// built for boaters, not subscriptions
Live AIS tracking for Norwegian waters. Wave data, weather, distance tools, route planning — everything you need to not sink. No download, no credit card — just open it and go.
Because most of the data is already out there for free — AIS from BarentsWatch, weather from yr.no, depth and ice charts from Kartverket. It's just scattered across different APIs instead of gathered in one place.
Commercial chartplotter apps bundle it for you, but often charge a subscription for what's fundamentally public, free information. So we bundled it ourselves, on one map, no paywall.
Midgardsson Sjøkart is exactly that: a free tool and portfolio project, not a replacement for a certified chart — just an easier way to look at the same public data.
Midgardsson Sjøkart brings AIS tracking, wave forecasts, depth data and weather for Norwegian waters together in one place, built for boating along the Norwegian coast. See where ships are in real time, check wave height before you head out, and find the nearest harbour or fuel stop — all free, all in the browser.
Over 4000 vessels along the Norwegian coast in real time. Cargo, tankers, fishing boats, ferries — they're all there. Except submarines, obviously.
Wave height as an overlay with a time selector — ±3 days forward and back, so you know what's coming before you leave the dock.
BarentsWatch WMS data for ice perimeter and concentration. For those sailing where it might actually freeze.
Kartverket depth isolines as a transparent overlay with metre values — handy for staying off the bottom.
Set a radius around yourself — the zone flashes red if a vessel enters it. Like an alarm, but without the siren.
GPS or manual click. Weather and distances are calculated from where you actually are.
The map rotates with your course direction (GPS heading), with smoothing and a speed threshold — just like a real chartplotter.
OSM-based layers for stops and fuel stations along the coast, with fuel type info.
Add multiple waypoints, set speed in knots and departure time — get calculated travel time, fuel use and ETA per leg. Add notes per point, avoid land/rocks, and save the route as a preset.
Current direction and strength as its own map layer — handy for knowing what's dragging your boat somewhere you didn't plan.
Chlorophyll concentration as a layer — a useful indicator for plankton, fishing conditions and aquaculture along the coast.
See which coastal stretches carry the most vessel traffic, based on historical AIS data. Good to know where it gets crowded.
Opt-in position sharing, independent of AIS — your friends see you on the map, you see them. Doesn't go through BarentsWatch.
Create a free account with email or Google to share your position, save routes across devices, and fine-tune your settings. Fully optional — the map itself needs no account.
Filter by vessel type or search directly by name/MMSI. Find exactly the ship — or avoid it.
Click anywhere on the map: temperature, wind, precipitation, lightning and fog risk, sea temperature and next tide.
Built for Norwegian waters by someone who will soon live there. Interface is in Norwegian. As everything should be.
The list above says what Midgardsson Sjøkart does. Here's how it actually works.
No — it's a map with AIS, waves, ice and weather on it, not certified software. So here's what actually matters: when does Midgardsson Sjøkart help you, and when should you trust something else?
In short: a good co-pilot on land and in the planning phase. At sea, your equipment and seamanship call the shots, not the browser.
Midgardsson Sjøkart is a hobby and portfolio project, built by one person in their spare time. It is not certified navigation software and is not intended as the sole basis for navigation decisions at sea.
Use it strictly as a supplement to approved equipment — a certified electronic chart (ENC), echo sounder, VHF, and your own seamanship. Don't put your life or anyone else's in this tool's hands. Data may be delayed, incomplete or incorrect, and the service may go down without notice.
Use is at your own risk. No warranty is given as to accuracy, availability, or fitness for any particular purpose, and no liability is accepted for loss, damage, or accidents arising from use of the service.
You can use the chart itself with no account at all. Position data (GPS or manual) is then used only locally in your browser to render the map — it is not sent to or stored on our servers.
If you create an account (email and password, or Google sign-in), we store: your email address, and a securely hashed password (never in plain text) — with Google sign-in we never see your password at all, that's handled by Google. We also store data tied to your account: your shared position if you enable position sharing, saved routes/waypoints, and personal settings. All of this lives in our own database on our own server — no third party has access to this data, except Google as the identity provider if you choose Google sign-in.
We also use Google Analytics for anonymised traffic statistics (visits, country, device type), with IP anonymisation enabled. This sets cookies, but only after you actively accept it in the cookie banner — choosing "Decline" means Analytics never loads at all. The login feature uses its own, strictly necessary technical cookies (session cookies) to keep you signed in — these are exempt from the consent requirement because they're needed for the service to work, and are never used for tracking or marketing. Google Fonts loads independently of this choice, purely to render the correct typeface.
Vessel data from BarentsWatch and weather data from yr.no is public AIS/weather data, not personal data.
You have the right to access, correct and delete your account data at any time. To delete your account and all associated data, email gregory@midgardsson.no — Analytics consent can be withdrawn at any time by clearing this site's local browser storage. Data controller: Gergely Tóth / Midgardsson.