ABSTRACT
Analogue geographical information technologies have been utilized to assist mariners at sea since the thirteenth century, through the use of charts and simple navigation aids such as the magnetic compass. Nowadays, geoinformatics is applied throughout a spectrum of services to assist maritime operations at sea, and exists in many forms such as cartography, bathymetry, radio, to satellite-based services, for instance. Commonly, ships’ navigation systems rely on satellite-based systems such as GPS where the position of the vessel is mapped on an electronic chart display information system (ECDIS; Figure 15.1, see also Chapter 14, this volume) and updated automatically. Such systems have contributed to a significant recent growth in shipping activity, permitting 90% of all global trade to travel on the high seas (International Maritime Organisation, 2016), representing a 400% increase in shipping activity in the past 20 years (Oskin, 2014).
