Ship Simulator – It may not have the capabilities of a Transas Full Mission Simulator, the unique characteristics of a Tall Ship simulation or the pure fun of the nautical game Ship Simulator 2008 but none of the above have the real life data of google earth driving the background images.

TheMaritime blog tells us: [Continue Reading →]

Today we look at SARSAT information embedded to Google Earth. Ryan Erickson at the Unofficial CG Blog tells us: [Continue Reading →]

The software development company, PlanetInAction, has just released a free ship simulator game that leverages the Google Earth plugin and presents it as the platform for this free game.  The game is a case study / technology show piece that demonstrates just what can be achieved with Google Earth and, interestingly enough, is called “Ships”.

Ships is a simulation program that allows you to get to be the helmsman of your own fleet of ships – including barges, cargo ships, container ships, and even a cruise ship (the QM 2) – that you can steer anywhere in the world with included 3D graphics and sound effects.

What’s interesting to us is that the game was developed to show off the capabilities of the Google Earth platform and it just so happens that the the way they chose to do it was to allow gamers to control a 3D ship anywhere in the world.

Be sure check out the game for yourself at HERE.

More reading at the Google Earth Blog

Last week we were pleased to bring you google’s announcement of ocean data inclusion in Google Earth. Today we bring you an interview with the leading google earth developer of marine products, Virgil Zetterlind of EarthNC. For those unfamiliar with Virgil’s work, the company translates marine charts into vector graphics for use in Google Earth. They also assist you in overlaying additional services like AIS based vessel tracking and marine weather charts. The result is a powerfull alternative to ECS products like Coastal Explorer or TADS.

Everyone seems to know the power of google earth, how does your product unleash this power for use on the water?

Similar to needing road data to create driving directions or plan road trips, EarthNC provides the navigation context critical for planning and conducting boating trips within the Google Earth environment.  Our core datasets are based on official government charting or reputable private chart data where government data is not available.  We also incorporate extensive weather layers, ocean forecasts, and point-of-interest reference information to give boaters a comprehensive picture of the environment. [Continue Reading →]

Yesterday, Google unveiled its newest version of Google Earth at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.  Google Earth 5.0 introduces a number of new features, but most notably Ocean in Google Earth.  Finally, you to explore what makes up two thirds of our planet – the ocean.  Google tells us what you can do with ocean in Google Earth:

• Dive beneath the surface and visit the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench

• Explore the ocean with top marine experts including National Geographic and BBC

• Learn about ocean observations, climate change, and endangered species

• Discover new places including surf, dive, and travel hot spots and shipwrecks

To help make this project possible, Google teamed with a number of scientists and organizations including NOAA, NASA, National Geographic Society, BBC, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Scripps Oceanography and many more.  [Continue Reading →]

This screenshot shows an example of high-resolution imagery above and below sea level. The view is looking eastward at Monterey Bay on the California coast with the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background.
(Image: Earth Observatory of Columbia University)

Gizmodo tells us:  Google Goes Back to 1500, Plans to Map the Oceans

As a natural progression from Google Earth and Google Sky, the Mountain View monolith now plans to create 3D maps of the Earth’s oceans and seas and make it available via Google Ocean. The software will allow users to navigate the aquatic bottom and see the topography that exists down there. Google also plans to include interactive data about various subjects such as weather patterns, coral reefs, shipwrecks, and currents. The goal for Google ocean is to use as much high resolution photography of the underwater terrain as possible, offering more than just a map. But researchers say such a process could take upwards of 100 years. And Google, if you’re going to include an easter egg similar to Google Earth’s flight sim, could we get a guided tour with a virtual Team Zissou? [via Gizmodo and CNet News]

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This post was written by Richard Rodriguez, Rescue Tug Captain, and US Coast Guard approved instructor for License Training. You can read more of his articles at the BitterEnd of the net.

