Differences between Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder

[Bathdave]

I have always used MT to keep an eye out for friends boats and look at my own routes

i think I understand the concept of how MT captures data from AIS and leapfrogs it between boats to shore stations which then upload the data to some massive database in the sky

ive also worked out that there are some dark spots where MT doesn’t seem to pick up boats.

I’ve worked my way down from jersey with regular stops at Roscoff, L’Aber, Camaren’t. Audierne and now in Loctudy

MT has tracked me every step of the way until 20 miles south of Audierne, which is where other boats I was watching all disappeared. I presumed this is due to a lack of shore station data capture.

having arrived in Loctudy, no sign of me on MT, nor of any other boats at all ..you’d think the harbour was empty. However, Vessel Finder shows me and lots of other boats here.

does VF have a different methodology for collecting and posting vessel data ?

 

[Momac]

I expect all of the websites use the same data .
If you pay a fee you can get more data - eg from satellites . But I believe the charges are high.

 

[Bathdave]

I expect all of the websites use the same data .
If you pay a fee you can get more data - eg from satellites . But I believe the charges are high.

That is what I was ‘expecting‘ but is not the case.

youre right that you can pay for an upgrade to get satellite data but I haven’t …Loctudy is a dead zone with no boats on MT and with lots of boats in VF, no satellite from offshore needed.

does anyone know the answer ?

 

[LittleSister]

does anyone know the answer ?

These forums would be pretty sparse if things were restricted to actual knowledge! It's only the idle speculation and answers to different questions than those asked that keeps the place going. ?

Speaking of idle speculation, I am guessing that either MT & VF don't have access to exactly the same range of shore stations, or there is some temporary glitch in MT's access to the data from the station providing coverage of Loctudy.

 

[Bathdave]

These forums would be pretty sparse if things were restricted to actual knowledge! It's only the idle speculation and answers to different questions than those asked that keeps the place going. ?.

?

 

[boomerangben]

As I understand it, there are a network of land based stations which are in effect enthusiasts who have signed up to have a receiver and leave their internet and computer on so that MT/VF can present info online. Perhaps there are no such MT volunteers at Luctudy but a VF one?

 

[mjcoon]

I don't have an answer, but would you believe it's been asked before. Googling gives:

Marinetraffic vs Vesselfinder - YBW Forum
https://forums.ybw.com › marinetraffic-vs-vesselfinder....

15 Sept 2015 — In comparison, Vesselfinder always reports my signal, but does not identify where its feed receiver is located, while Marinetraffic can map ...


Marinetraffic.com VERSUS Vesselfinder.com - Ship Tracker
http://www.fleetmon.net › 2013/02 › marine-traffic-ver...

1 Feb 2013 — Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder offer really useful maps with exact and updated information about all aspects of the tracked vessels (present ...

 

[Sandy]

MT charges for their phone app, VF does not.

I use MT on a web browser and VF's app. Between them it just about covers things.

 

[FulmarJeddo]

I have played around with both and more recently found VF seemed a little better at providing past track data. I could look at my speed at different points on the track. Both supply html code to embed on a website. I had previously embedded the MT code on a simple web page. When I embedded the code from VF hoping to see the speed along the track, i discovered the code displayed the MT track. I haven’t had the time to play around with it since, but was wondering if it was all the same organisation.

 

[Lightwave395]

I've seen the same, I usually seem to 'disappear' from around Penmarch to East of Concarneau, a couple of other smaler areas in Southern Brittany too yet the area is usually full of French and other Euro boats showing on AIS

When I sailed my boat back from the Morbihan to Falmouth solo last year my partner was watching me on MT and I 'disappeared' late at night in the shipping lanes between Roscoff and Falmouth - she spent half the night worrying and called Falmouth CG in the early hours, they were very nice to her and told her they could see me and they subsequently called me when I was 20 odd miles SSE of the Lizard to check I was doing fine !

 

[tudorsailor]

If you want to ensure that you appear on MT's map even if there is no shore station where you are, then load their OnCOurse app onto your phone.
Cruise with OnCourse App – MarineTraffic Help
If you still with a phone signal, the OnCourse app will log your phone's position. It will incorporate this into the MT track. It assumes that you are on your boat! You can set start and finish details. Obviously you should stop it recording once you arrive

TS

 

[Rappey]

I've always found Mt is more likely to show a boat over vf. This became apparent when tracking solent to baltic, Spain and Inverness.
If you click on a vessel in Mt, then when the little window pops up click on details, then the last listed bit of info has the ais station that tracked the given vessel.
Click on the ais station and a lot of graphical history and information comes up about the ais station. Most seem to pick up max range varying from 6 to 13 miles.
Vf also shows some of this info but no where near as detailed.
Next I decided to find a map with vf and Mt ais stations. That was a very lengthy task but I got a result.
From the screen shots of both covering the same section of the south coast you can see vf has 11 stations, Mt has 32 !
Neither seem able to track me from Portsmouth Harbour out to the nab and back.
So it looks like you need both if you want to track a vessel.
I also noticed more around the east coast up towards Scotland in a marina half the boats are detected by a ais station and the other half are only available via satellite .

 

[Bilgediver]

I have played around with both and more recently found VF seemed a little better at providing past track data. I could look at my speed at different points on the track. Both supply html code to embed on a website. I had previously embedded the MT code on a simple web page. When I embedded the code from VF hoping to see the speed along the track, i discovered the code displayed the MT track. I haven’t had the time to play around with it since, but was wondering if it was all the same organisation.

I suspect that these companies get their data from various sources including their own network of amateur receiving stations. These stations are not always in the best locations and will may have cover far out to sea. We have one such station near Edinburgh and it even loses vessels in the shadow of the bridges. and can not see vessels ouside the estuary Other stations will cover the coastal regions. These stations are given the equipment which feeds the data into the internet to the relevant server. This link shows the details of a french ham provider. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/stations/11604

Another well used source is satellite and most of our fishing fleet are tracked by this.
My Marine traffic shows 5 yachts in Lochtudy today and all French

I set up an AIS receiver at home during lock down. It gave coverage over the whole of the Forth Estuary and from the Arbroath area down to Dunbar and about ten miles offshore. Maybe I should donate data. I was displaying it on some free software which was adequate for this purpose. The box was the sort of black box you couple up to a chartplotter on board. to participate this data would be sent to a server address. The web site APRS.fi is the same system as started by amateurs back in the 80's and AIS took the same or very similar protocol when it was introduced as you will see both amateurs and ships on the aprs site.

 

[tudorsailor]

I just looked at a friends position on MT. I then clicked to see where his signal was picked up. It said it was a roaming station. Turns out to be a cruise liner! Details for AIS station Costa Deliziosa | AIS Marine Traffic
That may explain why there is coverage in an area when othertimes not.

TS