[Originally published October 23, 2008, at Navagear.]
Thanks to BitterEnd for the tip. There’s a new AIS-on-the-web service that’s the “bee’s knees” for armchair harbormasters.
MarineTraffic.com has a live ships map that plots almost-current AIS data onto Google maps. They cover several areas worldwide, including much of Puget Sound. So far, so good; but nothing we haven’t seen before.
Here’s what sets it apart, though: it’s got pictures and vessel tracks. Plus, you can turn vessel types on or off, if you want to see passenger vessels but not tankers, for instance. And you can search for a specific vessel by name. Those are just the features I’ve discovered so far.
It’s a ship-spotting geek’s dream, I tell you!
Of course, it doesn’t have pictures of every vessel that happens to show up, but it might, given time. See in the screenshot above where it says “Upload a photo”?
That’s just what I did here. They didn’t have a photo of Tioga, but I did. That photo of Tioga is one I took back in May. Don’t worry, you retain the copyright to your pictures. Here’s the page with the full-size version of my photo.
