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A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea
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ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtte
Original Research Paper
A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea Q4
Xinzhu Liu a,b,*, Shigeaki Shiotani c a
Faculty of International Economics and Trade, Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages, Changchun 130117, China b Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe 658-0022, Japan c Organization of Advanced Science and Technology, Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe 658-0022, Japan
highlights This research introduced the construction of a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system. The integrated system work processes and architecture of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system are elaborate. The authors have developed data processing programs that are glued together with the C# language. Experiments for estimating the application have been made around the near coastal area, and the performance and deficiencies are discussed.
article info
abstract
Article history:
With the growing popularization of small crafts, the accidents that happen among such
Received 5 November 2015
crafts are also drawing increasing attention, according to the marine accident data released
Received in revised form
by the Japan Coast Guard. In order to prevent possible navigation accidents, the authors
30 March 2016
considered that besides sharing information from land by the coast office broadly, man-
Accepted 31 March 2016
agers on land can also watch out and give appropriate advice for operators in crafts one-to-
Available online xxx
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
Keywords:
small craft navigation assistance in the aim to facilitate the safety and sufficiency of small
Small craft
crafts in the near sea. The system was developed using web services and object-oriented
Navigation assistance
programming disciplines to support the integration of a virtual global framework, GPS, and
GIS
real-time imaging data. The authors have also developed data processing programs that
Virtual globe-based
are glued together with C# language, JavaScript language, National Marine Electronics
Keyhole markup language
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
Q1
* Corresponding author. Faculty of International Economics and Trade, Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages, Changchun 130117, China. Tel.: þ86 15566862147. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (X. Liu), [email protected] (S. Shiotani). Peer review under responsibility of Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011 2095-7564/© 2017 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Owner. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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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. © 2017 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Owner. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
1.
Introduction
In recent years, piloting pleasure boats in leisure time has become a widespread activity all over the world. However, with the popularization of these small craft, accidents involving small craft are becoming a marine traffic safety problem. In order to prevent personal injury and loss of life, Japan Coast Guard started strengthening its information service in 2013 by sending emergency alarm emails, such as meteorological warnings (Japan Coast Guard, 2012). However, providing navigation information by email is obviously inadequate during bad weather, in poor traffic conditions, or for navigating at night. In order to prevent possible navigation negligence, the authors considered that besides sharing information from land with craft at sea, managers on land can also watch out for the craft when the operator is inattentive and give appropriate advice for panicked operators who lack experience in unfamiliar sailing environments. For this purpose, monitors on land first need to sufficiently understand the situation of the small craft in real time and then supply appropriate information or advice to the sailor. To fully understand the real-time situation of small ships, nautical information such as electric chart display and information system (ECDIS) and radar data are important for a monitor on land. However, these data are hard to collect for small craft, since most small craft are not equipped with these nautical instruments. For this reason, in this study the authors only employ GPS and web camera as data resources to share with the monitor on land remotely. With the emergence of technology such as GIS and virtual globe-based 3D visualization (Bailey and Chen, 2011), by building an intercommunication system and displaying the navigation information in a virtual globe environment, this system provides a new way to exchange information and understand the situation at sea. This system is not designed to replace existing nautical equipment such as ECDIS, but to be used in combination with other devices to obtain efficient and comprehensive information. The device is similar to a car navigator, which supplies drivers with information along the road, not only the car's position, but also the road markings, etc. Furthermore, car navigators improve driver safety by making it easier for drivers to understand the conditions of the road. The system in this study is more like a car navigator than a professional ECIDS device. This paper discusses the technical issues of developing a virtual globe-based 3D visualization stand-alone application for small craft navigating assistance. With C# language, JavaScript language, NMEA instance data, and the KML data format, the authors have developed data processing programs for integrating distributed resources and interactive functions such as text telecommunicating, email, and intercoms. The
auxiliary spatial analysis and video monitoring tools in this system can assist end users to perform interactive activities such as 3D distance measurement and web camera monitoring (Wu et al., 2010). Supplementary video related to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the present status of and related work involving marine accidents in Japan. Section 3 introduces the construction of a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system. The integrated system work processes and the architecture of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system are also elaborated (Wang et al., 2009). In Section 4, the authors report on a performance experiment based on the method discussed in this paper and share the results and errors. Last, but not least, the conclusion and future of this system are introduced.
2.
Background and related work
2.1.
Background
According to data released by the Japan Coast Guard in 2012, 78% of marine accidents involved small boats, such as fishing boats and pleasure boats; 43% of these accidents were caused by human factors, such as inattention (26%), inappropriate maneuvering (8%), drowsy operation (2%), and so on. Furthermore, marine accident data from the past 5 years shows the same accident ratio pattern (Table 1). In Table 1, marine accident data from the Japan Coast Guard shows that 75% of all accidents involved small craft/boats, such as pleasure boats, fishing boats, and sport fishing boats. This accident proportion is unchanged from the pattern of 2012.
2.2. craft
Studies of navigation support systems for small
Urakami et al. (2008) investigated the effectiveness of wireless communications using a common communication method
Table 1 e Marine accident ratio. Ship type Pleasure boat Fishing boat Cargo ship Tanker Sport fishing boat Passenger ship Other
Number
Proportion (%)
4909 3782 1617 410 390 221 828
41 31 13 3 3 2 7
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Q2
with a wireless LAN system network constructed on the Seto Inland Sea to support the navigation of small craft. Their study made it possible to build applications that supported the safe navigation of small craft using the communication bandwidth utilized in these experiments. Shibata et al. (2013) proposed an application using smartphones with AIS data to prevent collision accidents in small craft. To decrease collision disasters, Heibatake and Hayashi (2008) examined the early detection of small boats by enhanced electrical visualization. They proposed using a radar transponder operating at out-of-band radar frequencies with small power output using a solar power cell, communication system, and network.
2.3.
