Watch the public voyage
LIVE is a shared simulation of two WAM-Vs travelling between ports.
Try it step by step
- Open the main page and select LIVE.
- Choose Vehicle to follow a boat or World to see its surroundings.
- Open Sensors and choose the lead or follow vehicle and a camera.
- Use the map to see the route. Pause preview pauses your display while the voyage continues.
Advanced: details and reference
The vehicles and simulation engine
Both vehicles use POSIM's WAM-V twin-hull model with a canopy marked POSIM.
- Lead vehicle: orange canopy
- Follow vehicle: charcoal canopy
POSIM provides the simulation foundation. WWW-POSIM provides voyage management, lead/follow control, terrain generation and observation views. See the platform and engine.
Gazebo computes motion from thrust, mass, inertia and wave forces. Wave Sim computes waves and their interaction with the hull. Wake and splash are visual effects.
Spray continues during forward travel and grows with speed. Pitching into the water produces a larger burst. A soft shade follows the water beneath each hull. These RGB effects preserve vehicle dynamics and depth measurements.
- Target simulation rate: 1×
- Measured rate: depends on server load
- Vehicle motion: controlled by two propellers
How the lead vehicle navigates
The lead vehicle follows an ordered port itinerary. The planner checks terrain depth and hull clearance, and prepares new terrain and routes while the vehicle moves.
After Hong Kong, the itinerary visits Shenzhen's Prince Bay cruise homeport, also called Shekou Cruise Center, then Haikou's Xiuying port and Da Nang.
- Select the destination and next course waypoint.
- Find a navigable route around land and shallow water.
- Adjust thrust using measured speed and heading. Differential thrust turns the boat.
- Record the visit and photographs on arrival, then depart after the stopover.
Coastal sections favour routes near land when they advance toward the destination. The final stretch must head toward the port. A shorter checked water route takes priority over a long scenic detour. Land and shallow water can require turns around islands and headlands. Canals and final approaches use separate route sections.
Coastal lookahead includes a checked water route onward, around headlands and out of bays. Once it joins the coast, its coastal segments stay within 1.5 km of mapped land. Across gaps between disconnected shores, the vehicle follows a complete checked water connection. The coastal-following limit applies after joining the next shore. Offshore onward segments require a separate checked route. Ordinary offshore graph bends use the checked onward coastal direction; saved port and canal waypoints remain ordered. Nearby forward coast is approached before an ordinary offshore route is selected. Coastal renewal starts at the checked corridor endpoint and retains the remaining forward bends. The vehicle waits at that endpoint if the continuation is still being prepared.
Water shallower than the coastal minimum depth forms a shoreline boundary. Coastal routes keep an exclusion buffer around land and shallow water. A vehicle already inside the buffer follows a hull-checked outward departure that increases clearance before coastal travel resumes. The resident terrain rechecks the actual pilot corridor before propulsion is approved.
Near shore, planning starts with fine terrain. A routing watchdog observes prolonged waits, including zero-speed holds during sailing. It preserves pending work within its preparation budget and retries expired or failed work with finer or wider terrain. The vehicle holds in checked water during a planning delay. Unsafe hull clearance or a stalled propulsion route can request a checked water retreat. Shallow-water braking prepares a new checked corridor before propulsion resumes. Scheduled port service keeps its normal duration.
- Routing-wait observation interval: 2 minutes of wall time without meaningful movement
- Total route preparation budget: 660 seconds of wall time
- Fine near-shore planning region: 6 km × 6 km within 1.5 km of shore
If a stopped world cannot restart at its last position, recovery can use a nearby, previously measured safe position. It rechecks that position against current terrain and mapped land. Restoration credits zero sailed distance and retains visit history.
- Maximum safe-checkpoint restoration distance: 120 m
- Rechecked footprint radius: 12 m
- Minimum represented depth across that footprint: 3 m
Each port has ordered arrival and departure waypoints. The arrival path joins the global course to a port diversion and its arrival area. The departure path leads from the port back to the onward global course. The vehicle follows each saved bend within 5 m. Short legs use one continuous port-to-port path.
Saved port connections favour open water outside their terminal areas. Narrow harbour and canal sections follow the checked water channel. Gazebo collision terrain checks each commanded segment before motion. The vehicle waits while the next safe section is prepared.
