ChartNav
For ship spotters & port photographers

Every ship has a story. Read it live.

Live AIS with vessel photos from Wikimedia, flag identification, arrival times, and an unlimited watchlist of your favorites. The browser tab for when the water is the thing you watch — the map behind this text is live.

vessels live now
watchlist
30 daystrack history
1,480port pages
The waterfront

Who's out there right now — and who was, at 3 a.m.

Live AIS from a worldwide receiver network, and a 30-day time machine when you want to know how she came in, where she anchored, and when she slipped out.

The vessel card, for real

This card is being fetched right now — a live hull from the register, her Wikimedia photo, her particulars. Every one of 250k+ vessel pages gets this treatment: photo, flag, dimensions, track, port calls.

hunting a photogenic hull…
LIVE · Wikimedia Commons, credited · tap the card for her page

The arrivals board

Who just came in, where, and how long ago — extracted from live AIS every half hour, nationwide. The board a spotter checks before grabbing the camera bag.

reading the arrivals…
LIVE DATA · port_events record · same board tops the vessel register

AIS replay — recorded traffic, playing back

Miss the arrival? Scrub back to it. Replay any window in the last 30 days and watch the whole harbor move — the pilot boat run, the tug dance, the anchorage shuffle. Below: six real hours, animated.

loading replay window…
LIVE DATA · position archive · every vessel, not just your list

Where the ships are

1,480 harbor pages with live vessels-in-port and arrival history. This board ranks the busiest harbors right now — each links to its live page.

counting harbors…
LIVE · vessels in port right now

The shooting-day sky

GOES GeoColor from orbit, refreshed every five minutes — read the marine layer and the light before you drive to the point.

loading GOES…
LIVE · GeoColor / true color / night IR
Live now

The vessel register streams "just arrived" from the port-events record and ranks the fastest hulls underway — then filters 250k+ vessels by silhouette, flag, or your own starred fleet. Every row opens the vessel's page: photo, flag, particulars, track, port calls.

Browse the live register →
The enthusiast's kit

Vessel photos

Wikimedia photos on every detail card — credited and correctly licensed.

Flag identification

Flag state from the MMSI's MID code, on the card and in the register.

Unlimited watchlist

Star as many vessels as you want. Your list lives on your device.

Historical tracks

Every recorded position for any vessel, drawn as a track on the chart.

Deep search

Name, MMSI, IMO, callsign, or destination — straight to the vessel.

AR Lookout (beta)

Point the phone at the water — AIS labels overlay the camera view.

One backend, four helms

Web in any browser · iPhone & iPad native app · Apple TV harbor-watch mode for the living room · Apple Watch on your wrist. Watchlists and marks stay in sync.

PWA today · native apps in TestFlight
NOTE AIS shows only vessels that broadcast, within receiver coverage. Naval and some government vessels may not appear, and positions can lag the water by a minute or two.

Questions from the rail

How does ChartNav compare to MarineTraffic or VesselFinder?

Live AIS, vessel photos, flag identification, historical tracks, and an unlimited watchlist — all in the browser, built for people who actually watch the water.

Where do the vessel photos come from?

Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia — freely licensed maritime imagery, shown with its license and photographer credit.

Can I see when a ship is due into port?

Yes. Vessels broadcast destination and ETA over AIS; the detail card shows both, and port pages list arriving traffic.

How current is the AIS data?

Most positions update within two minutes of the original VHF broadcast. Coastal density is high near major ports and shipping lanes; open-ocean coverage depends on receiver range.

The harbor is moving right now.

Every demo on this page ran live. Go find your ship.

Open the vessel register