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Old 21-04-2010, 19:52   #1
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AIS Tracking

We are beginning preparations for a multi year cruise through the South Pacific and will be creating a blog for our stuck-at-home friends. I'd like to be able to use our AIS transponder to track our position in the blog (even better to show our track). Anyone know how to do this? I found a snippet from marinetraffic.com which works except that when the vessel being tracked moves out of the area shown, the chart doesn't update to the new position. Any help or advice on installing a tracking feature in our blog would be much appreciated!

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Old 21-04-2010, 20:21   #2
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they are taking the data they receive on there AIS receivers and just posting it to a map, so when the ship moves out of there range its gone. They link many receivers together for there map. So the only way to track your ship is to be with in range of a receiver and have it post. Would be much easier to update your blog from your gps, The problem there is now you have to be close to a receiver for internet. There are some handheld "gps" that update a sat. and post to a page but there is a fee for them. You could then use that page and link it to your Blog.
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Old 21-04-2010, 21:42   #3
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As said, VHF is used by AIS, and VHF is horizon limited. An alternate approach is to use the Winlink 2000 Network. Other may have more suggestions ...

WinLink allows you to report GPS coordinates (e.g. daily) via SSB/Pactor modem. Friends get a global track of where you have been by entering your callsign(http://www.winlink.org/userPositions). You may even be able to set up a link that inserts your callsign automatically. (You need a ham licence / SSB / Pactor).
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Old 21-04-2010, 22:43   #4
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Originally Posted by Gringoqueto View Post
We are beginning preparations for a multi year cruise through the South Pacific and will be creating a blog for our stuck-at-home friends. I'd like to be able to use our AIS transponder to track our position in the blog (even better to show our track). Anyone know how to do this? I found a snippet from marinetraffic.com which works except that when the vessel being tracked moves out of the area shown, the chart doesn't update to the new position. Any help or advice on installing a tracking feature in our blog would be much appreciated!

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I've got the following code to display the marinetraffic.com chart on my website:

-----------------------------
<script type="text/javascript">
width=600; //the width of the embedded map in pixels or percentage
height=400; //the width of the embedded map in pixels or percentage
border=1; //the width of border around the map. Zero means no border
notation=false; //true or false to display or not the vessel icons and options at the left
latitude=40.0000; //the latitude of the center of the map in decimal degrees
longitude=-124.0000; //the longitude of the center of the map in decimal degrees
zoom=4; //the zoom level of the map. Use values between 2 and 17
trackvessel=366881180; //the MMSI of the vessel to track, if within the range of the system
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/embed.js"></script>
-----------------------------

Note the "trackvessel=366881180" option. This is VALIS' MMSI, and the displayed chart centers on VALIS if our signal is being received by the marinetraffic.com network. I just tested this by plugging in the MMSI for a ship in Norway, and my chart initially opened up showing San Francisco (the latitude and longitude parameters), but as soon as the specified MMSI was received the chart re-centered over Norway.

Unfortunately, there just aren't many networked AIS receivers in the South Pacific islands. South America has a few receivers, and New Zealand and Australia have a bunch, but most of the ocean is not covered.

If you report in via yotreps, or the Pacific Seafarer's Net (ham), you will show up on several position-reporting websites. You can report your position via ham radio voice, winlink ham email, marine SSB email (sailmail, etc), satphone email, etc. You can embed a chart from yotreps.com (YOTREPS Offshore Reports) on your website. Also look at ShipTrak v3.0 too. There may be a way to embed this on your webpage as well.

There are commercial position-reporting services as well, mostly using satphone email (Global Marine Networks ~ Satellite Communications & Data Solutions). This is more expensive than I would prefer though.

[edit] Here is a link that jumps to the yotreps tracker, primed with a callsign: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tr...4646%20&show=1
Test it here: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tr...4646%20&show=1
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Old 21-04-2010, 23:41   #5
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I can't think of a good system thats reliable across the Pacific.

One thing to remember is that if its at all UNreliable the folks back home may get unnecessary worried.

We had a thread here a few months ago where Husband went on a "3 hour cruise" and turned off his sat position reporter after one or 2 blips. The wife went into total panic mode! Forum Posts, US Coast Guard, Helicopters, B52 Bombers called in to airstrike me because I called her a panic merchant... it was gruesome!

We just leave the folks at home guessing till we actually arrive.

We have a Satellite phone (THANKS JAMES S!!!!!!!!) and we SMS my sister so she knows we are OK. Our expected arrival times are delayed by days or weeks so no one worries

A blog is great, as are position reports, but try not to give them heart attacks


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Old 22-04-2010, 02:51   #6
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SPOT tracking device may be your solution. Google SPOT. I use it to update friends and family as to my position. It is also capable of sending a distress message but is not a replacement for an EPIRB
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Old 22-04-2010, 03:22   #7
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I used Spot on my cruise from Canada to Guatemala and was very satisfied with it being able to notify my loved ones to where I was.

But unfortunately the Spot coverage page indicates that there is no coverage in the middle of the Pacific:

Coverage Map

To keep my friends updated as where I'd been, I wrote a program to take the track produced my navigation program (SeaClear) and convert it into a Google earth .KML file which I would attach to an email and send to them.
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Old 22-04-2010, 14:14   #8
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To keep my friends updated as where I'd been, I wrote a program to take the track produced my navigation program (SeaClear) and convert it into a Google earth .KML file which I would attach to an email and send to them.
Nice simple approach. Are you able to share the program and code?
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Old 22-04-2010, 18:01   #9
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Sure, send me a private message with your email address and I'll send the program and instructions.
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