A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea

With the growing popularization of small crafts, the accidents that happen among such crafts are also drawing increasing attention, according to the marine accident data released by the Japan Coast Guard. In order to prevent possible navigation accidents, the authors considered that besides sharing information from land by the coast office broadly, managers on land can also watch out and give appropriate advice for operators in crafts one-to-one. This paper discusses the technical issues of developing virtual globe-based (Google Maps/Earth geographic information system (GIS)) 3D visualization stand-alone software for small craft navigation assistance in the aim to facilitate the safety and sufficiency of small crafts in the near sea. The system was developed using web services and object-oriented programming disciplines to support the integration of a virtual global framework, GPS, and real-time imaging data. The authors have also developed data processing programs that are glued together with C# language, JavaScript language, National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) instance data, and keyhole markup language (KML) data. Experiments for evaluating the framework have been made around the near coastal area. The performances and deficiencies are discussed in this paper. In order to evaluate the validity of the performance and the functionality of the system, authors conducted a questionnaire survey among third year students of the Voyage Course at Kobe University. The evaluation of the system suggests valuable potential for the small craft navigation assistance system.