Q3
Studies regarding GIS in marine navigation
Over the long history of the development of navigation assistance systems, the authors have accumulated many traditional yet effective ways of supplying navigation information (Claramunt et al., 2007). With the development and broadcasting of GISs, the integration of a navigation assistance system and a GIS has been discussed by researchers in the fields of marine transportation and computer sciences. Claramunt et al. (2007) introduced methodological and experimental results of several integrated projects that included traffic monitoring systems, GIS, and remote cooperation of several specializations in the field of aerial, terrestrial, and maritime transportation that support the real-time monitoring of traffic conditions, traffic simulations, and several end-user functions to serve engineers, decision makers, and final end users. Goralski and Gold (2007) proposed a new type of GIS system for maritime navigation safety that would identify areas where the application of a marine GIS could lead to the most significant improvement. The system employs the newest developments in computer graphics and GIS technologies, and is designed to tackle the main cause of marine accidentsdhuman errorsdby providing navigational assistance and decisionmaking support to mariners. Some researchers have also taken up the challenge of producing a dynamic threedimensional equivalent to the classic “Pilot Book,” which contains rules for navigation in the proximity of individual harbors. Gold et al. (2005) outlined the difficulties in developing a real marine GIS, along with their attempts to solve the problems. In order to ensure safe navigation for the objects of monitoring, manipulation, and decision-assistance systems, some methodological and experimental results of several marine-related GIS projects have also been introduced. Shiotani et al. (2011) proposed a method for the effective presentation of water depth information using GIS to prevent stranding. They also made a case study that presented water depth information in Osaka Bay. In subsequent research, Ryu et al. (2012) also proposed an effective method for communicating information regarding water depth, atmosphere, and oceans using GIS to prevent ship stranding. Peng et al. (2008) provided a navigation-assistance information distribution system that integrated GIS, GPS, AIS, and the world wide web. This was the first time that navigationassistance information distribution was developed based on WebGIS.
3
All of the studies above aimed to supply navigation assistance and monitoring for large vessels. However, few studies have mentioned methods for assisting small craft. This study's contribution is supplying a new navigation assistance system for small boats, especially in departing and porting situations.
3. Construction of a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system The navigation assistance system proposed in this study provides real-time navigational information through a virtual 3D environment and a real-time video web camera. With this information system, both the small craft and the manager (on land) can obtain current geographic information regarding the craft. The major objectives of this environment can be summarized in the following points. (1) The systems on both sides should be running on separate computer environments that make it convenient for craft-side users to connect through the Internet with monitoring-side users in any remote location. (2) The systems on both sides should provide a 3D visualization environment that inherits the visual effects and part of the operating function of virtual globe, such as Google Map/Earth (Smith and Lakshmanan, 2011; Turk et al., 2011; Yu and Gong, 2012). Users on both sides can change the visualization of their system to better understand and acknowledge the geographic environment. (3) Various other channels should be provided for users on both sides, such as video surveillance (visual information assistance), an intercom, and labeling (Yiakoumettis et al., 2010a). In this way, managers on the land side can give orders or provide advice based on the 3D and video information received from the Internet.
3.1. Architecture of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system The virtual globe-based navigation assistance system is constructed based on the virtual globe (Google Earth API), wireless communication networks, web cameras, and global positioning system (GPS). In this research, GPS provides continuous positioning and timing information during navigation. The authors employed the GARMIN GPSmap60CSx GPS receiver in this study. The update rate is 1 per second, the maximum horizontal accuracy is less than 33 feet, and the wide area augmentation system (WAAS) position accuracy is less than 16 feet. Both notebook computers and desktop computers are Windows environments. The web camera is AXIS. A brief description of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system architecture is illustrated in Fig. 1. At this stage of the study, two applications ran separately on a notebook computer on the experimental craft and on the manager's desktop computer on land. First, the system on the boat continuously received geographic information from the GPS receiver. After decoding the NMEA sentence, it sent
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 1 e Virtual globe-based navigation assistance system architecture. the valid data to the manager's application on land through a wireless router. Both the boat and the manager can use the valid data to zoom in to the current location of the boat using the 3D Google Earth interface from any angle. In addition to visualization in the virtual globe environment, both sides' applications can also check real-time video through the wireless router. Fig. 1 is the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system architecture of both the sea and land sides. On the boat application on sea box of the figure, GPS receiver is connected to the notebook computer with USB cable, and the web camera is connected to the notebook computer through local wireless router. Finally, the notebook computer will send information to manager's computer through the wireless router.
3.2.
Work processes of the integrated system
The virtual globe-based navigation assistance system, a Windows-based software, works by executing several processes and functions. The system interface is designed as Section 4.1. When the system is launched, first, both the ocean and land sides of the system load the Google Earth 3D graphic engine and Google Maps HTML as two graphics interfaces. Second, the two sides establish a connection, based on a TCP protocol with each other to prepare for the data transition. After starting the GPS receiver on the boat side of the system, the inner process will automatically write the raw GPS NMEA data to a TXT file on the local hard drive of the ocean side. Every time a new line of NMEA data is received by the GPS receiver, the system judges whether it is a GPRMC sentence with valid geographic information. If it is not, the system will return to the first step to receive a new data sentence. Otherwise, the system will decode this sentence and extract from it information regarding time, coordinate, speed, and direction. Immediately, this decoded information will be sent to the land-side system from the boat-side system. Both the ocean and the land sides automatically update the
geographical information inside the KML and HTML files when valid new geographical data is decoded. Finally, both sides of the system can simultaneously realize the 3D and 2D visualization in real time. Fig. 2 illustrates the assistance processes. After receiving a new sentence with valuable information, the system will first decode it and extract the time, position, speed, and course data. The system will use the data to update the virtual geographic environment, while sending the data to the manager's computer on land (as seen in the box on the lower right).
3.3.
