship turn, speed acceleration and ship encounter are incorporated into a new index to indicate the relative dangerous shipping area. Our new model is applied to analyze the maritime traffic situations of Xiamen Bay and Meizhou Wan and proved to be practical and useful for maritime traffic decision-making and management of marine authorities and mariners. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.