GIS Triggers
SCS offers a way to trigger actions inside the system based upon your ships current location in the world and the direction it is traveling. For instance, you can setup a set of actions to occur whenever you leave your home port and a different set to occur when you come back home. A set of known ports comes with the SCS system, however you can also trigger off a custom geographic point (latitude / longitude coordinate) if your port is not listed or your trigger isn't meant to be based off a port (eg say you want to trigger whenever you are near a certain sea mount or some other feature).
You can setup and manage your spatial triggers via the GIS Triggers page located under the System menu item. There are 3 main types of triggering mechanisms; you can trigger when you are around any port, a specific port or a custom point (latitude/longitude). To create a trigger simply click the +Add button located on the top of the corresponding grid.
Each type shares a common set of parameters and a very similar builder. The builder UI consists of 2 columns, on the left you define the trigger itself and on the right you define the actions the trigger should kick off when it fires.
Trigger Definition
When checked SCS will enable this trigger and actively monitor the vessels position to see how it relates to the values you have specified here.
Each trigger must have a Name, this can be anything you like though it should describe what you are generally looking to accomplish.
Should you wish to provide further details to remind yourself or others what the point of this trigger is and why it exists you can enter an optional Description here.
GIS Triggers are evaluated against when a ship crosses a boundary. Imagine a circle drawn with a radius of 'x' nautical miles from a point. That point could be a specific port, any known port or a custom user define point (determined by the type of trigger you create).
For the sake of an example we will say the point of reference is the port of Seattle and your radius is 20.00nm. Now that you have that circle with a 20nm radius around the port of Seattle. The ship enters the boundary when it goes INTO the circle / arrives in Seattle. The ship exits the boundary when it leaves the circle / departs from Seattle.
You can define as many rules as you like, each operates independent of the others.
Be sure to click Save and don't forget to Enable the trigger if you want it to be active!
Boundary Examples - 20 nautical miles from the port of Seattle
Arrive/Depart Any Port
These are triggered when arriving or departing any port in the SCS database.
Arrive/Depart Specific Port
These are triggered when arriving or departing a specific port in the SCS database.
Radius From Any Port
These are triggered when the vessel enters or exits an area defined by a radius from any port in the SCS database.
Radius From Point
These are triggered when the vessel enters or exits an area defined by a radius from the specified user defined geographic point. In the UI builder you will have to specify a single Latitude / Longitude coordinate from which to base these triggers off of.
Radius From Specific Port
These are triggered when the vessel enters or exits an area defined by a radius from a specified port. Each trigger is associated with a single port. In the UI builder you will have to select a single port from which to base these triggers off of.
GIS Triggers are actively monitored via the GIS Trigger Service which runs in the background. This service as well as the data acquisition service must be running in order for the triggers to work.
GIS Triggers utilize the SCS reference GNSS device, you must have at least 1 source providing the ships Latitude and Longitude for the triggers to work.
To add a port that is missing please contact us and we will add it.
Associate Actions
While you use the above portion of the builder to define WHEN a trigger should fire, you use this portion to define WHAT happens when the trigger fires. There are a variety of different actions you can manage.
Be aware that changing or deleting any Action will also impact any trigger referencing it!
The main set of action types allow you to perform a variety of different things such as Starting or Stopping windows services (for instance start or stop SCS data Acquisition), SCS Events or SCS Custom Messages. You are also able to send emails off the ship to notify shore-based personnel or trigger shore-based tools.
Each action allows allows you to specify which direction (entering or exiting the boundary defined by the trigger) the action should fire. This means in the Seattle trigger example above you can have different actions fire when you are coming into Seattle (eg email shore and shutdown all Events) vs leaving Seattle (restart all events).
Add Logging Control Action
This action allows you to start or stop ACQ logging itself. Note you cannot (should not) stop the service, however this will prevent data from making it into the files and database. Data collection and dissemination (visualizations, other clients, custom messages, etc) will continue unabated.
Add Service Action
Allows you to start or stop windows services.
Do NOT stop ACQ with this action unless you are aware of the implications. If you stop ACQ then data acquisition will also stop and future triggers (such as 'restart ACQ when we leave port') will never fire! Use the Add Logging Control action to control ACQ logging instead.
Add Event Action
Allows you to start or stop SCS Events. Be sure to have sequences tied to the Event Start/Stop auto triggers if you want things to automatically start/stop inside the event itself.
Add Email Action
Allows you to send an email to a party on or off the ship.
Add Custom Message Action
Allows you to start or stop Custom Messages (send data to other programs, etc).
Add REST API Action
Allows you to call remote RESTFul programming interface actions. More information can be found in the GIS Trigger API Action section of this documentation.