Database distribution diagram
Google Earth is based on a servereclient GIS system architecture, which is the basic data transition architecture. When a client requests data based on certain geographical information, the request retrieves a response on the server side from the GIS database, and the geo-information can ultimately be visualized in a virtual scene (Google Earth) (Yiakoumettis et al., 2010a,b). In this study, the applications of users on both sides (ocean and land) present the data organized in layers, each containing data from a different database. For example, the public GIS database was only used for retrieving data information, so that the Google Earth component and Google Map HTML window browser are used by both sides of the Windows only for visualizing the morphology of the ground. The 3D models of significant landmark buildings, such as ports and bridges, are from the local customized database. Even though Google Earth also supplies simple 3D models of buildings at the coast, the position and size of these models are insufficient. As Google Earth's satellite images only update once every year and a half, the authors need to make a 3D model database of the coastline. In this study, the authors made the 3D model with SketchUp based on the actual construct map. A synthesized image has been created from the projection of layers onto the same geographic position system when all of the layers are presented (Yiakoumettis
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 2 e Processes and functions of the assistance system.
et al., 2010a,b). A distribution diagram of the database is presented in Fig. 3.
3.4.
Real-time tracking and monitoring
KML is the main way that user-defined data sets can be overlaid in Google Earth (Postpischl et al., 2011). The use of KML in Google Earth not only eases the incorporation of data sets from different providers, but also helps users simultaneously visualize and identify relationships for subsequent quantitative investigations (De Paor and Whitmeyer, 2011). According to the KML protocol, and < Camera> elements are both derived directly from the KML element by inheritance. A tag describes a viewpoint using a point on the Earth's surface as a reference. It determines the geo-position (longitude, latitude, altitude, heading, tilt, range, and altitude mode) of the manner in which the viewpoint described is to be seen. On the other hand, a tag defines the viewpoint in terms of the eye point for a virtual camera that is viewing the scene. In order to import a 3D model into Google Earth, a element is used to specify the external file that contains the model. It includes , ,
, and tags to specify the placement, rotation, size, and texture correspondence files. Also, the 3D model must be in the COLLADA interchange file format. In this study, the tag specifies the COLLADA model file of the boat MukoMaru, which is the experiment boat employed by authors in this study. Each time a new valid GPS sentence is received, it updates the , , and in the tag and the , , and in the tag when the system is ordered to display the back side of the boat. In this way, the virtual globe scene can change along with the model. On the other hand, the system updates the , , and in the < Camera> tag when the view from the bridge's window is ordered. An example of a snippet of a KML file description is shown in Fig. 4.
4.
Performance experiment
4.1.
Experiment
To evaluate the performance of the system, we conducted several experiments while sailing our experimental craft
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 3 e Database distribution diagram. around the Maritime Sciences pond at Fukae Campus, Kobe University. The method of the experiment is very simple. First, the authors sailed an experimental small craft, MukoMaru, equipped with a GPS receiver, laptop computer, wireless router, and web camera. While sailing in the experimental area, the laptop computer was to receive and decode the GPS NMEA data and send the decoded data to the manager on land by a wireless router. Also in order to compare the virtual environment with the actual environment, a laptop computer was also installed in the virtual environment navigation assistant's system. In this way, authors on the craft could compare how different what can be seen in the models from reality and check whether the system is working correctly. The authors on land could check the situation on the ship both in the virtual environment and the web camera, and compare the frames in each to monitor the system's performance. Fig. 5 and Table 2 show the instruments and setting positions on the experiment craft. A web camera was placed at the front of the craft's bridge at a height just below the driver's sight so that the camera could record the view from the bridge. This could show the actual nautical situation in real time. A GPS receiver was placed on the left side of the boat and connected to the laptop computer by a USB cable. Both the web camera and the laptop computer were connected to the manager's computer on land by a wireless router. Fig. 6 shows the route and four highlighted points (yellow points A, B, C, D) of the experiment. These four points are so important for this experiment, because, while passing through these conspicuous structures, it is easier to measure whether the system is transferring accurate information, since signals are more easily blocked or delayed when passing under the structures. We can be confident of the signals in other more open places if the information is transferred precisely in these areas. Fig. 7 is a screen capture from the manager's computer on land when passing through point C (Rokko Island Bridge,
Hanshin Expressway No. 5 Gulf Line) at 15:49. From the laptop, the authors on the craft could check the changes on the 3D virtual screen. With the display of the 3D virtual circumstances changing, geodata were also sent from this laptop to the manager's computer. By checking the real-time situation against the 3D virtual circumstances and the web camera, managers on land could fully understand the small craft's traffic situation and give appropriate orders to the sailors on the craft. However, we could tell that there are some slight differences in the 3D virtual scene, as seen in Fig. 7, where the distance from the bridge to the scene on the left side is closer than the distance on the right side. Please check the experiment video in the supplementary file called Video Clip. Fig. 8 is the screen capture when passing through point B (Higashikanabe Ohashi Bridge) while heading back to point A (departing and landing port, Fukae Campus) at 17:25. When the MukoMaru (small white craft with three rings around it) was about to land and passing through a very narrow place, the breakwater was on the left, and the training ship FukaeMaru was on the right side (on the day of the experiment, the craft was parked there as an obstacle when the authors made the model). The 3D model of this experimental craft was designed with a 3-m (or some other measurement) radius in order to quickly measure the distance from the obstacle to the experiment craft. From the image on the web camera, the visualization of the surrounding obstacles was limited in reality, and it was too dark outside to recognize the surrounding buildings with the human eye. However, all of the buildings could be seen clearly in the virtual environment. The distance between the small experimental craft and the obstacles can also be measured.
4.2.
Performance evaluation
Fig. 9 shows the time difference between the experiment's notebook computer with the GPS receiver and the desktop
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 4 e KML data file description. computer on land with a separate GPS receiver. The time difference is due to the network's performance and status. The size of the 3D models inside the local database also had an effect on both the time and presentation of the scene
effect. Some position errors also appeared inside the virtual globe scene during the navigation experiment. Fig. 9 shows the time difference between the laptop which has the GPS receiver and the manager's computer. Seventy-three percent
Fig. 5 e Placement of experimental devices on the craft. Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Table 2 e Experimental devices. Device GPS receiver Web camera Wireless router Notebook computer
Quantity 1 1 1 1
of the difference is 0 s, 25% is 1 s, and 2% is more than 2 s. Meanwhile, 99% of the difference between the boat's laptop and the desktop computer on land with GPS is 0 s, and 1% is more than 0 s. Users on the boat feel that they are moving faster than does the manager on land. The authors tried to use the same
models on both sides of the system. The tag in the KML file has also been set at the same number (60 ). A check of the latitude and longitude data on both sides indicates that they are showing the same number at the same time. However, there is a different rendering effect on either side with Google Earth. The authors consider that even though GPS text data can be transferred to land through the Internet in less than 1 s (the time difference analysis will be presented in the next paragraph), the time difference still causes a slight delay in the image on land. In this study, the authors used the freedom of mobile multimedia access (FOMA) wireless router (Wu et al., 2008), which is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services offered by a Japanese
Fig. 6 e Route of the MukoMaru in this experiment.
