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A Map Showing Every Cargo Ship

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Re: A Map Showing Every Cargo Ship

#12
post #7

I expected this to be http://marinetraffic.com/ which shows current/recent locations. But I'm not sure if it shows every single cargo ship in the world.

Every ship within range of an AIS receiving station. There are deadspots far out and see and behind obstructions.

Probably not taking subscriptions from Somalia...

Re: A Map Showing Every Cargo Ship

#14
post #8

A couple of observations I thought were interesting: Very few ships travel around the southern tip of South America A corrupted data point sends it flying across Russia and into Southern Europe. A lone ship travelling to Svalbard. Multiple ships travelling in rivers deep into Russia. Control of the nine-dash-line area would yield huge economic influence to the controller.

The southern tip of South America is known as Cape Horn (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Horn). It's an unpredictable and dangerous area, hence the popularity of the Panama Canal.

Russia is huge, hence a lot of river shipping.

Control of the seas would bring a lot of influence, hence the British control of Gibraltar and the complex history of the Suez Canal.

Re: A Map Showing Every Cargo Ship

#15
post #8

A couple of observations I thought were interesting: Very few ships travel around the southern tip of South America A corrupted data point sends it flying across Russia and into Southern Europe. A lone ship travelling to Svalbard. Multiple ships travelling in rivers deep into Russia. Control of the nine-dash-line area would yield huge economic influence to the controller.

[deleted]

Re: A Map Showing Every Cargo Ship

#16
>> The map is built from data showing ship locations in 2012, so it's not exactly what things look like today, but it's a pretty close approximation.

What were oil prices then? What are they now? What is the state of piracy then? What is is now? Interesting, but I suggest that the really interesting details aren't to be found on this map.

Re: A Map Showing Every Cargo Ship

#18
post #7

I expected this to be http://marinetraffic.com/ which shows current/recent locations. But I'm not sure if it shows every single cargo ship in the world.

Every ship within range of an AIS receiving station. There are deadspots far out and see and behind obstructions.

There is AIS sat or something(, we used to refer to it by that name.)

It scans the entire (?) globe every few hours. I think accrss to those observations is one of the benefits of a paid AIS subscription.

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