OSINT Naval Tracker

The status bar at the top gives a real-time feed read. Left to right: FEED shows whether the live AIS stream is connected; VESSELS is the total ships plotted; UPDATES counts position reports since page load; SOURCE confirms the data provider (AISStream); ZOOM shows current map zoom; and the LIVE / DARK counter shows broadcasting vessels versus vessels that went silent in the last 24 hours. Cursor coordinates display in the center. UTC clock is top right.

The search box at the top center is the primary navigation tool. Type a vessel name, MMSI, IMO, port name, or base name and the map flies to that location and highlights the result. Fastest way to act on a news tip — paste the identifier directly from the article.

Port search covers the global ports dataset. Military base search is available after selecting an AOR and enabling the Basing layer.

Selecting an AOR focuses the map on a U.S. Navy numbered fleet region and enables theater-specific data layers. Choose from 2nd Fleet (North Atlantic), 3rd Fleet (Eastern Pacific), 4th Fleet (South Atlantic / Caribbean), 5th Fleet (Arabian Gulf / Indian Ocean), 6th Fleet (Mediterranean), 7th Fleet (Western Pacific), English Channel, or Far North.

A reference diagram of numbered fleet AORs is included in the panel. The vessel type and confidence legend is displayed below the fleet map for permanent reference.

AOR selection is required for: DARK vessels, BASING, and AIR TRAFFIC layers.

Checkboxes that add analytical context on top of the live vessel plot. Organized into groups:

Controls the underlying map tile set. Switch between Tactical (dark CARTO), Chart, Satellite (ESRI with Wayback historical imagery), and Wikimapia (crowd-sourced facility labels useful for identifying unmarked installations). The Reload Data Layers button forces a full refresh of all active overlays.

A scrollable manifest of all vessels currently plotted. Click any row to fly to that vessel. Filter by vessel type using the color-coded type buttons at the top.

The WATCH button cycles: ALL → WATCH ONLY (flagged vessels) → HIDE watchlist. Watchlist includes TSP tankers, SIGINT vessels, sanctioned yachts, and VIP-flagged contacts.

Vessel cards carry intelligence badges: TSP = Tanker Security Program (U.S.-flag, military-activatable under VISA), SIGINT = known intelligence collection vessel, SANC YACHT = sanctioned yacht watchlist match, SANCTIONED = OFAC or allied sanctions list.

Right-clicking anywhere on the map opens a clean action menu:

Measure Distance — click to place points, accumulate distance. Useful for range estimation and course plotting.

Copy Coordinates — copies the lat/lon of the right-clicked point to clipboard in decimal degrees.

SAT PASS — Predict Passes Here — opens the satellite pass predictor for that exact point. Requires SATELLITE PASS (SPY) checkbox active.

Screenshot — Download PNG — captures the full map view as a timestamped PNG file. No browser chrome, no URL bar — map only.

Screenshot — Copy to Clipboard — same capture, sent directly to clipboard for immediate paste into reports or messages. Chrome/Edge only.

Opens the in-app quick reference panel covering all active layers, vessel manifest badges, right-click menu, AOR filter, plot modes, and satellite pass tools. The panel links to this page for full documentation.

One-click buttons that fly the map to the world's most operationally significant maritime chokepoints, pre-set to the appropriate zoom level and fleet AOR context.

Toggles a curated OSINT news feed plotted geographically. Read the headline, look at what's in the water around it. Toggle off when you want a clean plot.

Toggles RainViewer global precipitation radar. Useful for correlating weather systems with vessel routing decisions and AIS gaps in remote ocean areas. Toggle off when not needed.

SNAPSHOT freezes the vessel plot at its current state. Recommended for most users and overlay-heavy sessions. Refresh manually when you want an update.

LIVE redraws vessel positions in real time as AIS reports come in. Gated to zoom level 6 and above to prevent performance issues at global view.

Stop / Start Refresh toggles the automatic position-refresh timer. Default interval is 5 minutes.

Refresh Now forces an immediate re-sync of all vessel positions regardless of timer state.

The Intel Actors layer uses a hop-chain architecture to show documented relationships between intelligence institutions and their foreign operations. Every line on the map is a documented connection, not an editorial inference.

The chain: HQ (Tier 0) → Regional Division (Tier 1) → Station (Tier 2) → Operation / Asset (Tier 3). Line weight and opacity decrease with each tier. Solid lines indicate confirmed relationships. Dashed lines indicate proxy nodes, maritime assets, or covert operations. Dotted lines with reduced opacity indicate closed or historical sites.

Node symbols: Diamond = Intel/Signals HQ • Square = Naval facility • Circle = Embassy/Station • Star = Proxy/command node • Triangle = Air facility • Diamond outline = Known covert station

Node colors: Gold = Intel HQ • Blue = Naval • Green = Embassy • Red = Proxy/black site • Purple = Cyber unit • Teal = Maritime asset • Orange = Military Intel HQ

Status indicators in popup: Active (green) • Closed (gray) • Suspected (amber). Every node card shows the documentary source citation.

The analytical principle: The institution outlives the individual. Portrait changes when leadership changes. The spider web does not.

The KEY button appears bottom-left when the Intel Actors layer is active. Click it for the full symbol and tier reference legend.

The Air Traffic layer pulls live flight positions from Flightradar24 within the bounds of your selected AOR. All aircraft are shown — commercial, private, military, and unknown. The layer does not pre-filter for you.

What to look for: The analytical value is not always in what is there — it is in what should not be there, or what has conspicuously absent data. An N-registered Learjet at 45,000 feet with no callsign, no route, no operator, and squawk 0 over the Gulf of Mexico at 0130 UTC is more interesting than a labeled Air Force C-17.

Color coding: Red = Military or government category (FR24 classification) • Orange = No callsign, blocked, or unknown • Purple = All other traffic

Aircraft card fields: Registration, type, operator, route (IATA codes), altitude (ft), ground speed (kts), heading (°), vertical speed (fpm), squawk code. Emergency squawk codes 7500 (hijack), 7600 (comms failure), and 7700 (general emergency) display in red with alert labels.

Hover tooltip shows callsign, type, registration, and altitude/speed/heading without clicking.

Refreshes every 30 seconds while active. Layer is disabled until an AOR is selected — prevents pulling a global feed that would be analytically meaningless and credit-expensive.

NORAD catalog numbers are approaching the 5-digit ceiling (69999). CelesTrak estimates the rollover to 6-digit numbers (100000+) will occur around July 12, 2026. The legacy TLE/3LE format used by the SAT PASS (SPY) prediction engine physically cannot represent 6-digit NORAD IDs — it is a fixed-width format from the 1960s.

What this means: All satellites currently in the curated list (USA-314, Kosmos-2576, Kondor-FKA, Bars-M 2, etc.) are well under the 69999 ceiling and will continue to work normally. Any new launch after the rollover — new NRO birds, new Russian ASAT tests, new Chinese SAR satellites — will receive 6-digit NORAD IDs and will not be supported by the current TLE proxy until it is updated to the CelesTrak OMM JSON format.

The fix is a server-side update to tle_proxy.php to request OMM JSON format instead of TLE. CelesTrak has supported this format since 2020. The SAT PASS panel search by name will still work; only direct 6-digit NORAD ID entry will fail until the proxy is updated.

Monitor: celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/ for rollover status.