You can set custom alerts for selected or tagged vessels based on a range of factors. This feature is particularly useful for:
Geofencing custom or pre-defined areas of interest for entry/exit events;
Help reduce the time spent on monitoring large areas for specific behaviours of interest;
Monitor vessels or fleets of interest by their behaviour or geographic location.
Alerts can be created from three locations – The map, the selected vessel panel, and the Settings menu.
Setting an alert from the map
The Create Alert button in the top right of your map area can be used for broad geofencing or tracking specific vessels of interest. Once you’ve selected ‘Create alert; a pop-up window will appear, allowing you to set the parameters of your alert.
The first parameter to set is When. This defines the target for the alert, whether it be Any vessel, Selected vessels, Tagged vessels, or Vessels with a specified dimension. By default, it is set to Any vessel, which is used for the geofencing of predefined or custom areas. The remaining three options in the drop down menu pertain to user-specified vessels. If you have created your alert from the Selected vessels panel instead of the map, your When parameter will default to the vessel(s) that you have selected on the map at the time.
The second parameter to be set is Has the following activity, which allows you to determine which type of activity will trigger the alert.
Tip: Only one activity or area can be alerted-on at a time, so if you require multiple alert types (such as entry AND exit), you will have to set a new alert for each different activity type or area.
If an activity type is greyed out, it means it cannot be used with the When parameter you have set. For instance, AIS transmission alerts cannot be set for Any vessel, as it would result in millions of email alerts being sent every day.
For area-based Activities, once selected, an Area parameter box will appear underneath, requesting that you select a specific area for the alert. In addition to this, if you have selected the Speed in area alert, it will also ask for you to specify a speed in knots (kn); whether it’s Over, Under, or Between your specified speed; and whether you would like the alert to include activity from within ports and anchorages. An example of a speed alert is shown in the image below, which is set for tagged vessels which travel under 4kn in a custom-made area.
Alerts will be triggered based on the When and Has the following activity parameters you’ve set, resulting in an email distribution. You can choose whether the email is sent to only you (Send email notifications to 1 person) or to additional people from your organisation, which you can select from the list that appears when you select ‘Send to others’.
The final parameter to set is the Notification Frequency. You can choose between receiving an email within 15 minutes of your alert being triggered, or for a summary email of all relevant alerts in the last 24 hours (received at 8am local time each day). You can come back and edit your notifications at any time.
Once you’re happy with the parameters and settings of your alert, click ‘Set alert’. The creation of a new alert will also be populated in your organisation’s Activity panel.
Managing your alerts
To edit or delete any alerts you’ve created, you can go to ‘manage alerts’ through your toolbar Settings, or through the ‘Create alert’ section itself. Either of these options will take you to your Settings menu, where you can see a list of your organisation’s alerts.
Alerts that you have personally created will default to the top of the list, under Send email notifications. Other alerts that will be listed here include alerts that other members of your organisation have set, which you have then been subscribed to as well. In other words, you have been listed as a notification recipient in the alert parameters. If you no longer wish to receive notifications for an alert, simply find the relevant alert in the list and click ‘Unsubscribe’ or click Edit (do not click delete, as this will erase the entire alert), and untick your name.
Tip: Be careful not to delete alerts owned by other members of your organisation. Ensure that you are the only ‘recipient’ of the alert notification before attempting to delete any alerts without prior permission of the owner.
For alerts that have been set by other members of your organisation that you are not subscribed to, these are listed under Other alerts set up within [Organisation]. You can still edit or delete (with permission from the owner) any of these by first clicking ‘Show details’.
If you wish to make changes to any alerts, other than the notification settings, you must create an entirely new alert with your desired changes. This alleviates the issue of alerts being altered without the subscribers’ permission or knowledge. If you no longer require the old alert, simply unsubscribe yourself from it or you can delete it entirely if you’re the sole subscriber.