Fig. 7 e Small craft navigation system in operation. Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 8 e Small craft navigating system operating scene at night.
Fig. 9 e Time difference between the experiment's computers with the GPS receiver. telecommunications service provider (JNTT DoCoMo). FOMA offers downlink speeds of up to 7.2 Mbit/s and uplink speeds of up to 5.7 Mbit/s (FOMA, 2016). The active range and distance covered are shown in Fig. 10. In Fig. 10, the pink area is the fastest area for FOMA, the yellow area is FOMA area plus, which has poor signals, and the blue area is the area at sea in which the telecommunications service provider could not ensure the speed. The current Internet connection may be not stable at sea. The authors can tell from the chart that this experimental area is right at the edge of the pink FOMA effective area inside the blue sporadically available area at sea. The strength of the radio waves will rapidly become weak as the distance from the experiment small craft to the mobile phones base stations increases. Since the authors stayed with the safe route inside Osaka Bay based on our small craft operating skills, the route was very close to land, and the signal distance and density could only be tested based on this
experiment. The largest distance of the experiment route from main land in this study was about 1 km. The authors' other experiments also using FOMA service with longer experimental distances show that the signal intense is largely affected by the proximity to airports (e.g., Kansai International Airport) and the distance from land where settled with antennas (Shiotani et al., 2014). As telecommunication situations of separate service providers are different, authors recommend keeping the maximum navigating range inside 3 km from land for the signal consistency regardless the obstacle factors. Delay and disruption points are shown in Fig. 10. At points A' and B', delays of 3e5 s occurred. The reason for the delay is considered to be two large bridges blocking the signals. Furthermore, the signal was disrupted at point C'. Many factories were located onshore near point C'. The authors cannot explain the reason for this disruption other than its
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 10 e Active signal range of 3G telecommunications. nearness to the FOMA area plus (the yellow area in Fig. 10), where the signal is much weaker as compared to the normal FOMA area.
5.
Evaluations of the experiments
presented, each using a scale of 1e5 with 1e5 representing excellent, agree, average, disagree, and terrible, respectively (Holder and Pecota, 2011). t-Tests compared the mean to the neutral value of 3. The overall significance criterion was set at p < 0.1. Significant findings with positive t-values indicate a positive evaluation of each question. The questions are as follows.
To investigate the validity of the performance and the functionality of the system and experiment, a questionnaire survey was conducted among third year students of the Voyage Course at Kobe University. Participants were asked to evaluate various aspects of this experiment. Six questions were
Question 1d3D around/bridge view of the ship in real time. Question 2d2D routing on a 2D map. Question 3devaluation of the real-time web camera. Question 4devaluation of the representation of basic navigation information. Question 5devaluation of landing assistance information at night. Question 6dcomprehensive evaluation.
Table 3 e Results of one-sample statistics. Question
N
Mean
Std. deviation
Std. error mean
1 2 3 4 5 6
45 45 45 45 45 45
4.1778 4.2667 4.2889 4.1111 4.3333 4.3333
0.80591 0.78044 0.75745 0.85870 0.73855 0.70711
0.12014 0.11634 0.11291 0.12801 0.11010 0.10541
Analysis results are showed in Tables 3 and 4. The evaluation of the system suggests valuable potential for the navigation assistance system. The participating students suggested that the system enhanced awareness of the water situation around the operating ship, especially in poor
Table 4 e Results of one-sample test. Test value ¼ 3
Question
1 2 3 4 5 6
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean difference
9.804 10.887 11.415 8.680 12.111 12.649
44 44 44 44 44 44
0 0 0 0 0 0
1.17778 1.26667 1.28889 1.11111 1.33333 1.33333
90% confidence interval of the difference Lower
Upper
0.9759 1.0712 1.0992 0.8960 1.1483 1.1562
1.3796 1.4621 1.4786 1.3262 1.5183 1.5104
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visibility. The option of displaying different layers according to individual needs has brought many new ideas that could be added in future updates of this system, such as displaying the navigation information of nearby ships, as well as the course line and weather changes.
6.
Conclusions and future works
In this work, a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system has been presented. This system has been developed based on the Windows operating system using the Google Earth component within a C# platform. KML technology was used to communicate between the client and the public database. The presentation in the virtual globe environment was accomplished using Google Earth API. Interaction with and control of the data were limited by Google Earth API. This system can help facilitate the safety and sufficiency of small crafts in the near sea. In addition, users can also customize the layer display. Sailors can create sailing schedules of the area according to their actual needs. By using this system on land, port supervisors can monitor the behavior of boats and, accordingly, give orders to all of the vessels in the bay. Unlike traditional stand-alone model systems, with the architecture's capability of integrating distributed resources, other interactive functions, such as labeling, email, and intercoms, can also be conveniently integrated into the system. Auxiliary spatial analysis and video monitoring tools are also integrated to assist end users in performing interactive activities, such as 3D distance measuring and web camera monitoring. This system has not been widely tested by small craft sailors with any sort of questionnaire. A questionnaire administered widely to true users will be the next step of our research, as we seek to increase the system's performance. Next, we will employ the AIS data to supply the surrounding traffic information based on the connection we built with a wireless router as a new kind of nautical information supplied by a manager on land (Filjar et al., 2005; Harchowdhury et al., 2013). As this system is developed in the future, it could also be used for port management, especially during bad weather or in emergencies such as earthquakes. Small craft can be more easily monitored and directed with the help of this system, and other valuable data or information can also be presented. The virtual globe-based navigation assistance system is under continuing development.
Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and contribution of members of the Shiotani Laboratory at Kobe University to this study.
references
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Dr. Xinzhu Liu (Dr. of Engineering) is a lecturer in Faculty of International Economics and Trade, Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages (HUAWAI). Dr. Liu's Special researches include logistics algorithm and system building using the C# programming techniques, KML data format and Google Earth software.
Prof. Shigeaki Shiotani is in Organization of Advanced Science and Technology, Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University. Prof. Shiotani's special researches include navigation, fisheries sciences and numerical ship hydrodynamics.
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Original Research Paper
A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea Q4
Xinzhu Liu a,b,*, Shigeaki Shiotani c a
Faculty of International Economics and Trade, Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages, Changchun 130117, China b Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe 658-0022, Japan c Organization of Advanced Science and Technology, Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Kobe 658-0022, Japan
highlights This research introduced the construction of a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system. The integrated system work processes and architecture of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system are elaborate. The authors have developed data processing programs that are glued together with the C# language. Experiments for estimating the application have been made around the near coastal area, and the performance and deficiencies are discussed.
article info
abstract
Article history:
With the growing popularization of small crafts, the accidents that happen among such
Received 5 November 2015
crafts are also drawing increasing attention, according to the marine accident data released
Received in revised form
by the Japan Coast Guard. In order to prevent possible navigation accidents, the authors
30 March 2016
considered that besides sharing information from land by the coast office broadly, man-
Accepted 31 March 2016
agers on land can also watch out and give appropriate advice for operators in crafts one-to-
Available online xxx
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
Keywords:
small craft navigation assistance in the aim to facilitate the safety and sufficiency of small
Small craft
crafts in the near sea. The system was developed using web services and object-oriented
Navigation assistance
programming disciplines to support the integration of a virtual global framework, GPS, and
GIS
real-time imaging data. The authors have also developed data processing programs that
Virtual globe-based
are glued together with C# language, JavaScript language, National Marine Electronics
Keyhole markup language
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
Q1
* Corresponding author. Faculty of International Economics and Trade, Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages, Changchun 130117, China. Tel.: þ86 15566862147. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (X. Liu), [email protected] (S. Shiotani). Peer review under responsibility of Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011 2095-7564/© 2017 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Owner. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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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. © 2017 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Owner. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
1.
Introduction
In recent years, piloting pleasure boats in leisure time has become a widespread activity all over the world. However, with the popularization of these small craft, accidents involving small craft are becoming a marine traffic safety problem. In order to prevent personal injury and loss of life, Japan Coast Guard started strengthening its information service in 2013 by sending emergency alarm emails, such as meteorological warnings (Japan Coast Guard, 2012). However, providing navigation information by email is obviously inadequate during bad weather, in poor traffic conditions, or for navigating at night. In order to prevent possible navigation negligence, the authors considered that besides sharing information from land with craft at sea, managers on land can also watch out for the craft when the operator is inattentive and give appropriate advice for panicked operators who lack experience in unfamiliar sailing environments. For this purpose, monitors on land first need to sufficiently understand the situation of the small craft in real time and then supply appropriate information or advice to the sailor. To fully understand the real-time situation of small ships, nautical information such as electric chart display and information system (ECDIS) and radar data are important for a monitor on land. However, these data are hard to collect for small craft, since most small craft are not equipped with these nautical instruments. For this reason, in this study the authors only employ GPS and web camera as data resources to share with the monitor on land remotely. With the emergence of technology such as GIS and virtual globe-based 3D visualization (Bailey and Chen, 2011), by building an intercommunication system and displaying the navigation information in a virtual globe environment, this system provides a new way to exchange information and understand the situation at sea. This system is not designed to replace existing nautical equipment such as ECDIS, but to be used in combination with other devices to obtain efficient and comprehensive information. The device is similar to a car navigator, which supplies drivers with information along the road, not only the car's position, but also the road markings, etc. Furthermore, car navigators improve driver safety by making it easier for drivers to understand the conditions of the road. The system in this study is more like a car navigator than a professional ECIDS device. This paper discusses the technical issues of developing a virtual globe-based 3D visualization stand-alone application for small craft navigating assistance. With C# language, JavaScript language, NMEA instance data, and the KML data format, the authors have developed data processing programs for integrating distributed resources and interactive functions such as text telecommunicating, email, and intercoms. The
auxiliary spatial analysis and video monitoring tools in this system can assist end users to perform interactive activities such as 3D distance measurement and web camera monitoring (Wu et al., 2010). Supplementary video related to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 introduces the present status of and related work involving marine accidents in Japan. Section 3 introduces the construction of a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system. The integrated system work processes and the architecture of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system are also elaborated (Wang et al., 2009). In Section 4, the authors report on a performance experiment based on the method discussed in this paper and share the results and errors. Last, but not least, the conclusion and future of this system are introduced.
2.
Background and related work
2.1.
Background
According to data released by the Japan Coast Guard in 2012, 78% of marine accidents involved small boats, such as fishing boats and pleasure boats; 43% of these accidents were caused by human factors, such as inattention (26%), inappropriate maneuvering (8%), drowsy operation (2%), and so on. Furthermore, marine accident data from the past 5 years shows the same accident ratio pattern (Table 1). In Table 1, marine accident data from the Japan Coast Guard shows that 75% of all accidents involved small craft/boats, such as pleasure boats, fishing boats, and sport fishing boats. This accident proportion is unchanged from the pattern of 2012.
2.2. craft
Studies of navigation support systems for small
Urakami et al. (2008) investigated the effectiveness of wireless communications using a common communication method
Table 1 e Marine accident ratio. Ship type Pleasure boat Fishing boat Cargo ship Tanker Sport fishing boat Passenger ship Other
Number
Proportion (%)
4909 3782 1617 410 390 221 828
41 31 13 3 3 2 7
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Q2
with a wireless LAN system network constructed on the Seto Inland Sea to support the navigation of small craft. Their study made it possible to build applications that supported the safe navigation of small craft using the communication bandwidth utilized in these experiments. Shibata et al. (2013) proposed an application using smartphones with AIS data to prevent collision accidents in small craft. To decrease collision disasters, Heibatake and Hayashi (2008) examined the early detection of small boats by enhanced electrical visualization. They proposed using a radar transponder operating at out-of-band radar frequencies with small power output using a solar power cell, communication system, and network.
