183
1 INTRODUCTION
In2010theEuropeanUnionlaunchedanewresearch
and development program to protect the Baltic Sea
worth EUR 100 million over the period 2010‐2017,
called Baltic Organizations Network for Funding
Sciences EEIG (BONUS). BONUS (EU 2015) is
considered as the first model case for the
development of science‐ba
sed management of the
European regional seas by bringing together the
research communities of marine, maritime,
economicalandsocietalresearchtoaddressthemajor
challengesfacedbytheBalticSearegion.
2 PROJECTASSUMPTIONS
TheprojectEnhanced Situational Awareness toImprove
Maritime Safety in the Baltic (ESABALT) (FGI et al.
2015) is a research and development (R&D) project
funded by the BONUS progra
m for studying the
feasibilityof a novel system for enhancing maritime
safety,focusingontheBalticSeaasatest‐bedforthe
system and service concept. The partners in the
ESABALTconsortiumincludetheFinnishGeospa
tial
Research Institute (FGI), Furuno Finland Oy, SSPA
Sweden,andMaritimeUniversityofSzczecin(MUS),
Poland.
The term situational awareness refers to the
conceptofbeingawareofone’scurrentordeveloping
situation. In the maritime context, a vessel’s crew
mustmaintaingoodsituationalawarenessinorderto
safelyandefficientlyoperatethevessel.Thisincludes
awareness ab
out the environment (e.g. developing
weatherconditions),themaritimetrafficsurrounding
the ship, and the condition of one’s own vessel and
crew. Especially in the case of an emergency,
situational awareness may also include information
ESABALT Improvement of Situational Awareness in
the Baltic with the Use of Crowdsourcing
S.Thombre,R.Guinness,L.Chen,L.Ruotsalainen&H.Kuusniemi
FinnishGeospatialResearchInstitute,NationalLandSurvey,Finland
J
.Uriasz&Z.Pietrzykowski
M
aritimeUniversityofSzczecin,Poland
J
.Laukkanen
Furuno,Finland
P.Ghawi
SSPA,Sweden
ABSTRACT:Thispaperpresentsthekeyassumptionsandpreliminaryresearchonanintegratedsystemcalled
ESABALT,forenhancingmaritimesafety,whichincorporatesthelatesttechnologicaladvancesinpositioning,
e‐Navigation,Earthobservationsystemsandmulti‐channelcooperativecommunications.Themostnovelpart
of the ESABALT concept, however, is a focus on user‐driven crowdsourcing techniques for informat
ion
gatheringandintegration.Thesystemwillconsistofasituationalawareness solutionfor real‐timemaritime
traffic monitoring via utilizing various positioning technologies; an observation system of the marine
environmentrelevanttotransportationandaccidentsincludingassessingtheseaice,oilspread,waves,wind
etc.; and a methodology for context‐aware ma
ritime communication with cooperative, multi‐channel
capabilities.Thepaperpresentstheintelligent,novel,user‐drivensolutionandassociatedservicesdevelopedin
ESABALTforenhancingthemaritimesafetyinthewholeBalticarea.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 9
Number 2
June 2015
DOI:10.12716/1001.09.02.04
184
abouttheconditionofothershipsinthevicinity,such
as a damaged ship whose navigational ability has
beenjeopardized.
The Baltic Sea is a very busy waterway, and
although relatively safe as compared to other seas,
presentscertainuniquechallengestomaritimesafety
(Brunila & Storgård 2014), (Häkkinen &
Posti 2014),
(Sztobryn2012).Inthepast,majoreffortstoincrease
safety at sea have been initiated and driven by
governmental authorities or supranational agencies,
suchastheInternationalMaritimeOrganizationand
United Nations (UN 2015). In addition, several
developmentandresearchprojectssuchasEfficienSea
(EfficienSea 2015), MARSUNO (MARSUNO
2015),
BaltSeaPlan(BaltSeaPlan2015),BalticMasterII(Baltic
MasterII2015),MONALISA(MONALISA2015)and
GMES Polar View (GMES Polar View 2015), were
initiated for addressing maritime spatial planning,
safetyoftransportandenvironmentintheBalticSea
Region. However, studies show that in addition to
improved maritime safety regulations, voluntary
activitiesofcompaniesandsailorscanalsobeonethe
mosteffectivewaytoimprovemaritimesafetyinthe
future(Lappalainenetal.2013).
