Where would our DataCutter instance be hosted?

Your DataCutter service will be hosted in your Cloud environment. You will need to provide SketchToCloud with an account on your Cloud that grants us limited permissions to install and maintain your DataCutter service.

We do not require access to your proprietary data unless you need our assistance.

Who will connect the DataCutter service to the AIS data vendor’s feed?

You can do this yourself by translating the AIS vendor’s feed format into the DataCutter’s standard, or we can do it for you. It’s in our interest to integrate with all AIS vendors so we’ll fix our development costs at £1k+VAT.

What insights does DataCutter provide?

DataCutter generates the following insights from raw position data:

• Zone transitions - movements between geographical zones, including oceans, countries, canals, ports and jetties

• Port callings - movements between ports. This differs from zone transitions as it considers a number of factors, including the time spent by a vessel in the port and the number of observations

• Inferred data, e.g., average speed, maximum speed, and the number of observations, etc., is calculated for each individual vessel and aggregated for zone transitions. Vessel routes and ETAs are coming soon.

How much vessel data will we need to store?

There is a significant amount of data. For instance, each of the approximately 89k vessels with DWT > 5k DWT emits around 12 signals per day (some may emit many more), equating to 389.8m records per year. This estimate excludes smaller support vessels that may also be of interest, as well as the vessels of no interest that will need to be filtered out.

How much does DataCutter cost to implement?

The total cost of implementation varies depending on the complexity of your requirements. However, here's a general outline of the costs:

1. Connecting AIS vendor feed to DataCutter: £1,000 (one-time fixed cost)

2. Monthly maintenance (including service monitoring, support, fixes, and upgrades) from: £1,000 per month

3. Custom data integration, or development work: £800 per day (at your discretion)

4. You will be responsible for your own Cloud hosting costs, which will depend on your requirements e.g. how many years of data you want to persist and for which vessel types. We will help you estimate the hosting costs at the outset

Please contact us for a tailored quote.

How do the AIS vendors provide data?

There isn't a standard approach to providing vessel movement data. Some vendors provide an API (push and pull), while others offer a regular file drop (SFTP). Certain vendors provide data as is, while others attempt to clean or enrich it.

Does DataCutter keep track of the current vessel positions?

Yes, DataCutter caches and indexes current vessel positions so that they are available via the API in real-time.

Does DataCutter include a user interface?

Not yet. DataCutter currently includes an API that can be used to develop an application or extend an existing one.

Can we customise DataCutter?

Yes, DataCutter can be customised in the following ways:

1. Vessels of interest and the priority of vessels for processing can be customised. For example, you can declare that you are only interested in Crude vessels and that the largest of these should be processed first

2. The geographical areas of interest (Zones and Ports) can be modified to suit your needs. For instance, if you're only interested in ports related to Iron Ore, then you may modify your zones structure to focus on these. This approach will improve your processing performance and reduce unnecessary noise in your reporting

3. You can integrate your own proprietary data with DataCutter within your secure Cloud environment

Can we build own AIS processor?

Yes, although we advise you to budget for several months of development and:

1. an expert in GIS systems who understands vessel movement data and your functional needs,

2. a solutions architect who can help you design a system capable of handling the data volume demands and integration needs and

3. the hardware, software and maintenance required to implement the system

Which Cloud platforms do you support?

We currently support Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud. We plan to support Microsoft Azure by the end of 2023.