Development and user evaluation of a system for marine traffic control

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a marine traffic system that analyzes real-time movements of multiple vessels and provides information for safe navigation. The system aims to help decision making process of Vessel Traffic Controller Officers and reduce their workload. The existing control systems for vessels usually rely on mental workload of experienced officers for information analysis and decision making (Rydstedt & Lundh 2010). However, due to limited number of skilled workforce sometimes there exist errors in decision making by officers and it may generate marine traffic accidents (Chauvin et al. 2009). Therefore, it is necessary to develop such systems and utilize them to help increasing safety of marine traffic. There have been studies about analysis of spatio-temporal distributions of vessels, prediction of routes, and collision risk of vessels (Hansen et al. 2013). However, due to their complex representation it is still not easy for officers to understand information of multiple vessels moving concurrently (Chauvin et al. 2009). This research utilizes Relative Motion (REMO) analysis method, an existing approach in geographic information science (GIScience) to large data of marine traffic to improve analysis and visualization of vessels’ movements and to help the users better understand information. As the result, a system is developed to visualize the REMO of vessels including change of location, speed, and azimuth of vessels through time and recommended navigation routes. The system is then assessed by user evaluations for enhancement.