2.3.
Q3
Studies regarding GIS in marine navigation
Over the long history of the development of navigation assistance systems, the authors have accumulated many traditional yet effective ways of supplying navigation information (Claramunt et al., 2007). With the development and broadcasting of GISs, the integration of a navigation assistance system and a GIS has been discussed by researchers in the fields of marine transportation and computer sciences. Claramunt et al. (2007) introduced methodological and experimental results of several integrated projects that included traffic monitoring systems, GIS, and remote cooperation of several specializations in the field of aerial, terrestrial, and maritime transportation that support the real-time monitoring of traffic conditions, traffic simulations, and several end-user functions to serve engineers, decision makers, and final end users. Goralski and Gold (2007) proposed a new type of GIS system for maritime navigation safety that would identify areas where the application of a marine GIS could lead to the most significant improvement. The system employs the newest developments in computer graphics and GIS technologies, and is designed to tackle the main cause of marine accidentsdhuman errorsdby providing navigational assistance and decisionmaking support to mariners. Some researchers have also taken up the challenge of producing a dynamic threedimensional equivalent to the classic “Pilot Book,” which contains rules for navigation in the proximity of individual harbors. Gold et al. (2005) outlined the difficulties in developing a real marine GIS, along with their attempts to solve the problems. In order to ensure safe navigation for the objects of monitoring, manipulation, and decision-assistance systems, some methodological and experimental results of several marine-related GIS projects have also been introduced. Shiotani et al. (2011) proposed a method for the effective presentation of water depth information using GIS to prevent stranding. They also made a case study that presented water depth information in Osaka Bay. In subsequent research, Ryu et al. (2012) also proposed an effective method for communicating information regarding water depth, atmosphere, and oceans using GIS to prevent ship stranding. Peng et al. (2008) provided a navigation-assistance information distribution system that integrated GIS, GPS, AIS, and the world wide web. This was the first time that navigationassistance information distribution was developed based on WebGIS.
3
All of the studies above aimed to supply navigation assistance and monitoring for large vessels. However, few studies have mentioned methods for assisting small craft. This study's contribution is supplying a new navigation assistance system for small boats, especially in departing and porting situations.
3. Construction of a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system The navigation assistance system proposed in this study provides real-time navigational information through a virtual 3D environment and a real-time video web camera. With this information system, both the small craft and the manager (on land) can obtain current geographic information regarding the craft. The major objectives of this environment can be summarized in the following points. (1) The systems on both sides should be running on separate computer environments that make it convenient for craft-side users to connect through the Internet with monitoring-side users in any remote location. (2) The systems on both sides should provide a 3D visualization environment that inherits the visual effects and part of the operating function of virtual globe, such as Google Map/Earth (Smith and Lakshmanan, 2011; Turk et al., 2011; Yu and Gong, 2012). Users on both sides can change the visualization of their system to better understand and acknowledge the geographic environment. (3) Various other channels should be provided for users on both sides, such as video surveillance (visual information assistance), an intercom, and labeling (Yiakoumettis et al., 2010a). In this way, managers on the land side can give orders or provide advice based on the 3D and video information received from the Internet.
3.1. Architecture of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system The virtual globe-based navigation assistance system is constructed based on the virtual globe (Google Earth API), wireless communication networks, web cameras, and global positioning system (GPS). In this research, GPS provides continuous positioning and timing information during navigation. The authors employed the GARMIN GPSmap60CSx GPS receiver in this study. The update rate is 1 per second, the maximum horizontal accuracy is less than 33 feet, and the wide area augmentation system (WAAS) position accuracy is less than 16 feet. Both notebook computers and desktop computers are Windows environments. The web camera is AXIS. A brief description of the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system architecture is illustrated in Fig. 1. At this stage of the study, two applications ran separately on a notebook computer on the experimental craft and on the manager's desktop computer on land. First, the system on the boat continuously received geographic information from the GPS receiver. After decoding the NMEA sentence, it sent
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 1 e Virtual globe-based navigation assistance system architecture. the valid data to the manager's application on land through a wireless router. Both the boat and the manager can use the valid data to zoom in to the current location of the boat using the 3D Google Earth interface from any angle. In addition to visualization in the virtual globe environment, both sides' applications can also check real-time video through the wireless router. Fig. 1 is the virtual globe-based navigation assistance system architecture of both the sea and land sides. On the boat application on sea box of the figure, GPS receiver is connected to the notebook computer with USB cable, and the web camera is connected to the notebook computer through local wireless router. Finally, the notebook computer will send information to manager's computer through the wireless router.
3.2.
Work processes of the integrated system
The virtual globe-based navigation assistance system, a Windows-based software, works by executing several processes and functions. The system interface is designed as Section 4.1. When the system is launched, first, both the ocean and land sides of the system load the Google Earth 3D graphic engine and Google Maps HTML as two graphics interfaces. Second, the two sides establish a connection, based on a TCP protocol with each other to prepare for the data transition. After starting the GPS receiver on the boat side of the system, the inner process will automatically write the raw GPS NMEA data to a TXT file on the local hard drive of the ocean side. Every time a new line of NMEA data is received by the GPS receiver, the system judges whether it is a GPRMC sentence with valid geographic information. If it is not, the system will return to the first step to receive a new data sentence. Otherwise, the system will decode this sentence and extract from it information regarding time, coordinate, speed, and direction. Immediately, this decoded information will be sent to the land-side system from the boat-side system. Both the ocean and the land sides automatically update the
geographical information inside the KML and HTML files when valid new geographical data is decoded. Finally, both sides of the system can simultaneously realize the 3D and 2D visualization in real time. Fig. 2 illustrates the assistance processes. After receiving a new sentence with valuable information, the system will first decode it and extract the time, position, speed, and course data. The system will use the data to update the virtual geographic environment, while sending the data to the manager's computer on land (as seen in the box on the lower right).