ESABALTaimstoincreasethesafetyofallvessels
operating in the Baltic Sea by providing tools and
serviceswhichenhancesituationalawareness.Thisis
achieved
using the latest technological advances in
sensing,positioning,e‐Navigation,Earthobservation
systems, and multi‐channel cooperative
communications. In addition, ESABALT aims to
facilitatecrowdsourcingofrelevantinformationfrom
amultitudeofusers.Thatis,byreportinginformation
to a central repository, all end‐users will be able to
achieve a
greater level of collaborative situational
awarenessthantheywouldbyactingindependently.
The various elements of the ESABALT concept are
depictedinFigure1.
Therefore,the overallobjectiveof ESABALT isto
assess the feasibility of providing an enhanced
situationalawarenesssolutionforallshipsoperating
in the Baltic, including
real‐time maritime traffic
monitoring and a marine environment observation
system relevant for maritime transportation and
accident prevention. This solution will include
information for assessing sea ice, oil spread (in the
caseofanoilspill),waveheights,currents,aswellas
wind speed and direction. In addition, three
specializedservices
willbestudiedinadditiontothe
situational awareness solution, including intelligent
marine navigation and routing information, efficient
emergency response, and environmental monitoring
and reporting with emphasis on cross‐border
functionality.
Regardingthe technologies incorporated into this
concept, real‐time traffic situations will be detected
withsatelliteandterrestrialnavigation
sensors,while
the sea environment will be identified with images
fromEarthobservationsatellites,localvesselsensors,
fixedsensor stations and deployable sensor stations.
The developed context‐aware communication
solutions will be implemented based on various
satellite and terrestrial technologies, optimizing the
communication channels based on available
technologiesandinterms
ofcostsandcapabilities.
ESABALT differs from traditional navigation
informationsystems,asitisauser‐drivensystemand
learns from usersʹ navigation experiences to provide
routeplansandreal‐timenavigationalupdates.Issues
ofinformationintegrity canbe regulated directly by
the user community without active oversight of
authorities.
With ESABALT users can report
accidents, local ice‐status and weather conditions,
routeplans,navigationalissues,andothershipsand
boats.ESABALTalsohelpsusersfindenergyefficient
routes and speeds due to prognoses from statistics
and other ESABALT users. In addition, ESABALT
will have the ability to use freely available
navigational information, such as AIS‐data, to
support the information provided by the users.
ESABALTis planned to be open so that commercial
ships as well as pleasure boats can use and provide
informationtothesystem.
The following Sections describe the ESABALT
concept and its constituent modules in more
detail.
SectionII describesthe concept of crowdsourcing as
applied to the maritime domain. Section III lists the
variousstakeholdersandusersofESABALT.Section
IV presents the system architecture and
interdependencies between the constituent modules.
Section V describes some of the services and
functionalities of ESABALT. Finally, Section VI
describes
the expected impact of the ESABALT
conceptandsystemonthemaritimedomain.
Figure1.ESABALTintegratesrelevantmaritimetechnologiesthroughadedicatedsituationalawarenessserver,providing
innovativeservicestoend‐usersandstakeholdersintheBalticSearegion.
185
3 CROWDSOURCINGINTHEMARITIME
SCENARIO
Crowdsourcing means the use of an undefined
network of people for collecting information to be
used for a certain purpose (Franzoni & Sauermann
2014).OneofthemostknownexamplesisWikipedia.
