Over here is a neat website. It shows the ships in and about Boston harbor. Type in Rotterdam to see an active port. Look at all the pretty icons! Yachts, tankers, passenger ships! No naval ships however.
But I have gone to port I know and some ships that should be shown are not. How the heck is such a real-time map compiled, and why do some (large) ships not show up? Is there some sort of optional tracking device? Perhaps some ships not underway turn off their devices?
Like this bit from the disclaimer, too: “Data is provided for informational reasons only and is not related by any means to the safety of navigation.”
“Captain! We’re headed straight for that supertanker!”
“No, no, it’s cool, see–I’ve got this totally sweet website bookmarked, and it shows the channel to be completely clear.”
If you look at Dublin right now, you will see 4 naval vessels moored in the Liffey: one each from Norway, Estonia, Germany and Poland. So some countries at least allow their naval vessels to show up on this website.
On another point, your link shows the German port of Cuxhaven, not Boston. I can zoom and pan, but the URL doesn’t change, so I can’t see any way of sharing the link to show Dublin port.
Thanks, Antonius Block. Your links don’t quite link to the live map, but with one more step it is possible (click on the Latitude/Longitude link in the “Port Details” on the left-hand side).
I didn’t have any problem calling up any part of the world either. My problem was creating a link to that portion of the live map, that I could share in this thread.
I would guess that is a matter of what they are doing. If in active duty (real or just training) the AIS would probably be switched off, but on a hospitality visit it’s just a vessel like any other.
The service is quite flakey. I don’t know whether this is because ships often have their AIS turned off or because the signal is often lost. I regularly notice that ships that I know are in a particular place don’t show up on screen, and it is not because of lack of coverage: I can see other vessels right alongside on screen.
Very cool website. I saw a couple of tugs and a private vessel on the Upper Mississippi. The only problem was that one of the tugs appeared to be right in the middle of an island where I used to camp often.