3.3.
Database distribution diagram
Google Earth is based on a servereclient GIS system architecture, which is the basic data transition architecture. When a client requests data based on certain geographical information, the request retrieves a response on the server side from the GIS database, and the geo-information can ultimately be visualized in a virtual scene (Google Earth) (Yiakoumettis et al., 2010a,b). In this study, the applications of users on both sides (ocean and land) present the data organized in layers, each containing data from a different database. For example, the public GIS database was only used for retrieving data information, so that the Google Earth component and Google Map HTML window browser are used by both sides of the Windows only for visualizing the morphology of the ground. The 3D models of significant landmark buildings, such as ports and bridges, are from the local customized database. Even though Google Earth also supplies simple 3D models of buildings at the coast, the position and size of these models are insufficient. As Google Earth's satellite images only update once every year and a half, the authors need to make a 3D model database of the coastline. In this study, the authors made the 3D model with SketchUp based on the actual construct map. A synthesized image has been created from the projection of layers onto the same geographic position system when all of the layers are presented (Yiakoumettis
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 2 e Processes and functions of the assistance system.
et al., 2010a,b). A distribution diagram of the database is presented in Fig. 3.
3.4.
Real-time tracking and monitoring
KML is the main way that user-defined data sets can be overlaid in Google Earth (Postpischl et al., 2011). The use of KML in Google Earth not only eases the incorporation of data sets from different providers, but also helps users simultaneously visualize and identify relationships for subsequent quantitative investigations (De Paor and Whitmeyer, 2011). According to the KML protocol,
4.
Performance experiment
4.1.
Experiment
To evaluate the performance of the system, we conducted several experiments while sailing our experimental craft
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 3 e Database distribution diagram. around the Maritime Sciences pond at Fukae Campus, Kobe University. The method of the experiment is very simple. First, the authors sailed an experimental small craft, MukoMaru, equipped with a GPS receiver, laptop computer, wireless router, and web camera. While sailing in the experimental area, the laptop computer was to receive and decode the GPS NMEA data and send the decoded data to the manager on land by a wireless router. Also in order to compare the virtual environment with the actual environment, a laptop computer was also installed in the virtual environment navigation assistant's system. In this way, authors on the craft could compare how different what can be seen in the models from reality and check whether the system is working correctly. The authors on land could check the situation on the ship both in the virtual environment and the web camera, and compare the frames in each to monitor the system's performance. Fig. 5 and Table 2 show the instruments and setting positions on the experiment craft. A web camera was placed at the front of the craft's bridge at a height just below the driver's sight so that the camera could record the view from the bridge. This could show the actual nautical situation in real time. A GPS receiver was placed on the left side of the boat and connected to the laptop computer by a USB cable. Both the web camera and the laptop computer were connected to the manager's computer on land by a wireless router. Fig. 6 shows the route and four highlighted points (yellow points A, B, C, D) of the experiment. These four points are so important for this experiment, because, while passing through these conspicuous structures, it is easier to measure whether the system is transferring accurate information, since signals are more easily blocked or delayed when passing under the structures. We can be confident of the signals in other more open places if the information is transferred precisely in these areas. Fig. 7 is a screen capture from the manager's computer on land when passing through point C (Rokko Island Bridge,
Hanshin Expressway No. 5 Gulf Line) at 15:49. From the laptop, the authors on the craft could check the changes on the 3D virtual screen. With the display of the 3D virtual circumstances changing, geodata were also sent from this laptop to the manager's computer. By checking the real-time situation against the 3D virtual circumstances and the web camera, managers on land could fully understand the small craft's traffic situation and give appropriate orders to the sailors on the craft. However, we could tell that there are some slight differences in the 3D virtual scene, as seen in Fig. 7, where the distance from the bridge to the scene on the left side is closer than the distance on the right side. Please check the experiment video in the supplementary file called Video Clip. Fig. 8 is the screen capture when passing through point B (Higashikanabe Ohashi Bridge) while heading back to point A (departing and landing port, Fukae Campus) at 17:25. When the MukoMaru (small white craft with three rings around it) was about to land and passing through a very narrow place, the breakwater was on the left, and the training ship FukaeMaru was on the right side (on the day of the experiment, the craft was parked there as an obstacle when the authors made the model). The 3D model of this experimental craft was designed with a 3-m (or some other measurement) radius in order to quickly measure the distance from the obstacle to the experiment craft. From the image on the web camera, the visualization of the surrounding obstacles was limited in reality, and it was too dark outside to recognize the surrounding buildings with the human eye. However, all of the buildings could be seen clearly in the virtual environment. The distance between the small experimental craft and the obstacles can also be measured.
4.2.
Performance evaluation
Fig. 9 shows the time difference between the experiment's notebook computer with the GPS receiver and the desktop
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 4 e KML data file description. computer on land with a separate GPS receiver. The time difference is due to the network's performance and status. The size of the 3D models inside the local database also had an effect on both the time and presentation of the scene
effect. Some position errors also appeared inside the virtual globe scene during the navigation experiment. Fig. 9 shows the time difference between the laptop which has the GPS receiver and the manager's computer. Seventy-three percent
Fig. 5 e Placement of experimental devices on the craft. Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Table 2 e Experimental devices. Device GPS receiver Web camera Wireless router Notebook computer
Quantity 1 1 1 1
of the difference is 0 s, 25% is 1 s, and 2% is more than 2 s. Meanwhile, 99% of the difference between the boat's laptop and the desktop computer on land with GPS is 0 s, and 1% is more than 0 s. Users on the boat feel that they are moving faster than does the manager on land. The authors tried to use the same
models on both sides of the system. The
Fig. 6 e Route of the MukoMaru in this experiment.
Fig. 7 e Small craft navigation system in operation. Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 8 e Small craft navigating system operating scene at night.
