The information service platform for Automatic Identification System (AIS) has officially put online in China recently and data from its coastal and inland waters in real time will be made available to the public.
The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an automatic tracking system, consisting of land-based station and vessel-based station for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging dynamic shipping data such as position, course, and speed and static information like ship's size, cargo kinds with other nearby ships.The platform will also include weather and tidal information, as well as basic port details and integrated land and sea data. According to the MSA, the AIS integrated service of vessel traffic in real time can cover all of coastal and inland waters in China and some of the waters in the world.
According to the requirement of international convention and relevant standard, the MSA has built 402 land-based AIS stations in China, covering the whole country's coastal and inland river high-grade waterways and relevant waters.