- Saved corridor footprint: at least 12 m
- Minimum represented depth: 1.5 m
- Offshore separation preference: 250 m where a connected water path is available
- Haikou arrival and departure separation preference: 100 m
The vehicle slows before shallow water and tight turns to keep enough room to stop.
Port markers show catalog locations; the lime circle shows the arrival area.
- Preferred distance from land or shallow-water boundary: about 320 m
- Minimum separation from the shallow-water boundary: 200 m
- Shallow-water boundary depth: less than 2 m
- Outward departure speed ceiling: 1.5 m/s
- Maximum regional coastal-following distance from land or shallow water: 1.5 km
- Maximum extra distance for coastal preference: 100% (2.0× total length) compared with a shorter checked route to the same onward target
- Coastal planning minimum represented depth: 2 m
- Coastal planning exclusion footprint: 200 m
- Lead speed ceiling: 10.5 m/s (about 20.4 kn)
- Reduced rough-water request: 7 m/s
- Rough-water trigger for either vehicle: 30° hull tilt or 1.2 m vertical motion range over an 8-second window
- Return to cruise: tilt below 10° and vertical motion range below 0.8 m for 45 seconds of simulated time
- Arrival radius: 300 m, checked on the final course section
- Stopover: 30 minutes of simulated time
Every destination has a checked water arrival area, including a margin outside the circle. The centre moves offshore when the port lacks represented water with enough clearance.
- Screened footprint around the centre: 350 m
- Margin outside the arrival circle: 50 m
- Minimum represented depth throughout the footprint: 3 m
Turns, arrival and recovery reduce speed. The display shows measured speed. Arrival and departure paths have a 4 m/s speed ceiling. The controller brakes before bends and checks depth and hull clearance against Gazebo collision terrain.
During the 30-minute port stay, the World camera looks toward nearby land from two angles around the measured vehicle position: at arrival and after 15 minutes of simulation time. Each angle stays fixed for 15 minutes. A land-facing World photo is saved from each angle. Arrival photographs also include World, Vehicle and forward-camera views. The follower provides the views when available so the lead vehicle appears in them. Returning to the starting port begins another world tour.
While sailing, the World camera updates its land-facing angle every 10 minutes of simulation time, around the measured vehicle position. It holds the angle between updates. When no mapped coast is nearby, it keeps its viewing direction. The north arrow above the World / Lead / Follow scene switch turns with the measured World camera direction and points to true north. A vector-drawn N stays upright below the rotating arrow, with a clear gap. The graphic has a transparent background. A dash appears while the camera measurement is unavailable. The maps, vessel statistics, north arrow and sensor values follow the selected scene’s video playback clock. Sensor camera video shares this clock. AIS panels show reports available at the displayed time, with the provider’s reporting cadence and age. Video starts with a short buffer and increases it after sustained stalls. Sampling intervals can leave small differences between frames and readings.
The scene fills the browser view with its top edge visible. When the frame is too tall for the available space, the lower part is cropped to preserve the land near the top.
- Initial video buffer: 3 s.
- Increase after a playback stall lasting at least 1 s: 3 s.
- Maximum adaptive buffer: 12 s.
- World camera height: 520 m.
- Horizontal camera offset: 902.45 m.
- Downward pitch: approximately 30°.
The public voyage uses an automatic route and thrust controller. To run an ArduPilot mission, use Autopilot in a personal workspace.
The itinerary passes through Suez and the Mediterranean, then around South America via Cape Horn. Colón is a stop on Panama's Caribbean coast. Suez uses an assumed 10 m depth. See terrain and datasets.
Port itinerary
The map shows all 92 stops in sailing order. Port names identify the destination locality; the checked arrival area can be offshore. Athens uses Piraeus, Porto uses Leixões, Edinburgh uses Leith, and Caracas uses La Guaira.
Expand a port to see its arrival and departure waypoints. Each figure includes an SVG and waypoint-coordinate CSV download. Grey shows the global-course connection, coral shows the ordered harbour path, and lime shows the arrival region. See terrain and datasets for the figure sources and the Suez depth assumption.
