Plotting AIS data within ArcMap

7046
4
02-07-2011 04:03 AM
SandyBriell
New Contributor
Hello

I'm new to nautical mapping and have been given a sample of AIS data that I would like to import into ArcMap.  Can anyone advise whether I have to have a special extension to do this or is there a conversion formula I can use to convert the data to a compatible format?  Any info on this would be appreciated.

Thanks!
0 Kudos
4 Replies
OlegLukyanov
New Contributor III
Hi,

we wrote own small VB6  parser  for data from AIS receiver RS232 port to SQL Server 2005 Express database (1, 4, 5 messages) and join data as X, Y event theme in ArcMap.
We used last #1 message from ship for last ship's position.
Also we published ship position at ArcGIS Server as map and kml service.

You can use ITU1370 instruction for conversion formula.

Oleg Lukyanov

Russia
0 Kudos
SandyBriell
New Contributor
OK, thanks.  Sorry--I'm not familiar with ITU1370.  Can you provide more info?
0 Kudos
MorakotPilouk
Esri Contributor
Hi sbriell,
I have been working with AIS data for a few years. I am not sure if you are dealing with raw AIS or the parsed AIS data. What Oleg mentioned does look like raw AIS. In brief raw AIS is a 6-bit encoded ASCII which needs to be parsed into a format that understandable by the target application. To plot this data in ArcMap, either parse it directly into a FeatureClass or comma delimited value (CSV) format. ESRI have not published a tool or extension to parse and import the raw AIS into ArcGIS yet. However, we will be able to assist you to accomplish this through some channels here if needed (e.g. Professional Services). We have been working with the world-wide (real-time) AIS data providers to receive both raw and parsed AIS and publishing the data as a service through Tracking Server using our own implementation of AIS parsers (for development/marketing purpose, sorry we are not reselling the AIS data). Tracking Server converts the AIS data into Features (with timestamp) and transmits them to the clients that subscribed to the service. Tracking Analyst Extension on ArcMap and ArcGlobe can receive and plot this data with temporal renderers as moving objects on the basemap background. Tracking Server can also log data to Geodatabase as Features that can be retrieved into a Tracking Layer or (time-aware) Feature Layer on ArcMap/ArcGlobe. Data can be animated/playback through time using the built-in time slider or Tracking Playback manager in the VCR like manner.

If you want to learn more about ESRI Tracking Technologies please follow these links:
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/trackinganalyst/index.html
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/tracking-server/index.html
http://resources.arcgis.com/content/tracking-server/10.0/about

Here's the link to learn more about AIS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System

Online AIS parser demo
http://rl.se/aivdm

Hope this helps,
Morakot
0 Kudos
OlegLukyanov
New Contributor III
0 Kudos