ShipWatcher.NET

A terminal-based live AIS vessel tracker built with Terminal.Gui v2. Watch ships move on an ASCII map or browse them in a sortable table, fed by free real-time AIS data sources.

Requires the .NET 10 SDK.

Screenshots

The map view, tracking ~3,000 vessels worldwide on the aisstream.io feed, with a selected vessel shown in the detail panel:

The table view of the same session, sortable by column:

Data Sources

The system supports multiple AIS data sources:

1. Kystverket (Norway): Free, open real-time TCP stream for the Norwegian Economic Zone. No registration required.
2. Digitraffic (Finland): Free, open REST API for Finnish waters, polled on a configurable interval. No registration required.
3. BarentsWatch (Nordic/Baltic): Free JSON stream for Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Estonia. Requires a free account.
4. aisstream.io: Global real-time WebSocket feed. Requires a free API key from aisstream.io.

See docs/ for research notes on AIS providers and free tracking options.

Configuration

Press S in the app to switch sources and edit per-source settings:

• Kystverket: stream host and port.
• Digitraffic: poll interval in seconds.
• aisstream.io: API key.

Environment variables:

• AISSTREAM_API_KEY: Your API key for aisstream.io.
• SHIPWATCHER_LAT_MIN, SHIPWATCHER_LON_MIN, SHIPWATCHER_LAT_MAX, SHIPWATCHER_LON_MAX: Bounding box for aisstream.io tracking.

Usage

Run the application:

dotnet run --project ShipWatcher.NET

Global keys

• F2: Cycle between Map and Table views (selection is carried across).
• S: Change data source and configuration.
• F: Filter vessels by name or MMSI.
• C: Clear all tracked vessels.
• Ctrl+R: Reconnect to the active source.
• Ctrl+Q: Quit.

Map view

• Arrow keys: Pan the map.
• + / -: Zoom in and out (numpad keys work too).
• N / P: Select the next / previous vessel.
• Click a ship to select it; double-click for details.

Table view

• O: Cycle the sort column.

Tests

dotnet test