%0 Journal Article %A Thombre, Sarang %A Guinness, Robert %A Chen, Liang %A Ruotsalainen, Laura %A Kuusniemi, Heidi %A Uriasz, Janusz %A Pietrzykowski, Zbigniew %A Laukkanen, Juhani %A Ghawi, Philippe %T ESABALT Improvement of Situational Awareness in the Baltic with the Use of Crowdsourcing %J TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation %V 9 %N 2 %P 183-189 %D 2015 %U ./Article_ESABALT_Improvement_of_Situational_Thombre,34,571.html %X This paper presents the key assumptions and preliminary research on an integrated system called ESABALT, for enhancing maritime safety, which incorporates the latest technological advances in positioning, e-Navigation, Earth observation systems and multi-channel cooperative communications. The most novel part of the ESABALT concept, however, is a focus on user-driven crowdsourcing techniques for information gathering and integration. The system will consist of a situational awareness solution for real-time maritime traffic monitoring via utilizing various positioning technologies; an observation system of the marine environment relevant to transportation and accidents including assessing the sea ice, oil spread, waves, wind etc.; and a methodology for context-aware maritime communication with cooperative, multi-channel capabilities. The paper presents the intelligent, novel, user-driven solution and associated services developed in ESABALT for enhancing the maritime safety in the whole Baltic area. %@ 2083-6473 %R 10.12716/1001.09.02.04