Normally, users access the Fleettracker web page by means of their Internet web browser, their account and password. However, Fleettracker allows to exchange information by means of a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) based web service. SOAP allows a standardized exchange of information on the basis of XML and HTTP via the Internet. Today, SOAP is available for a wide range of platforms, programming languages and architectures. Therefore, it is the preferred way to implement automated data exchange.
We are using SOAP as basis for so called web services with a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) definition. WSDL is a meta language for the definition of functions and data types that are offered by a web service. The WSDL description file is normally available for downloading on the server side which implements the defined functions.
Each web service provides a set of functions through the Internet. Fleettracker for instance offers a set of functions to retrieve the schedule information of a particular ship. To use the functions, you have to implement a web service client. For most programming languages, stub generator software exists that can create client stub source code automatically from the WSDL description file.
Currently, the following web services are provided:
WSAPIFormData.wsdl: Exchange of report data
WSShipSchedule.wsdl: Exchange of schedule information
WSAPIMrvData.wsdl: Retrieve EU MRV data
WSAPIMrvUKData.wsdl: Retrieve UK MRV data
WSAPIImoDcsData.wsdl: Retrieve IMO/DCS data
Authentification
Normally, users need a particular account and password to enter the internal Fleettracker web pages. The FT API uses another authentification model. Whenever a client software accesses the FT API, the client has to provide an APIIdentifier (see auth.xsd) object with a valid set of identification keys. The companyGuid and the clientGuid are provided to you on demand by our customer support.
The document FT SOAP API - the WSAPIReport web service contains more details about the WSAPIReport web service for developers. Another simpler interface for retrieving report data is described here