Basedon(Gaoetal.2011),theuseofcrowdsourcing
datafor
safetyapplicationshastheadvantagethatthe
distributionofthedataisfast,thatdataareprovided
from multiple sources and with various forms, and
thatthedataareautomaticallygeo‐tagged.However,
itsdefectsare:(1)itisdifficulttocoordinatingtheuse
of the data, (2) verification of
the accuracy and
reliability of the data is challenging, and (3) the
securityaswellasprivacyissuesoftransmittingthe
datamustbecarefullyconsidered.
In the case of transportation, crowdsourcing
would be beneficial for providing the user with
improvementsandcorrectionsforexistingmaps,orin
the most extreme
case providing maps in the areas
wherenoneareavailable.Also,duetothefastnature
of crowdsourcing, the users could be warned about
dangers and accidents nearby almost in real‐time.
Crowdsourcing applications for enhancing
transportationsafetyareonlyslowlymovingfromthe
research stage into implementation, probably due
to
theabovementionedchallenges.
Goodcrowdsourcingexamplesmaybefoundfrom
other means of transportation, mainly land
transportation,wheretheuseofcrowdsourceddatais
evolving from improving the user experience to
enhancing safety. Waze is one of the few already
implementedcrowdsourcingbasedtransportservices
(Waze2015).Itis
amobilenavigationapplicationthat
passively collects, e.g. location data from users, as
well as receives and distributes crowdsourced data
fromotherusers,e.g.reportsfromaccidentsorpolice
inspections. The service also includes an active
community of people updating the maps. (Aubry et
al.2014)studytheuseof
trafficoffencereportsmade
by the service users for improving the immediate
safetyoftheroadusersaswellasprovidingatoolfor
theauthoritiesfortrafficplanning.(Zambonelli2011)
suggests the use of crowdsourcing for improved
situational awareness making, e.g. private parking
spacesorcarsavailableforotherusers
whentheyare
not reserved by the owner, as well as for enabling
more efficient car‐pooling. The technological
implementation aspects of the crowdsourcing based
services are discussed actively in different scientific
publications, e.g. (Ali et al. 2012) and (Gorin et al.
2014). Also, the safety of pedestrians may be
increased by producing collective emotion maps, as
implemented in an EMOMAP pedestrian navigation
system(Klettneretal.2013),alarmingtheuserabout
unsafeplacesinacitypinpointedbycrowdsourcing.
Applicationsaddressingtheuseofcrowdsourcing
for other transportation means are still more
immature.Astudyforgettingabetterunderstanding
about the behavior of the Dutch Railways (NS)
customers was carried out in 2011 (Van der Wees
2011).The researchenvisionedthat inthefuturethe
crowdsourced data could also be used for detecting
technical problems of trains by collecting the user
perceptions of, e.g. abnormal noises. (Omokaro &
Payton
2014) discuss the use of crowdsourcing for
improving the aviation comfort and safety by, e.g.
collectinginformationaboutthein‐flightairpressure
andnoiselevelsusingrelevantsensorswhichalready
exist even in smartphones to some extent. The
research also suggests that the passengers could be
seen as additional black
boxes in the case of an
emergency, if their perceptions of, e.g. weather
conditionsor ambientsoundswould be collectedby
crowdsourcingduringtheflight.
Maritime transportation, as well as aviation, has
very stringent safety requirements and therefore the
useofcrowdsourcingisevenmorecomplexthanfor
landtransportation
purposes.Also,thedifferentroles
ofinformationusershavetobetakenintoaccount.A
lesson learned from the MARSUNO pilot project,
aiming to achieve better interoperability among
maritime monitoring and tracking systems between
the authorities of different countries, was that there
areissuesevenonthedatacollectedbythe
officialsof
different countries controlling the sea areas the
vessels are crossing (MARSUNO 2011). Due to the
sensitivenatureofmaritimetransportation,sofarthe
use of crowdsourcing has been limited, and mainly
only authoritative data with verified status and
provenancehavebeenemployed.