East and Southeast Asia: Busan → Shanghai → Taichung → Xiamen → Hong Kong → Shenzhen · Prince Bay → Haikou · Xiuying → Da Nang → Singapore → Port Klang → Phuket → Port Blair.
Shenzhen · Prince Bay · CNSZX-PRINCEBAY
Haikou · Xiuying · CNHIG-XIUYING
Indian Ocean and Red Sea: Colombo → Kochi → Mumbai → Karachi → Palm Jumeirah → Dubai → Muscat → Salalah → Aden → Jeddah → Suez City → Port Said.
Palm Jumeirah · AEDXB-PALM
Port Said · Suez Canal · EGPSD
Eastern Mediterranean: Alexandria → Tel Aviv → Beirut → Antalya → Izmir → Istanbul → Thessaloniki → Piraeus · Athens → Corfu → Gallipoli (Italy) → Crotone.
Tel Aviv · ILTLV-PORT
Thessaloniki · GRSKG
Piraeus · Athens · GRPIR
Central and Western Mediterranean: Valletta → Messina → Naples → Olbia → Ajaccio → Marseille → Barcelona → Valencia → Málaga → Gibraltar.
Atlantic Europe: Lisbon → Porto · Leixões → A Coruña → Bilbao → Le Havre → Rotterdam → Hamburg → Esbjerg → Oslo → Edinburgh · Leith → Sunderland → Dover → Southampton.
Porto · Leixões · PTLEI
Edinburgh · Leith · GBLEI
North America and Caribbean: Boston → Newport, RI → New York → Norfolk → Charleston → Miami → Kingston → Colón → Cartagena → Caracas · La Guaira.
Caracas · La Guaira · VELAG
South America: Recife → Rio de Janeiro → Santos → Buenos Aires → Montevideo → Puerto Madryn → Cape Horn passage → Valparaíso → Callao.
Rio de Janeiro · BRRIO
Buenos Aires · ARBUE
Puerto Madryn · ARPMY
Pacific and return to Busan: Acapulco → Manzanillo → San Diego → Los Angeles → San Francisco → Honolulu → Yokohama → Nagoya → Osaka → Kobe → Hiroshima → Hakata → Nagasaki → Jeju → Yeosu → Geoje → Busan.
San Francisco · USSFO
How the follow vehicle stays behind
The follower steers along the lead vehicle's sailed trail. It looks ahead to begin turns early and sets requested speed from measured lead speed and spacing error.
- Target separation: 38 m between model origins
- Catch-up speed ceiling: 11.9 m/s (about 23.1 kn)
The follower brakes as it closes the gap and stops requesting forward speed at very short range. Waves, turns and attitude affect actual separation. When the lead vehicle nearly stops, the follower faces it for the forward-camera view.
Each vehicle has propellers, a camera, LiDAR, IMU, thrust telemetry, wake and splash. Lead/follow control uses simulator position and velocity. Test a sensor-based controller with ROS 2 direct control.
Terrain, water and nearby traffic
Terrain uses real seabed and land elevation with coastline refinement and satellite imagery. Nearby tiles load in the background; recent tiles support turning back. The vehicle waits when safe terrain coverage is insufficient. The public voyage prepares a complete tile square around the vessel and downloads the next outer row before crossing a cell boundary. Only tiles verified in Gazebo count as safe coverage.
- Required terrain square: 7 × 7 tiles.
- Tile width: approximately 1 km for the voyage grid.
- Retained tile budget: 64.
- Maximum resident tiles during replacement: 81.
Sea level is local z = 0. Waves can cover low coastal surfaces. The World camera shows loaded terrain, and route checks use depth and collision geometry.
Open AIS feed to see reported ships sorted by distance. AIS vessels are visual models of received reports. Moving-vessel collision avoidance is unsupported.
AIS reception and vessel models
Reports from AISStream and Open Waters are merged by MMSI. Each vessel uses its latest position and known dimensions. The feed shows the provider and report age. Course over ground supplies direction when true heading is unavailable.
Click a minimap marker to see the vessel name. Nearby ships also appear in the Gazebo 3D scene.
- 3D scene: up to 20 vessels within 3 km
- 3D report lifetime: 2 minutes
- Map report lifetime: 15 minutes
- Map markers: up to 1,000 within requested bounds
- Categories: all received ship types
Coverage and report intervals vary by region. An empty list means no reports meet the display conditions.
