MARINETRAFFIC.COM

“SHIP PLOTTER”

HOW TO SETUP FOR USE WITH AN AIS RECEIVER WITH SERIAL OUTPUT AND SHARE DATA WITH MARINETRAFFIC.COM

If you own an AIS receiver with serial data output or a VHF radio with discriminator output already available, you can use Ship Plotter to forward AIS data to Marinetraffic.com . Ship Plotter is capable of capturing your receiver's audio out, demodulate and decode it using your PC's sound card and present the data on a map. The scope of this guide is to show how to setup the application using an AIS receiver with serial output in order to share data with MarineTraffic.com . How to configure and connect a VHF receiver with your sound card and Ship Plotter is NOT covered in this guide.Therefore from now on it is assumed a serial output AIS receiver is used.

Ship Plotter is free to use for 21 days after which you must activate the program and pay a fee.More details can be found here:

http://www.coaa.co.uk/shipplotter.htm

In order to create your own AIS station you'll also need a dedicated PC with RS232 and ethernet ports, XP or newer OS and a stable internet connection.

• First step is to connect your receiver to your PC using a standard serial cable.Make sure your COM port is configured as 38400,8,N,1 no flow control and your PC has access to the internet. Your equipment should be setup as shown below:

• Next download Ship Plotter from here:

http://www.coaa.co.uk/shipplotter12_4_7_7a.exe

Marinetraffic.com © 2012

• Save the file on your Desktop.

• When download is finished double-click on the shipplotter12_4_7_7a.exe file and run the installer. Allow for elevated rights if needed.

• When the installation finishes double-click on the “ShipPlotter” desktop icon to start the application. You'll see the main window screen :

• You can change the view and select to see the map by clicking the “Map” button :

Marinetraffic.com © 2012

or select to see the satellite image be clicking on the “Satellite” button :

Marinetraffic.com © 2012

IMPORTANT

If you haven't done this already, please visit our site (http://new.marinetraffic.com/), and register creating a new account. (click "members" > "join now")When finished login to the site and click on your login name (top right corner) > "my account" > "my stations" > "add receiving station".When finished you'll get a new station ID and a unique port number to send data to.

• Now open up the I/O configuration window by clicking on the “I/O Settings” button :

You will see this window :

Marinetraffic.com © 2012

• There are two points of interest in the settings highlighted below :

• Setup the application exactly as you see above with the exception of entering your unique port number instead of 5321 at the “Remote port” field at the “UDP output” section and entering your receiver's COM port number on the “port” field at the “Serial input” section.Click OK when finished.

• You will return to the main program window. Click on the “Start” button to begin receiving data from the serial port and forward the data to MarineTraffic.com :

Marinetraffic.com © 2012

• Finally in order to verify everything is done properly, visit your station's statistics page and make sure your station status is “ONLINE” (it may take a few minutes for that to happen):

That's it!!! You are now sharing your data with us. We sincerely appreciate your contribution to our site and your help to expand our services and coverage.

Marine TrafficTech Support Team

Marinetraffic.com © 2012