However,crowdsourcinghasbeenseenas
auseful
toolforsomemaritimeoperations,astheauthority’s
data have issues with currency and coverage. The
possibility to ensure good quality of user‐provided
datahasbeenstudied(Chilton&Mason2013).Oneof
themaritimecrowdsourcingsystemsalreadyinuseis
called Argus (Van Norden et al. 2013).
It is a
crowdsourcing bathymetry system which provides
the users with depth data collected using GPS and
depth‐finding systems of multiple vessels with
differentsizes.ArgusisinuseintheUnitedStatesan
theIntracoastal Waterway(ICW), and inaddition to
thedepthdataitprovidestheusers
withinformation
about navigation hazards like misplaced buoys
overlaidonchartdisplays.Crowdsourcingwouldbe
feasible also for addressing the lack of data from
inlandlakes,asinvestigatedinaprojectcarriedoutin
Denmark for bathymetric data (Vedel & Hansen
2012).
OpenSeaMapisa projectaddressing the needfor
easily
accessible nautical charts including also
navigation data (e.g. beacons, buoys, port
information), by aiming to create comprehensive
nautical charts by crowdsourcing (OpenSeaMap
2015).OpenSeaMapisasubprojectofOpenStreetMap
aiming at creating a free map of the whole world
(OpenStreetMap2015).
Use of crowdsourcing for creating ice awareness
would improve
the safety of vessels especially in
Arctic areas. At present, ice monitoring is done by
interpreting radar data and using crew’s visual
perception. (Reid et al. 2014) suggests an ice‐aware
systemusingmultispectralsensingbyacombination
of LIDAR, radar, and video. The resulting data are
georeferenced with GNSS measurements
and
distributedtoallvesselsnearby.
Figure 2 describes the use of crowdsourcing for
service delivery based on Econom’s blog (Econom
2015). Crowdsourcing is compared to the concepts
outsourcing, namely buying services from other
186
serviceprovidersoutsidetheclientorganization,and
toinsourcing,namelyprovidingtheserviceinsidethe
organization in need. The main benefits of
crowdsourcingarethatthecostfortheserviceisvery
low compared to outsourcing and insourcing, while
thetimetovalue,namelythefastnessofreceivingthe
need
data, is high. Also, when the number of
crowdsourcingparticipantsishigh,thebreadthofthe
solutionsishigh,e.g. maps, barometry data,andice
awareness. One of the key challenges of maritime‐
relatedcrowdsourcingis,therefore,attractingalarge
numberofparticipants.
Figure2: Comparing three service delivery paradigms:
insourcing,outsourcing,andcrowdsourcing(Econom2015)
4 ESABALTSTAKEHOLDERS
TheconceptofESABALTaimstoraiseawarenessof
dedicated stakeholders. To do this the stakeholders
involved in maritime sector processes, especially in
maritime transport processes, were identified and
analysed taking into account different stakeholder
classification criteria. Stakeholder in ESABALT was
assumedasanindividualoranorganization
havinga
right, share, claim or interest in a system or in its
possession of characteristics that meets their needs
and expectations, while user of the system was
assumed as any party interacting (input into and/or
extract information) with the system including
operatorsandmaintainers.
In the first approach partners
of the project
identifiedstakeholdersinvolvedininmaritimesector
processes. Four classification criteria for extensive
descriptionwereproposed:
1 Stakeholderlevels
2 Stakeholderroles
3 Stakeholdersbreakdownbylocation
4 Stakeholdersbreakdownbyinterest
For each classification criteria several groups of
stakeholders were identified. For instance for first
criteria–
bylevelfollowinggroupswereproposed:
supranationalorganizations,
internationalorganizations,
regionalorganizations,
nationalorganizationsandstates,
branch/industry,
users.
