Houston / Galveston Commerical Ship Traffic via AIS at Vesseltrax.com
John Astad, webmaster for Vesseltrax.com pointed us towards his Automatic Identification System (AIS) feeds for the Houston / Galveston area. AIS is a transponder technology by which ships broadcast their basic navigational information and identity over VHF to other vessels - similar in idea to the ADS-B system for aircraft.
One of John’s latest projects is to provide a Google Earth version of the AIS feed (select Google Earth Delayed AIS View in his drop-down menu and click GO). It is currently a static file, but he is planning to turn it into a dynamic network link soon. To get a better appreciation of the usefulness of Google Earth as a 3D situational awareness tool, we recommend trying out the VesselTrax.com AIS layer in conjunction with the EarthNC Marine Charts for Google Earth in the Houston Area. The current beta includes full coverage of the Texas coast. The screen shot above (click for larger version) shows a zoomed in view of part of Texas City Harbor with the EarthNC chart and John’s ship positions.
John is looking for others along the Gulf Coast interesting in maintaining AIS listening posts to build out a comprehensive network of ship position data for the ICW shipping industry (I’m sure he’d consider integrating other coastal areas also). If you’re interested in participating please contact us via our Contact Form or contact John directly via VesselTrax.com
