Internet AIS

[Veloce Sailing]

Hi community. Just joined and trying to figure out how to set things up with OpenCPN.

This might be an obvious topic for many, however, I can't seem to set it up myself and cannot really find info online.

Is it possible to set up Internet AIS on OpenCPN (receiving)? If, so how? I am trying to configure it both on a laptop at home and on OpenCPN app on my mobile.


Low prio, but since I am here asking...I heard that there might be options to transmit AIS over internet as well. Is this correct?

Thanks in advance

[AA3JY]

Yep..using ‘OnCourse’ program via Starlink

[Veloce Sailing]

There is a wifi network available, with internet access. Assuming there is coverage and I am inshore.
I am familiar with Seapilot ability to "tick off" the internet AIS option and see all vessels in the area on screen. I was hoping something similar?

[zachduckworth]

You can use a Raspberry Pi with OpenPlotter suite. I just installed, easy and cheap.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by Veloce Sailing

Is it possible to set up Internet AIS on OpenCPN (receiving)? If, so how? I am trying to configure it both on a laptop at home and on OpenCPN app on my mobile.

If you happens to know a site providing some AIS broadcast just use Options->Connections and make a network TCP (or UDP) connection e.g "address: myAISfeed.com port: xxxx

There are no sites providing a common interface for this. But there are some occasionally "out there".
(What I know SeaPilot has a bought a connection.)

[nohal]

OpenCPN can connect to any NMEA data feed over TCP protocol. If you have access to such a data feed with AIS data, simply configure the appropriate address and port on the Connections tab and you are done. There are public services like MarineTraffic and AISHub that offer such feeds either to their contributors for free or to paying customers.

There are no public free services that provide such data, at least not with global coverage.

[wholybee]

All you need is to enter the network URL and port number of the Internet feed on the connections tab. I used to use one for San Francisco Bay that was (I think) sponsored by the Exploratorium. It seems to be gone now.
They used to be more common, then someone realized you can charge for them, and the free ones mostly disappeared.
There are some sources where if you contribute an AIS feed, they grant access to a worldwide feed: https://www.aishub.net/

[Hakan]

Veloce Sailing.
I suppose your are preparing for armchair planning and tests?
For real cruising a network AIS feed is not recommended. You never know the accuracy of received data in terms of up to date and real positions.
For safe cruising a real AIS receiver/transponder is essential.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Hakan

Veloce Sailing.
I suppose your are preparing for armchair planning and tests?
For real cruising a network AIS feed is not recommended. You never know the accuracy of received data in terms of up to date and real positions.
For safe cruising a real AIS receiver/transponder is essential.

I can't agree more. I transmit AIS (and receive, of course). In a large number of places I've been, my boat does not show on MarineTraffic. In remote places -- like the south coast of Newfoundland, but also in high density places -- like my creek in Solomons Island, Maryland (boating hub in the middle Chesapeake). Many times, the data is minutes or hours out of date, and many times they are "satellite feed" which doesn't show much of the vessel info (including name and course / speed). Remember, a data point a mere 5 minutes out of date is 1/2 mile at 6 kts, more for faster boats.

[ranger58sb]

We've found "Internet AIS" useless on the water.

Sometimes interesting at home in the armchair... but both significant holes in coverage and significant latency means no timely info best case, and more often no info at all.

-Chris

[thomm225]

If all else fails for starters, many of us are using our VHF radios.

That is our VHF radios such as the Standard Horizon 2200 or 2400 which is VHF/GPS/AIS Receive.

Then run the NMEA 0183 off the back of the radio through a 485 RS 232 USB adapter into your Computer be it a laptop or Raspberry Pi.

https://www.amazon.com/DSD-TECH-Conv...pa_dk_detail_1

In the video below, I'm still using one of my Raspberry Pi Computer (RPI-4) feeding an HDTV for a monitor, but now I use my Laptop with Windows 10 for my OpenCPN/AIS Chart Plotter.

I do plan to get an AIS Transponder in the future, but for now, this receive only AIS is good enough,

It does have the Closest Point of Approach (CPA) alarm available in the OpenCPN Software

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TOdSCDHb2s

[Veloce Sailing]

Yes, you guys are partly right, this is partly for armchair planning and testing.

The major use case for me is however when racing. We do mostly racing mixed inshore/offshore, over relatively long distances (>100NM). Inshore here means in a vast archipelago with thousands of islands. AIS reception onboard has therefore limited range. We use internet AIS for intelligence on how the rest of the fleet is doing and their choices outside of our range.

Originally Posted by Hakan

(What I know SeaPilot has a bought a connection.)

That is probably the case. I was hoping that there was some plugin connecting to a similar connection or a known service that can be set up through TCP.

[nohal]

You have been given several services that do it (MarineTraffic, AISHub) and provide the data feed, they are not free though. At least not unless you contribute AIS data to them yourself.

[Veloce Sailing]

Thanks guys! Appreciated

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by Veloce Sailing

Yes, you guys are partly right, this is partly for armchair planning and testing.

The major use case for me is however when racing. We do mostly racing mixed inshore/offshore, over relatively long distances (>100NM). Inshore here means in a vast archipelago with thousands of islands. AIS reception onboard has therefore limited range. We use internet AIS for intelligence on how the rest of the fleet is doing and their choices outside of our range.

That means no or few AIS ground collection/relay stations throughout the whole area of competition?

Do you and all your opponents have the sort of AIS system that would be picked up by satellites and relayed to the aggregators?

We had Class B on our previous boat, and I don't remember ever seeing signs of satellite collection for that one. Class B+ in the current boat seems to result in satellite collection...

But I don't know if that's got to do with the AIS class or if satellite collection has just become more comprehensive over the years...

-Chris