Challenges in Arctic Navigation: the User Perspective

• Main Authors: Leppälä, Laura, Honkala, Salomon, Ferrara, Giorgia, Kirkko-Jaakkola, Martti, Kuusniemi, Heidi, Miettinen-Bellevergue, Seija
• Other Authors: National Land Survey of Finland, Maanmittauslaitos
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2019
• Subjects: arctic navigation; positioning; satellite navigation; communication systems; user survey; Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/303873

This paper underlines the challenges of navigation in the Arctic from the user perspective by means of an online survey. The main target of the survey was to find out the users' views and real-life experiences on the challenges in navigation and geospatial information-based services in the Arctic region. The paper studies relations between the represented industry, encountered challenges and areas of operation. Navigation in the Arctic area and similar circumstances in high latitudes is known to be challenging in terms of weather conditions, lack of services and infrastructure. As the novel technologies, e.g., intelligent transport systems mature, the need for exact and timely geospatial information will increase. According to the results, the most significant challenges are uneven coverage of positioning, untimely weather information, and telecommunication issues. Although the number of respondents was lower than expected (83 complete responses), the results indicate the differences in navigation and location-based services between countries and public versus commercial actors. We found two major dependent variables (nationality and market segment), which are analyzed further. The results suggest guidelines for the future developments of the navigation and positioning services in the high latitudes.