So the gCaptain team has been exceptionally busy in the last few weeks and we have the Cosco Busan partially to thank. In addition to the server traffic and time spent researching the incident we were motivated by the events to embark on some new projects. You already now the good news, the successful launch of a new maritime podcast! Unfortunately, however, we also had a time consuming failure.

A little history…. Shortly after the ship allided with San Francisco’s Bay Bridge we pointed you to the amazing website BoatingSF.com. Run by Michael Slater, a former Adobe Engineer, the site uses AIS vessel tracking data taken from VHF radio antennas Michael has erected near the bay and uses this to plot ships to a live interactive map embedded on his site (LINK). The post that day, however, displayed recorded data showing the track of the Cosco Busan during her short voyage. The display was impressive and attracted a considerable amount of attention.

At this point of the story we had just finished reading an amazing article written for Geo: Magazine by John Astad, our friend from Vesseltrax. The subject of the article was Shore-Side Maritime Applications of Google Earth and discussed his ability to visualize 3d images of ships running the Houston Ship Channel. Even cooler was the ability to fly around a vessel as she moved about the bay… in real time! (LINK) So I contacted Michael and asked if he would send the data file to John for 3d conversion!

The stars seemed to be aligning until we discovered a problem (read about it here) that resulted in John not being able to convert the data for use in his program. Discouraged? Yes but in stepped a gCaptain reader who we can’t thank enough. He transposed the timestamps from regional AIS beacons and helped us create a ShipPlotter version (Disclaimer here and ShipPlotter results here) of the events. Not quite accurate but close enough for our next team to start work…

Jakota “is engaged in the development and sale of solutions aimed at the commercial sector and public services, as well as the field of research and science. We supply solutions for tracking, fleet management, positioning and security- and alarm systems.” Translated; they make the best 3d ship graphing websites on the planet. They also provide amazing tools for tracking fleets of ships that are visually stunning, effective and well thought out.

You ask, how did we find Jakota? We asked our friends in silicon valley to search for a company that provides AIS vessel tracking systems that first, have visually attractive solutions, second use the latest tools of web 2.0. The overwhelming response was “Check out Digital-Seas.com“.

Fast forward through the time changes, international calling codes and German accents… we finally got in touch with Lars Krueger, one of the nicest and most professional person we have met. Lars took a programmer off his job to work on our project full time… the results were stunning but the harder we work the more faulty data we found.

The bottom line… we worked hard, had fun, met some amazing people and built relationships for the future. The final result is not 100% accurate and was compressed to meat BoatingSF’s needs but still looks amazing (you should see the original!!) We also started on a new project, global AIS and vessel tracking… but that’s for another post. In the meantime, if your a marine superintendent Lars is a person you need to know. If you’re a mariner interested in tracking ships so you don’t have to spend days in sitting in the union hall… Digital-Seas is the website you will know.

Many thanks to all who helped and stay tuned for more on the amazing people and products we met while working on this project. For a preview visit these amazing sites;

• EarthNC – Digital Chart Overlays for Google Earth!
• ActiveCaptain – Port Information via Google Maps!
• Panbo – Marine Electronics Blog!
• Kurt’s Weblog – AIS Master GURU!
• Navagear -Gear and Gadets for Boaters!
• Vesseltrax – Ship positions on google maps!
• UUPlus – Low Bandwidth Solutions for Boats.

Enough discussion… to see the Cosco Busan’s Track CLICK HERE

Note: The source of our problem was the USCG’s reluctance to release the official AIS data files. If you wish to see the amazing visualizations of Digital Seas… in full size… with accurate data… call your congressman and ask for the file to be released to the public.

Do you think you can name this port? If so visit HERE to vote. This google map is brought to you by World Port Source which provides interactive satellite images, maps and contact information for 2,626 ports in 187 countries around the world.

Also click HERE to quickly find any port using their regional map of the world.

More interested in finding maps for boaters? Panbo has many great tips in his charting category found HERE.

Related Links:

• Google Maps – Maritime Mash-up
• Google Powered Searches For Mariners
• Google Earth For Celestial Navigation?
• Using Google To Track Hurricanes