Enhanced Maritime Navigation: Integrating Risk-Aware Vessel Routing with Advanced Dijkstra Algorithm and Multicriteria Decision Analysis

Keywords: Maritime weather routing, risk avoidance, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Dijkstra’s Algorithm
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

In recent years, maritime weather routing has garnered substantial attention in academic and industrial realms. The primary objectives usually involve minimizing operating costs, fuel consumption, and estimated time of arrival (ETA). However, more research needs to be done to investigate the method that integrates maritime weather routing with the consideration of minimizing risk and avoiding accidents. The ship routing problem can be characterized as a multi-objective challenge, given that the operational strategy is influenced by oceanic conditions such as wind, waves, and ocean currents, making it a weather-routed scenario. In this paper, we proposed a cyberGIS-enabled multicriteria spatial decision support system for smart maritime weather routing. The proposed method is built upon improved Dijkstra's Algorithm combined with two multicriteria decision analysis models (MCDM)Weighted Sum Model (WSM) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution Model (TOPSIS)) and incorporates diverse environmental vulnerability indicators. Finally, we created a friendly user interface for our system where users can assign the weights by themselves for each factor to view the vulnerability map and solution of the optimal routes on the map.