Fig. 9 e Time difference between the experiment's computers with the GPS receiver. telecommunications service provider (JNTT DoCoMo). FOMA offers downlink speeds of up to 7.2 Mbit/s and uplink speeds of up to 5.7 Mbit/s (FOMA, 2016). The active range and distance covered are shown in Fig. 10. In Fig. 10, the pink area is the fastest area for FOMA, the yellow area is FOMA area plus, which has poor signals, and the blue area is the area at sea in which the telecommunications service provider could not ensure the speed. The current Internet connection may be not stable at sea. The authors can tell from the chart that this experimental area is right at the edge of the pink FOMA effective area inside the blue sporadically available area at sea. The strength of the radio waves will rapidly become weak as the distance from the experiment small craft to the mobile phones base stations increases. Since the authors stayed with the safe route inside Osaka Bay based on our small craft operating skills, the route was very close to land, and the signal distance and density could only be tested based on this
experiment. The largest distance of the experiment route from main land in this study was about 1 km. The authors' other experiments also using FOMA service with longer experimental distances show that the signal intense is largely affected by the proximity to airports (e.g., Kansai International Airport) and the distance from land where settled with antennas (Shiotani et al., 2014). As telecommunication situations of separate service providers are different, authors recommend keeping the maximum navigating range inside 3 km from land for the signal consistency regardless the obstacle factors. Delay and disruption points are shown in Fig. 10. At points A' and B', delays of 3e5 s occurred. The reason for the delay is considered to be two large bridges blocking the signals. Furthermore, the signal was disrupted at point C'. Many factories were located onshore near point C'. The authors cannot explain the reason for this disruption other than its
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Fig. 10 e Active signal range of 3G telecommunications. nearness to the FOMA area plus (the yellow area in Fig. 10), where the signal is much weaker as compared to the normal FOMA area.
5.
Evaluations of the experiments
presented, each using a scale of 1e5 with 1e5 representing excellent, agree, average, disagree, and terrible, respectively (Holder and Pecota, 2011). t-Tests compared the mean to the neutral value of 3. The overall significance criterion was set at p < 0.1. Significant findings with positive t-values indicate a positive evaluation of each question. The questions are as follows.
To investigate the validity of the performance and the functionality of the system and experiment, a questionnaire survey was conducted among third year students of the Voyage Course at Kobe University. Participants were asked to evaluate various aspects of this experiment. Six questions were
Question 1d3D around/bridge view of the ship in real time. Question 2d2D routing on a 2D map. Question 3devaluation of the real-time web camera. Question 4devaluation of the representation of basic navigation information. Question 5devaluation of landing assistance information at night. Question 6dcomprehensive evaluation.
Table 3 e Results of one-sample statistics. Question
N
Mean
Std. deviation
Std. error mean
1 2 3 4 5 6
45 45 45 45 45 45
4.1778 4.2667 4.2889 4.1111 4.3333 4.3333
0.80591 0.78044 0.75745 0.85870 0.73855 0.70711
0.12014 0.11634 0.11291 0.12801 0.11010 0.10541
Analysis results are showed in Tables 3 and 4. The evaluation of the system suggests valuable potential for the navigation assistance system. The participating students suggested that the system enhanced awareness of the water situation around the operating ship, especially in poor
Table 4 e Results of one-sample test. Test value ¼ 3
Question
1 2 3 4 5 6
t
df
Sig. (2-tailed)
Mean difference
9.804 10.887 11.415 8.680 12.111 12.649
44 44 44 44 44 44
0 0 0 0 0 0
1.17778 1.26667 1.28889 1.11111 1.33333 1.33333
90% confidence interval of the difference Lower
Upper
0.9759 1.0712 1.0992 0.8960 1.1483 1.1562
1.3796 1.4621 1.4786 1.3262 1.5183 1.5104
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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visibility. The option of displaying different layers according to individual needs has brought many new ideas that could be added in future updates of this system, such as displaying the navigation information of nearby ships, as well as the course line and weather changes.
6.
Conclusions and future works
In this work, a virtual globe-based navigation assistance system has been presented. This system has been developed based on the Windows operating system using the Google Earth component within a C# platform. KML technology was used to communicate between the client and the public database. The presentation in the virtual globe environment was accomplished using Google Earth API. Interaction with and control of the data were limited by Google Earth API. This system can help facilitate the safety and sufficiency of small crafts in the near sea. In addition, users can also customize the layer display. Sailors can create sailing schedules of the area according to their actual needs. By using this system on land, port supervisors can monitor the behavior of boats and, accordingly, give orders to all of the vessels in the bay. Unlike traditional stand-alone model systems, with the architecture's capability of integrating distributed resources, other interactive functions, such as labeling, email, and intercoms, can also be conveniently integrated into the system. Auxiliary spatial analysis and video monitoring tools are also integrated to assist end users in performing interactive activities, such as 3D distance measuring and web camera monitoring. This system has not been widely tested by small craft sailors with any sort of questionnaire. A questionnaire administered widely to true users will be the next step of our research, as we seek to increase the system's performance. Next, we will employ the AIS data to supply the surrounding traffic information based on the connection we built with a wireless router as a new kind of nautical information supplied by a manager on land (Filjar et al., 2005; Harchowdhury et al., 2013). As this system is developed in the future, it could also be used for port management, especially during bad weather or in emergencies such as earthquakes. Small craft can be more easily monitored and directed with the help of this system, and other valuable data or information can also be presented. The virtual globe-based navigation assistance system is under continuing development.
Acknowledgments The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and contribution of members of the Shiotani Laboratory at Kobe University to this study.
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Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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Dr. Xinzhu Liu (Dr. of Engineering) is a lecturer in Faculty of International Economics and Trade, Jilin Huaqiao University of Foreign Languages (HUAWAI). Dr. Liu's Special researches include logistics algorithm and system building using the C# programming techniques, KML data format and Google Earth software.
Prof. Shigeaki Shiotani is in Organization of Advanced Science and Technology, Faculty of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University. Prof. Shiotani's special researches include navigation, fisheries sciences and numerical ship hydrodynamics.
Please cite this article in press as: Liu, X., Shiotani, S., A virtual globe-based visualization and interactive framework for a small craft navigation assistance system in the near sea, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.03.011
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