Big data analytics helping to secure the seas.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

* While new tracking and mapping technologies have given oceangoing ships unprecedented visibility of the seas, it has also lead to a glut of data that can be unreliable. One system--Windward's MARINT--works to sort and verify that information to create safer seas, said a company executive.

"The data is massive. There are hundreds of millions of data points a day on ships worldwide," said Michal Chafets, head of communications for Windward, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based maritime data and analytics company. However, information is often "fragmented because it comes from lots of different sources, and it's intentionally manipulated."

Most large ships are required to carry Automatic Identification System beacons. However, because it requires manual input, it can be easily manipulated to display fake coordinates, she noted, making the seas still very much a "wild west."

The International Maritime Organization, which is part of the United Nations, mandated that by the end of 2004 all ships above 300 gross tonnage going on international voyages were required to carry AIS. Additionally, all passenger-carrying vessels and cargo ships above 500 gross tonnage were required to use the tracking system.

MARINT collects AIS data as well as information from other sources to give users increased situational awareness of their surroundings, Chafets said. The system creates profiles for individual ships that include which flag it flies under, where it has been and its usual routes.

According to a recent Windward study, a growing number of ships are...