Map Space Modeling Method Reflecting Safety Margin in Coastal Water Based on Electronic Chart for Path Planning.

Area of Science:

• Marine navigation and cartography
• Computational geometry
• Artificial intelligence in maritime operations

Background:

• Effective ship route planning requires accurate map space composition.
• Existing methods may not fully account for safety, maneuvering, and psychological factors.
• Coastal waters present unique challenges for navigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an advanced map modeling method for ship path planning.
• To integrate safety margins, maneuvering spaces, and navigator psychology into map models.
• To optimize route search by minimizing lost space.

Main Methods:

• Obstacle area segmentation using a binary method on electronic chart images.
• Incorporation of margin space via morphological algorithms.
• Boundary simplification of obstacle areas using the concave hull method.

Main Results:

• The proposed method generated maps that minimized area loss due to obstacles.
• Reduced ship navigation distance and path-finding time compared to the convex hull method.
• Demonstrated feasibility and applicability for ship path planning.

Conclusions:

• The developed map modeling method is effective for ship route planning.
• The integration of diverse spatial considerations enhances navigation efficiency and safety.
• The concave hull approach offers advantages over traditional convex hull methods.