With increasing international maritime safety as its goal, IALA, the International Association of marine aids to navigation and Lighthouse Authorities, has decided to launch “IALA-NET”, a near real-time AIS data exchange service which incorporates advanced statistical reporting facilities.
 

The Danish Maritime Safety Administration (DaMSA) has served as the leading partner in the project by providing an IALA-NET proof of concept, and commissioned GateHouse to provide technology to enable international exchange of AIS data. This demonstrator will operate until the end of 2009, when it is expected to be replaced by a full scale solution. The proof of concept is intended to demonstrate the benefits of IALA-NET whilst providing a basis for discussions with regards to the functionality of the full scale solution.
 

The solutions developed by GateHouse include web-based AIS display and statistics reporting modules. The display module allows users to view and track vessels wherever they are in the world, whilst the reporting module allows users to generate and share reports based on the data retrieved and stored by the system. Currently, the IALA-NET demonstrator receives AIS data from several countries, incorporating near real-time reports from more than 15,000 ships worldwide.
 

The IALA-NET demonstrator is available to any National Competent Authority that in return provides AIS data from their national network. The future vision of the IALA–NET is to assist maritime authorities in fulfilling their duties with regards to maritime safety and security, protection of the marine environment and improving navigation.