In second step parties involved in in maritime
informationexchangeprocesseswereidentified.This
task was done in order to point potential users of
ESABALT
system. Three classification criteria were
proposed:
1 Stakeholders breakdown byinformationneedsin
relationtotime(timehorizon)
2 Stakeholders breakdown by information need
types
3 Stakeholdersbybreakdownbyinformationservice
types
Againforeachclassificationcriteriaseveralgroups
of stakeholders were identified. For instance for
relation to time criteria
following groups were
proposed:
operationaldatauser,
tacticaldatauser,
historicaldatauser.
Finally system users involved in maritime
information exchange processes were identified.
Usersweredividedintotwomaingroups:basicuser
and assigned system users. All users were analysed
and described with breakdown by their
description,
characteristic and expected needs. Thirty three
potential ESABALT system users and six groups of
potentialbasicusers.Basicusersconsistof:
mainusers
additionalusers
supportusers
administrationusers
educationalusers
others.
The group of main users includes seamen,
fishermen, offshore, emergency management center,
nonprofessional users (i.e. leisure boats). This group
willusethe system in the widestlevel, provideand
use most of the information primarily the local
weather and navigation information as well as
warningsaboutpotentialhazards.
Figure3. ESABALT system architecture showing the
differentmodules,thecentralpositionoftheserver,andthe
fourprimarysourcesofcrowdsourcingdatatotheterminal.
187
5 SYSTEMARCHITECTURE
The overall system architecture has been envisioned
as a distributed network, where different user and
datasourcegroupsareconnectedviatheinternet,as
showninFigure 3.This includes smallboatsystems
(i.e. pleasure boats), ship systems (i.e. professional
vessel systems) and authorities’ vessel systems, as
well as ESABALT sensor station systems and the
authorities onshore based control center system.
ESABALTsensorstationsystemmaybeafixedshore
basedstationoravessel‐basedmobilesystemwhich
is performing a specific task in a defined location.
Externaldatasources(eg.satellitedata)areconnected
to
ESABALT server via the network. Different
communication protocols can be used to link these
different nodes in the system, such as standard
TCP/IP, IVEF, and secure connections utilizing
SSL/TLS,suchasOpenVPN.
Next, the nodes connecting to the network may
themselveshavedifferentarchitectures,dependingon
thetypeofvesselor
user,itscapabilities,anditsrole
in the overall system. “Small boat systems” are
expected to have less capabilities and especially
intendedtobeusedbypleasureboatnavigators.
Asanexample,inthesmallboatsystemtheuser
interface may be a tablet‐based application that is
connected to
an ESABALT gateway via a wireless
router. This gateway can then connect to the
ESABALT server through one of a number of
differentcommunicationinterfaces.Sincethesesmall
vesselsareexpectedtostaymainlyincoastalwaters,
onepossibilityisthattheywoulduseexisting3G/4G
mobilenetworkstoconnectto
theinternet.ESABALT
application would transmit boat own position data
and other specified crowd sourcing type of
information relevant to small boat navigators.
ReceivedESABALTaddedvalueinformationcloseto
boatandit’srouteisdisplayedintabletGUI.
6 ESABALTSERVICES&FUNCTIONALITIES
Thedifferent functionalitiesofthe ESABALT
system
aim to satisfy the following three overarching
services: (1) intelligent marine navigation and
routing, (2) efficient emergency response, and (3)
environmental monitoring and reporting with
emphasisoncross‐borderfunctionality.
6.1 IntelligentMarineNavigationandRouting
Currently, marine navigation and routing is
comprised of a relatively manual set of tasks,
involvingtheuseofanavigationsystem,radar, and
ECDIS (or ECS), as well as paper charts, which are
increasingly used as only a back‐up source. In
addition,navigatorsmustmanuallyintegrateweather
information and operational constraints into their
duties. In winter conditions, navigators must
independently decide the safest
and most efficient
route through ice infested waters, as well as
coordinatetheirpossibleassistancefromicebreakers.
