During the last decades the international views concerning the observation and guidance of ships in international waters has changed. It was also recognized that, due to the technical developments, opportunities and the increasing need for advance information, physical and technical boundaries would no longer exist for maritime activities such as hydrographic survey, construction, transport, and surveillance. For instance Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), traditionally bounded to its own area of responsibility, could now interact with other stakeholders outside their defined area concerning traffic management matters. In terms of its advancement, VTS and AIS are the one of those to help ship officers and these continues to grow its usages and implement its upgraded requirement for needs. AIS has become an important tool for use in VTS. AIS has primarily been very valuable in identification of radar targets and tracking of vessels in non-radar coverage areas. In some instances it has reduced voice communications and increase the use of GPS source for positioning method instead, for example by making the identification of vessels easier or by automatically providing information that was previously communicated through VHF. With Global Positioning System(GPS) techniques, Automatic Identification System(AIS) can provide GPS-based position and VTS control center can examine these data for observing vessel tracking and provide the reliable maritime navigation information.

Keywords: maritime navigation, AIS, VTS, GPS