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January 22, 2007
Track Cruise Ships in 3D in Google Earth
Over a year ago, some folks at web design company Glooton in France released a cool network link that let you track cruise ships around the world from Costa Cruise Ships. Clicking on the placemarks for the ship location also shows you updated web cam photos from the ships. A couple of weeks ago, a Google Earth Community member called 'svens' posted a new version of the cruise ship tracking 
network link which includes 3D models to show the position of the ships, and new network links to let you track the ships as they move. He's also recently added 3D name labels on the backs of the ships (using the new 3D text capability with SketchUp 6). See the instructions in the "Cruises" folder under the network link in your "Temporary Places". And, if you click on the folder for each cruise ship you can see the web cam photos and other information (like weather, speed, position, heading, etc.). These 3D models are a little complex - so they look good. But, they also might slow down your Google Earth viewing (due to memory and graphics complexity). So, turn them off when you are done looking - you can selectively turn off the 3D models and still view the other data.
Posted by FrankTaylor at January 22, 2007 10:37 AM
Comments
Posted by: Jacob at January 23, 2007 06:38 AM
Since the source server seemed troublesome the last couple days, I had to make a few ajustments to prevent error messages.
Since Franks remark that the model used is a bit complex, I added a choice of models. One can change the model used. These models are downloaded straight from 3dwarehouse. I'll soon add more (both more simple and more complex) models.
Posted by: Sven at January 29, 2007 07:35 PM
I made a similar application a couple of months ago, now I translated it to English. The ships' positions are partly calculated from their projected routes.
You can see the models by double-clicking on a logo in the list of places on the left. By single-clicking on the logo above the ship, you get information about the current route, and also a webcam image (if available).
You can find the network link directly here: http://www.seascanner.com/kml/kfben.kml
There's also a version for cruise ship positions in Google Maps; just click on a ship name and then on "Current position", following the link under "Posted by Sunside".
Have fun!
Posted by: Sunside at March 2, 2007 05:46 AM
I have been looking for a ship tracker for ages, as my daughter works for Royal Caribbean. this is wonderful. I am a pensioner so I havent got around all the moves yet like 3D?? but its nice to see where she is at any given moment..Thanks for this. John
Posted by: john sherrington at September 17, 2007 04:47 AM
Dear user Im designing a web application for my project to enable me to track vessel by using GPS and API google map of course will connect into server so the pc will read the gps and locate the position of the ship on the map. please any useful information about this subject?
Posted by: lavo at November 8, 2007 02:55 PM
The seascanner is an excellent app for tracking cruise ships.
I was wondering if the same thing could be done for general shipping.
This website www.aisliverpool.co.uk can show shipping for most of the UK and is free to use, Could it work with GE
Posted by: Derek at May 28, 2008 11:22 AM
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At last, Svens created this, I asked him if this was possible a while ago, and here it is! Great stuff!