The ESABALT system will investigate the
feasibilityofcreatinganintelligentmarinenavigation
androutingservicethatwilltakeintoaccountmany
different factors related to the maritime traffic
situation,weathersituation,and
(duringwintertime)
the ice conditions. As much as possible, the service
shouldaimtoautomatetherouteplanningfunctions,
whilestillofferingthenavigatorsalternativeroutesto
choose from. Also, the service should provide
periodic updates concerning the traffic and weather
situations,includingiceconditions,duringthecourse
ofa
voyage.
6.2 EfficientEmergencyResponse
ESABALT system users are logically classified into
pleasure craft, commercial vessels and authority
vessels.Vesselshavecompulsoryonboardemergency
responseequipmentrequiredbyIMO.Themajorityof
pleasureboats,however,donothaveanyemergency
response equipment on board. In emergency
situations,amobilephoneis
oftenthedeviceused.In
emergency situations, events may happen very
rapidly,andtelephonenumberswheretocallarenot
alwaysimmediatelyavailable.Thisisthebackground
where ESABALT could give benefits especially in
smallboats’emergencyreporting.
TheESABALT GUIforsmall boats could include
easy‐to‐use reporting
mechanisms for different type
of emergency situations, e.g. engine failures, lack of
gasoline, man overboard, vessel groundings, etc. In
emergency situations, information could be
forwarded to authorities, volunteer‐based civil
organizations,ortoothervesselsclosetotheboat,in
order to initiate different types of responses.
ESABALT automatic mechanisms might
be used in
theforwardingprocesses.
Also,theESABALTvesselsystemmighthavethe
same kind of response mechanisms available,
althoughit is not the intention to build any parallel
systems to the ship’s own emergency response
equipment. External data sources might provide
information concerning ship emergencies
automatically to the
ESABALT system. Value‐added
information related to an emergency situation, such
as the assisting vessels’ route and status could be
forwardedtotheESABALTsystem.
6.3 EnvironmentalMonitoringandReporting
Annex VII of the Helsinki Convention requires
signatories to “request masters or other persons
havingchargeofshipsandpilotsof
aircrafttoreport
withoutdelayandinaccordancewiththissystemon
significantspillagesofoilorotherharmfulsubstances
observedatsea.Suchreportsshouldasfaraspossible
contain the following data: time, position, wind and
seaconditions,andkind,extentandprobablesource
of the spill observed.”
ESABALT can facilitate this
type of environmental monitoring and reporting by
providingtheinterfacesandautomaticforwardingof
reports to the appropriate authorities. In particular,
many operators of small boats may not be aware of
therequirementsorguidelinesregardingreportingof
observed pollution. Therefore, ESABALT can play a
188
keyroleinencouragingtheseuserstoreportobserved
pollution. This is especially relevant to the coastal
areasof the Baltic,where comprehensive andtimely
reporting of environmental pollution is critical to
ensuring a rapid and effective response from the
appropriateenvironmentalauthorities.
6.4 FurtherDevelopmentofAssociatedServices
The
functionality of the system is designed to be
modular,enablingeasyadditionofnewfunctionality
orremovalofunwantedoneswithoutdisturbingthe
overallsystem.TheESABALTterminalonboardships
and in the Control Room is based on the ECS
(electronic chart system) using standard S57 charts
andutilizingGUI
foraddedvalueESABALTservices.
ESABALTterminalhasownprofilesandfunctionsto
each user groups: small boats (pleasure craft),
commercial ships and authorities vessels. The
ESABALT terminal is designed to integrate (rather
than supplement) the existing maritime electronic
systemsonboardvessels.Thenumberofdevicesthat
are integrated with the
terminal determines the
numberoffunctionsitisabletoperform.
FollowingisalistofESABALTsoftwaremodules
whichenableittooffertheexpectedfunctionalityand
associatedservices:
1 Systemregistrationandlog‐in
2 Display vessel position and submit to ESABALT
server
3 Display vessel route and
submit to ESABALT
server
4 Display position and information about nearby
ships
5 Displayrouteofnearbyship(s)
6 Reportanunidentifiedvessel
7 Route optimization request to ESABALT server
andsubmittheselectedroute
8 Make an update to vessel route and submit to
ESABALTserver
9 Display situational awareness
reports – weather,
seaice,pollutionetc.
