Portsviews

The ships off your coast, live on your wall

Open Source

GitHub

Maps

Data Visualization

Hey Product Hunt I'm the maker of Portviews. Every ship over a certain size broadcasts its position, speed, and heading over public radio all day, everywhere. Volunteers pick those signals up and share them. Most of theHey Product Hunt I'm the maker of Portsviews. I live in Nairobi, hundreds of kilometres from the sea. I wanted a window onto busy water anyway, and it turns out that's possible: every large ship broadcasts its position, speed and heading over public radio, all day, everywhere. Volunteers around the world pick those signals up and share them. Usually that data ends up in dense tracking dashboards. I wanted to turn it into something you live with instead: a calm, always-on view of real ships moving past, on a wall, a desk screen, or bounced off a mirror onto your ceiling. What it does: - Draws every ship in the area live, shaped and coloured by type, with a wake behind each one - Names the largest ships, and shows anchored or moored ships as their real hull, turned to their reported heading - A slow radar sweep reveals each vessel as it passes - Ships with a real coastline built in, so a fresh clone shows a map straight away It's free and MIT-licensed. No account, no subscription, nothing to pay. You need Node, a free AISstream.io key and about ten minutes. The README walks through it. Being honest about where it is: it's tested on Windows (macOS and Linux should work but are untested), coverage depends on volunteer receivers, and setup is developer-style for now. That last part is why I'm working on HarborScope, a plug-in-and-go physical version for homes and waterfront spaces. It's at the prototype stage: no price, no date, nothing for sale yet. There's a waitlist at portsviews.app if you'd like to hear when it's real. I'd love to know: 1. Which stretch of water would you put on your wall? 2. If you try the setup, where did it trip you up? Thanks for taking a look. I'll be here all day answering questions 🚢 time they end up in dense tracking dashboards. I wanted them to be something you just live with instead: a quiet, always-on window onto real water somewhere in the world. [One or two sentences on why YOU built it the moment or place that started it.] What it does: - Draws every ship in the area live, shaped and colored by type, with a wake behind it - Names the largest ships and shows moored or anchored ships as their real hull, turned to their reported heading - Runs on any monitor or projector, including mirrored onto a ceiling - Ships with the Dover Strait coastline built in, so a fresh clone shows a real map straight away It's free and MIT-licensed. There's no account, no subscription, and nothing to pay. You need Node, a free AISstream.io key, and about ten minutes; the README walks through it. Honest limits: it's been tested on Windows (macOS and Linux should work but are untested), coverage depends on volunteer receivers, and it's a developer-style setup for now. That last point is why I'm also exploring HarborScope, a plug-in-and-go physical version. It's at the prototype stage: no price, no date, nothing for sale. There's a waitlist on the site if that interests you. I'd love to hear: 1. Which stretch of water you'd put on your wall 2. Where the setup tripped you up, if you try it Thanks for looking!