Mapping marine traffic density by using AIS data: An application in the Northern Aegean Sea

The increase in the marine traffic with the advancement of maritime transportation has brought about such hazards as marine accidents and environmental pollution. Investigating of the marine traffic density in a region and increasing the situational awareness about that region is of appreciable importance. Studies on marine traffic are generally based on the examination of the density of marine traffic with Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, the calculation of the probability of collision or grounding accidents, developing the regional or global density maps to show ship movements and investigating the ship movements in the selected regions. There are various methods and programs to analyze the marine traffic and to increase the situational awareness about the regions in question. For example it is possible to calculate the collision or grounding probability quantitatively by using programs such as IWRAP Mk II, SAMSON, GRACAT. Although there are some studies on the investigation of marine traffic in Turkey, a program for the analysis of marine traffic has not been developed yet. Considering this lack in the literature, a desktop application has been developed in this work. With the developed application, mapping the ship movements with AIS data becomes possible. After mapping the vessel movements, it is possible to select two points and create various graphics regarding the vessels passage between these two points. Besides with this application, Frequency-Distance, Draught-Distance, SOG-Distance, SOG-COG distributions can be calculated and visualized graphically. Furthermore, it is possible to develop the application, which has been the first development in Turkey, in line with different needs.