My G-d I love the interwebnets for this kind of stuff...
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/ (http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/)
Jack Nastyface
That map is very cool. I had mentioned it once as part of another thread.
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=1604.msg35703#msg35703
that maps answers 2 major Earth-shattering questions:
1. Yes, we should definitely rebuild New Orleans with everything we can.
2. No, it's not safe to waterski off the Netherlands
I saw all those boxes and immediately started looking for where the U-boats might be lurking.
Quote from: LongBlade on August 29, 2013, 06:11:21 PM
I saw all those boxes and immediately started looking for where the U-boats might be lurking.
I looked at it saw the next Happy Time.
Beat the drum!
Wonder if it shows small boats, like fishing vessels? The English Channel is set up like a roadway, if you are heading east, your shipping path is close to France. If you head west, your lane is close to England.
But there are always small fishing fleets out there, and it could easily be Whack a Mole. They're all over the damn place and act like no one else is out with them. At night it's really scary because they have banks of lights hanging over the water to bring fish to the surface.
Really screws up your night vision and hides their own running lights. The number of near collisions is enough to make you gag.
I've spotted some fishing vessels. Zero in on the coast around Maine, Nova Scotia, and Massachusetts.
Interesting, most of what is being tracked off Maine is pleasure craft. That means there's a lot of traffic that isn't showing up on that site.
Then scoot over to Nova Scotia then up to Newfoundland.
Maybe it only tracks craft with some kind of transponder? You'd expect that with big commercial vessels. Not so much with a 30' sailboat.
It made me curious, so I poked around the site. Most of their data comes from AIS transponders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System) which are required on all passenger ships and other vessels depending on a combination of gross tonnage and use. There are voluntary methods of reporting for other craft, but it looks like most of the ships shown are required to carry the transponders.
There is a color code. Dark blue seems to be ferries and cruise ships, light purple seems to be sailing vessels, light blue seems to be pilot boats, tugs and government (police, coast guard) , orange seems to be fishing vessels, and red seems to be tankers, and light green seems to be cargo ships.