No end of uses for tracking systems
I’m sure that you, like many, watched in horror as the recent Costa Concordia cruise liner disaster unfolded. From the initial reporting it seems that the disaster could have easily been avoided and that human error had a large part to play.
Over the next months and years there will undoubtedly be a number of inquests and trials as the relevant authorities try to get to the bottom of what happened and who was liable.
Being involved in the tracking industry one of our first thoughts, when all of the accusations of blame were flying, is that it should be pretty easy to pinpoint exactly what happened using data from the ship itself.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires all vessels over 299GT carry an AIS transponder on board, which transmits their position, speed and course, among some other static information, such as vessel’s name, dimensions and voyage details. This data can be combined GPS information to plot the exact course the ship took.
Already there are some videos appearing on Youtube that are using data received from AIS capable land stations. These stations have received only some details of the route of Concordia and from there they have interpolated the route of the ship.
It is likely that this kind of tracking data will play an important part in determining the exact route the Costa Concordia in the final minutes of its misfortunate final voyage.