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1- Master’s Student in Geospatial Information Science, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Department of Geomatics Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran
3- Associate Professor, Department of Structural and Earthquake Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran
Abstract:   (39 Views)
Accurate vessel trajectory prediction is a critical requirement for enhancing maritime safety, reducing collision risk, optimizing fuel consumption, and enabling intelligent traffic management at sea. In this study, a comprehensive and data-driven framework is proposed for vessel trajectory prediction, developed using real Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and relevant environmental information such as significant wave height. The dataset includes movement trajectories of cargo vessels, fishing vessels, and passenger vessels within the Gulf of Mexico. A rich and structured dataset was constructed by extracting derived features such as turn rate, acceleration, and geographic coordinates. To model the trajectories, a hybrid architecture based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and an attention mechanism was implemented, enabling the model to effectively learn long-term temporal dependencies and adaptively focus on critical segments of vessel routes. In addition, SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were used to enhance the interpretability of the model and analyze the contribution of each feature to the prediction process. The feature analysis revealed that latitude, longitude, acceleration, and wave height played the most significant roles in improving predictive accuracy. Experimental evaluation using a held-out test dataset and comparison with a baseline LSTM model demonstrated that the proposed framework reduced the Average Displacement Error (ADE) by approximately 44% and the Final Displacement Error (FDE) by about 39%. These results confirm the effectiveness of combining spatiotemporal deep learning with interpretable feature analysis for precise vessel trajectory forecasting. The proposed framework offers a reliable foundation for developing navigation support systems, autonomous ship routing, smart port management, and maritime traffic forecasting. Furthermore, it can be extended to various types of vessels and other maritime regions.
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Type of Study: Research Paper | Subject: Environmental Study
Received: 2025/05/12 | Accepted: 2025/07/9

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International Journal of Maritime Technology is licensed under a

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