10 Report situational awareness – sea ice, pollution,
oilspill,violatingshipetc.
11 Report and display ship(s) violating maritime
rules
12 SubmitvesselradartrackstoESABALTserver
13 Submit messages/warnings/alarms to ESABALT
server
14 Display messages/warnings/alarms from
ESABALTserver
15 Speed‐
reporting of emergency situations for
pleasurecraft
7 EXPECTEDIMPACTFROMTHEESABALT
SYSTEM
By reporting information to a central repository, all
end‐users will be able to achieve a greater level of
situational awareness than they would by acting
independently. A guiding tenet of the ESABALT
conceptisthatall
maritimeusersintheBalticSeacan
operatemoresafelyandeffectivelybycollaboratively
building and maintaining situational awareness.
Features of the system can be summarized in three
categories; increased information sharing, increased
number of users and aggregated information
overview.
7.1 Increasedinformationsharing
Earlyintheprojectaweb
basedsurveyonfeasibility
and interest in crowd sourcing in the maritime was
conducted. Of the 166 answers from maritime
industry professionals, 86.4% answered that they
would participate in crowdsourcing of maritime
information if given the chance and/or technical
possibility. Maritime services such as AIS and
navigational warnings already incorporate crowd
sourcing principles. In addition, other information
suchassea‐state,iceconditionsandplannedrouteare
includedinthecommunication.
7.2 Increasednumberofusers
Amajorityofsurveyresponsesconsideredotherships
asoneofthemainhazardforshipsintheBaltic.Some
participants explicitly answered; congested waters
andpleasurecraftsinsummertime.Thecommercial
fleet and relating organizations have established
means for communication. Yet many small national
passengervesselsorinshorepleasureboatslacksuch
communicationsequipment.Harmonization,through
increased availability of the system e.g. as
smartphoneapplication,willleadtoalargeramount
ofusersand
hence,increasedamountofdata.
7.3 Aggregatedinformationoverview
Bygatheringtheinformationtoacentraldisplay,an
aggregated information overview is obtained. The
user will know where to find the information. In
addition to the targeted purpose, the ESABALT
systemcouldhaveotherunexpectedeffects.Bigdata
ofthis
typecouldbevaluablefromanoperationalas
well as historical point of view. For instance,
statistically significant echo sounding data gathered
throughESABALT couldformthe basisfordecision
toconductafurtherhydrographical survey or as an
operational decision support for a pleasure craft
visiting an unmeasured place. Other
possible
applications could be land based monitoring of real
time and historical maritime traffic and
environmentalconditionsanddata.
8 CONCLUSION
This paper introduces the concept and system
architecture of the ESABALT platform for enhanced
situationalawarenessintheBalticSea.Thefirststage
intheimplementationofthisplatform
isafeasibility
study to ensure its utility under current maritime
operatingscenarios.Theprimarymotivation for this
systemistoimprovemaritimenavigationandsafety
of sea transportation. Primary technologies
incorporated in this platform are eNavigation, Earth
Observation and Communication. An innovative
189
addition is the use of information crowdsourcing
from the users of ESABALT for overall situational
awarenessatsea.
We have identified stakeholders and their
requirements for such a system based on which a
system architecture is proposed. The ESABALT
services include intelligent marine navigation and
routing, efficient emergency response and
environmental monitoring and reporting, which are
further described using fifteen functionalities. The
ESABALT platform is expected to bring increased
informationsharingamongthemaritimecommunity
in the Baltic Sea region leading to an overall
improvement in international cooperation and
ultimatelymaritimesafety.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research has been conducted within the
project
Enhanced Situational Awareness to Improve
MaritimeSafety inthe Baltic(ESABALT), fundedby
the European Union’s Joint Baltic Sea System
Research Programme called Baltic Organizations
NetworkforFundingSciencesEEIG(BONUS).
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