AISAP: Automatic Identification System Analysis Package
Challenge
The Coastal Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) studies vessel traffic along waterways within and around the United States. The Coast Guard collects and maintains data from vessels through the automatic identification system (AIS). CHL had a need for retrieving and analyzing the vessel traffic using the AIS data.
Solution
ARA developed the Automatic Identification System Analysis Package (AISAP), a web-based tool for acquiring, analyzing, and visualizing near-real-time and archival water vessel data from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Through AISAP, users can search for any/all vessels in an area during a specific time. This tool allows access to quantitative, statistically robust measures of navigation project performance through time as reflected in vessel records. There are more than 1.6 billion rows of vessel position data. Vessels send data as frequently as 2 seconds.
ARA supports USACE/ERDC in the design, development, and maintenance of the AISAP database, website, and data visualization.
AISAP can be used to investigate questions of historical travel time, capacity limitations, and the effects of weather or accidents on the flow of freight through waterways.
