Exports · Last updated 2026-08-07

Export the reconstruction

Stingray exports a reconstruction three ways, for three audiences. The video plays the incident back. The 3D model opens in CAD next to a chart. The data file carries the decoded fixes to any other tool. To select an output, decide what the deliverable must do. It can show the incident, let you measure it, or let another tool re-analyse it.

Output	Content	Best for
MP4 video	The animated map view, as you set it up	Reports, briefings, court (to show what happened)
Rhino `.3dm`	Georeferenced tracks + per-fix hull geometry	Measurement in CAD against a nautical chart
CSV	Every decoded fix, exactly as transmitted	Re-analysis, spreadsheets, re-import

1. MP4 video

The video is a recording of the map view. It shows the same layers, colours, and labels that you see on screen, animated across the timeline range. Stingray renders it at 16:9 in H.264, fully in your browser. Stingray uploads nothing. The controls are:

resolutione.g. 1920×1080 · 1280×720 · 854×480

The frame size. 1080p is the default. Select a smaller size if you need a smaller file, or if your machine is slow.

frame ratee.g. 60 · 30 · 24 · 15 fps

Frames per second. 30 fps is smooth for most playback. Use 60 fps only for fast manoeuvres that you play at low speed.

qualitye.g. Maximum · High · Medium · Low

The H.264 bitrate. A higher bitrate keeps small details sharp (thin tracks, small labels). It also makes the file larger.

speede.g. 0.1× … 60×

The speed of the timeline in the video. 1× is real time. 10× makes a ten-minute approach into a one-minute clip. 0.25× extends the seconds around a collision. The video duration is the time range divided by this speed.

The display toggles come from the live map. Sticky labels, track dots, real-dimensions-only, and the other toggles export exactly as they show on screen. Compose the view in the app, and the video matches it.

The export snapshot

Stingray takes an immutable snapshot when you start the export. If you pan, filter, or scrub again after that, the export does not change. The frames render through the same layer code as the live map, from the state that Stingray froze at the click.

Keep the tab in the foreground

Keep the tab in the foreground until the export is complete. The render runs on the page's own thread, and browsers throttle background tabs. If you go to a different tab during the export, the render pauses until you come back.

2. Rhino 3D model

The .3dm export is the measurement deliverable. Each vessel becomes a parent layer with one sub-layer per recorded fix. Each sub-layer contains the vessel's antenna point and its hull outline at that instant. The point is at the real transmitted position, and Stingray draws the hull around it from the AIS dimensions. A vessel with no usable dimensions gets the antenna point alone. The export covers the timeline trim range, so you get only the window that you need.

Stingray writes the geometry in a projected CRS on the WGS-84 datum. Select the same projection as your nautical chart. The model then opens in Rhino aligned to the chart, and you do not need to rubber-sheet it. By default, Stingray selects the UTM zone automatically from the centre of the dataset. The menu names the selected zone (Auto — UTM Zone 32N), so you can compare it with your chart. You can also select other zones and national grids.

Validation

On the Genoa reference incident, the exported antenna points are within 0.47 m of the hand-traced positions. An expert analyst traced those positions independently, in their own UTM-32N file. That difference is less than GPS receiver accuracy (2–5 m). It is also less than the noise floor of the AIS positions.

3. Data (CSV)

The CSV is the most raw export. It has one row per decoded fix, with the positions exactly as the decoder produced them. The CSV does not contain the interpolated and animated track that the video shows. Each row repeats the vessel's static particulars (name, callsign, ship type, dimensions, draught), so the file is complete on its own. Stingray writes the AIS vessels and the own-ship sensor readings together in one file. The CSV re-imports into Stingray correctly, so you can also use it as an interchange format.

The CSV ignores the trim window

The CSV always writes everything in the recording. The video and the Rhino model export only the timeline range that you trimmed to. The CSV is the complete decoded dataset, not the current view.

4. What each output shows

The three outputs are not three copies of the same data. They are at different points on the scale from raw to rendered. This difference is important if someone examines a deliverable in detail:

The CSV is the measured data. It contains the recorded fixes, unchanged, for the whole file. Stingray does not interpolate or trim it.
The Rhino model is measured geometry. It gives the real positions and hulls at each recorded fix, in a chart-aligned projection, over the trim window.
The video is a rendered view. It shows the interpolated motion between fixes (see the methodology), with your display choices. The video shows how the incident looked. Do not use it as the source of a measurement at metre scale.

General rule: measure from the CSV or the Rhino model. Use the video to show what happened.