Bilgediver
Well-Known Member
The problem stems from the way Marine traffic harvests data utilising volunteer receiver stations . These are not always in the best location and not all areas are covered. Moreover some structures can block the ships signals from the receiving station causing that ship to become invisible at times.We’ve had numerous issues on MarineTraffic which I’ve spent hours trying to diagnose.
Turns out when you sail far enough you hit the black spots that have no uplinksthe Skerries is one example and north of Campbeltown another.
We see all of these problems on the Forth here in Scotland. On one occasion I checked Marine traffic prior to starting a rowing race . Nothing was shown . Up river was shielded from the start by structures. Started the race and as soon as we had a clear vue found that a trip boat was heading our way. It's AIS signal had been blocked by a bridge structure.
There is usually just one receiving station in the Kirknewton area for the upper Forth and so a few blind spots.