
Live Ships Map - Vessel Traffic and Positions - mixmax
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/
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RiderOfGiraffes
This is just AIS Live. AIS (Automtic Identification System), or UAIS
(Universal AIS) is now required by law on all vessels over 5000 tonnes. The
original idea was to help prevent collision at sea under the SOLAS (Safety of
Life at Sea) convention. It uses self-organised time-domain multiplexing to
broadcast GPS Lat/Long (usually WGS84) and current SOG (Speed over Ground) and
COG (Course over Ground), augmented by heading, cargo, port of departure, next
port of call, and waypoint information.

It also broadcasts the ship name, registration number, physical size, tonnage,
loading and other information.

Interestingly, although it's required by law that it be carried, it is not
required by law that it be turned on.

Note, the above is all from memory, and some may be a little out-of-date or
inaccurate. It's close enough to give you the idea, and if you want more
accuracy it's easy to look up.

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saturnine
The captain of the marine salvage ship Odyssey complained about this system on
one of the Treasure Quest TV episodes because it allows competitors and
amateurs to know the location of his ship. He has to employ countermeasures,
such as not staying over the location of a promising site for too long. That
suggests it cannot legally be turned off.

<http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/treasure-quest/ome.html>

~~~
smallblacksun
"Ships fitted with AIS shall maintain AIS in operation at all times except
where international agreements, rules or standards provide for the protection
of navigational information."

From "The December 2002 amendments"
[http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?topic_id=257&...](http://www.imo.org/Conventions/contents.asp?topic_id=257&doc_id=647#43)
(about 2/3 of the way down)

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RiderOfGiraffes
Yes, but in international waters there are no real sanctions, and no patrols
to check. When closer to shore it sometimes gets checked, but in my experience
very few vessels are caught, and even fewer are fined, if their AIS is simply
off.

However, the amendment is news to me - thank you.

------
smallblacksun
Thanks, this will be a huge help to my business! -A Somali pirate

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agv
No data available nearby Somalia. GL pirate :)

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falsestprophet
Yet another reason to move your piracy startup to the Strait of Malacca

~~~
eru
Or to California, so that you can get invested in by YC.

