Abstract:
Aids to Navigation is an information service facility which
is set up to help sea fairing vessels sail safely, economically and
expediently by its visual, sound and wireless signals. In Kenya the
marine safety along the coast has deteriorated gradually due to
destruction, obstructions and lack of Aids to Navigation. Navigation
charts, which are the basic Aids to Navigation, are still in analogue
paper format, making them cumbersome and inefficient for use on
board the marine vessels. The aim of this research study was to
develop web-based Aids to Navigation Information System for the
Kenya’s coastal waters. All the published nautical charts covering the
coastline and survey plans were used. ArcGIS software was used to
digitize and create spatial and non-spatial attributes of the existing
Aids to Navigation. PostGIS for postgreSQL 9.2 was used as a
relational database management system where PgAdmin III was used
to host the database. Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 was used to
develop the web interface. Bitnami WAMPstack was used to host the
web interface in the local computer. Mobile application for the
system was developed and hosted by Net beans IDE 7.0. A spatial
database, user interface and a mobile application were the results of
the development. The research also brought into revelation that most
of the physical aids to navigations (beacons and lighthouses) were
not functional due to obstruction by built-up developments along the
coastline. The developed system facilitates easy updates, maintenance
and monitoring of aids to navigation. There is need for integration of
the Aids to Navigation System with Automatic Identification System
(AIS) for effective marine navigation.
