There are a lot of accidents involving small ships in Japan. These accidents account for over 70% of all shiprelated accidents. In 2008, large ships such as tankers, cargo ships, etc., were required to install AIS (Automatic Identification System) by Japanese law, in order to reduce accidents. After installing AIS, these accidents have dropped by about 50%. AIS is very useful in preventing marine accidents. However, a large percentage of small ship in Japan doesn't have AIS installed. AIS is too expensive and a license is required to have one installed.
In this study, authors are developing a navigation support system which uses a smartphone. This system gets the user's position, and send it to a server. This server then receives AIS ship data from a AIS station. This information is shared to all clients. By testing at coastal areas, it is confirmed that system is operated normally. From a survey conducted after testing, crews think that this system is expected to be affordable and effective in reducing accidents.
