User Guide

OHA (over the horizon) AIS

AIS, or Automatic Identification System, is a crucial tool for marine navigation that enhances safety and awareness by providing real-time information about surrounding vessels. It functions like a digital radar, operating through VHF radio waves in the maritime band. Other versions of AIS displays connect directly to the AIS equipment on your vessel, savvy navvy currently does not support this direct connection. This means that vessels without AIS equipment but using savvy navvy can still use AIS.

savvy navvy uses OHA (over the horizon) AIS information, so WiFi or cellular data is needed. If savvy navvy is offline a warning message is shown and the AIS display is disabled. Avoid nasty surprises by knowing where other boats are, especially in busy areas or bad weather. Always use your own judgment and navigation skills in addition to AIS information.

AIS data updates regularly, but might not be instant. For each vessel a positional variance area is shown, this wiggle room is shown around each vessel's position to account for variable update intervals. Also be aware vessels without functioning AIS equipment will not be displayed.

To enable the AIS feature open the layers menu and toggle on the Internet AIS chart details layer. The range of the AIS information shown is based on your savvy navvy product plan. Elite plan will show vessels up to 50 nm from your chart view or position. Other plans will only show vessels a limited distance from your current position.

Vessels are colour coded by vessel type and large vessels are shown differently to small craft. Tap a vessel to see its details, including speed, course, and last update time. By dragging up the information sheet the full details can be seen such as course and position.

The vessel information may very slightly depending on the vessel type. Hide the info panel for a clean chart view. Set waypoints or even navigate directly to another vessel's location.

You can read our article about the savvy navvy AIS launch