Valid AIS dimensions set length to A + B and beam to C + D. Missing dimensions use the representative sizes below. Models depict vessel categories.
| AIS category | Model example | Representative length | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cargo |  |
120 m | Containers, aft superstructure |
| Tanker |  |
150 m | Red hull, deck tanks |
| Passenger |  |
80 m | Windows, multiple decks, funnels |
| Fishing |  |
18 m | Blue hull, wheelhouse, masts |
| Tug / towing |  |
25 m | Red hull, wheelhouse |
| Sailing |  |
10 m | Sail, mast, cabin |
| Pleasure craft |  |
12 m | Yellow hull, small cabin |
| Unknown |  |
25 m | Workboat shape |
Images show models rendered with representative dimensions, each at its own scale. Meshes use the CC0 Kenney Watercraft Kit 2.1. The tanker uses a cargo deck with tanks.
- Triangles per vessel: 474–3,500
- Meshes and materials per vessel: one each
- Purpose: visual display; no collision, dynamics or extra shadows
- Personal workspace: uses the same geometry
Sensors and measured signals
Choose Lead / Follow in the sensor panel independently of the main scene. The follower is selected by default.
The forward camera renders loaded terrain within its field of view.
- Far clipping distance: 2 km
- Image size: 640 × 480
- Target update rate: 5 Hz in simulation time
LiDAR lead / follow annotations show Gazebo positions transformed into the sensor frame. Coral points show measured LiDAR returns. Annotations disappear when the other vehicle is out of range or its position is stale.
| Signal | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Forward camera | Gazebo sensor image attached to the hull; follows roll, pitch and heave. |
| LiDAR | Measured ray ranges. Several vertical layers help the follower scan the lead hull. Returns depend on range, field of view and geometry. |
| IMU | Sensor-frame orientation, angular velocity and linear acceleration; affected by waves. |
| Position and attitude | Latitude/longitude, heading, roll and pitch. Fullscreen local position uses NED. |
| Thruster input | Left/right propeller force commands in newtons. |
| Speed | Measured vehicle speed. Maps show kn; sensor panels show m/s and kn. |
- NED conversion: north = ENU Y, east = ENU X, down = −ENU Z
- Hz: message reception rate on the server's wall clock
- Age: time since the latest received sample
- Sensor timestamps: simulation time
Sensors use the selected scene’s playback clock. Expand the panel to compare values and sample age.
Read the live panels
| Control or panel | What it shows |
|---|---|
| World / Vehicle | Gazebo coastal overview or a lead/follow vehicle view |
| Lead / Follow in Sensors | Selected vehicle's camera, LiDAR and measurements |
| Sensor panel | Position, speed, IMU and thrust; more values in fullscreen |
| Minimap | OpenFreeMap local map, both vehicles, upcoming waypoints and track |
| World map | Equal Earth overview of the lead vehicle and itinerary |
| Voyage statistics | Distance, time, port visits, world tours, destination and arrival estimate |
| Port photos | Highlighted photo icon and text below Port visits; World, Vehicle and forward-camera photographs by visit |
Waypoint labels follow the map's zoom level. Zoom in to see nearby segment ends.
Map zoom changes the map content while the viewer interface keeps its scale. On desktop, the viewer fills the window; action and sensor panels scroll independently.
- Pan: drag
- Zoom: mouse wheel, two-finger pinch or + / −
- Reset view: centre control
- Panels: fullscreen available; collapsed headers reopen the panel
- Mobile layout: maps and sensors below the scene
- Pause preview: pauses viewing
- Track: last 48 hours, with UTC labels every 12 hours
- Scene cameras: 5 Hz, daylight
The world map uses Natural Earth 1:50M coastlines. Port labels depend on zoom and available space.
- Maximum world-map zoom: 128×
- General port labels: from about 4.1× zoom
- Maximum minimap width: about 1,200 km
- AIS status: green for reception within one minute, grey while waiting
- Nearby AIS notice: reports within 50 km
- Estimated track timestamps: marked ≈
The voyage continues while viewing is paused. Buffered video can lag behind telemetry. For hands-on testing, open a personal workspace or install the desktop app.