Vessel Labels on the Map: Name, MMSI, Type or Speed
In this article 4 sections
Watch a container queue build outside Rotterdam or Santos for more than a few minutes and you’ll see the problem. Six or seven triangles bunch so close together that tapping the right one takes two or three tries, and by the time the ship details load you’ve lost track of which icon you meant. MarineRadar’s vessel labels on the map fix that. The feature puts a short tag, a name, an MMSI, a type, or a speed, right next to each ship icon, so you can tell them apart at a glance instead of opening every card. It sits inside Map Options, it works on both iPhone and Android, and it costs you one toggle plus a single tap to pick what the tag shows.
What the labels actually show
Every label is built from the same AIS data MarineRadar already pulls for a ship’s detail page, there’s no separate lookup happening. You can choose Vessel Name, MMSI, IMO, Type or Speed, and the app swaps the text on every visible ship the moment you change the setting. Name and destination fields come from what the crew typed into the vessel’s AIS transponder, so a label can occasionally read blank or outdated if nobody’s updated it in a while. MMSI and IMO are the two fixed identifiers tied to the hull itself. That’s why they’re useful when a ship’s display name is missing or wrong, and why finding a ship’s MMSI number is often the faster way to confirm you’re looking at the right vessel.
Type pulls from the same classification MarineRadar uses elsewhere in the app, tanker, cargo, passenger, fishing, and so on, and it’s a quick way to scan a crowded anchorage for, say, every tanker without opening each one. Speed shows the vessel’s current reported speed over ground in knots. None of these fields include cargo contents or container counts. AIS just doesn’t carry that. A label reading “Cargo” tells you the hull type, not what’s inside it. For a deeper read on what a given type actually means, the breakdown on ship type classifications is a reasonable next stop.
Turning labels on
The toggle lives one level under the map’s main options sheet, and it only appears once you’ve got ships showing on the map at all. The path starts from the home screen.
Step 1: Open Map options
From the home screen’s options menu, tap Map options. This opens the same bottom sheet where you already pick between the standard, satellite and nautical map styles.
Step 2: Scroll to Display on Map
Below the map style row, find the Display on Map card and make sure Vessels (or My Fleets, if that’s what you’re tracking) is switched on. Vessel labels only show up once one of those two layers is active, since there’s nothing to label otherwise.
Step 3: Find Vessel Label Display
A new card labeled Vessel Label Display appears just below Display on Map as soon as vessels are turned on.
Step 4: Turn on Vessel Labels
Tap the Vessel Labels switch inside that card. A row of five chips expands underneath it.
Step 5: Pick what the label shows
Tap Vessel Name, MMSI, IMO, Type or Speed. The map updates immediately, every ship’s label switches to the field you picked, and the setting sticks until you change it again.
Picking what to display
Vessel Name is the default, and it’s the obvious pick when you already know which ship you’re waiting on, like a ferry, a bulk carrier or a tanker heading into port.
MMSI works better when you’re checking a berthing schedule or port authority list that uses numbers instead of names. Names can be duplicated or changed, but the MMSI stays tied to the transponder.
IMO is the one to use when you need a number that follows the hull through a name change or a sale. It never changes.
Type shines in open water. Switch to it over a busy strait or fishing ground and you can tell tankers from fishing boats without tapping a single icon. It’s handy for tracking a fleet, like spotting a particular carrier’s vessels in a mixed crowd.
Speed is the one most people use only now and then, mainly to see which ship in a cluster is actually moving. Two overlapping triangles can look identical until one reads 0.2 kn and the other 14.
Where vessel labels on the map actually help
Picture a crowded anchorage or a strait with a dozen ships converging. Not long ago every icon looked the same until you tapped it. With labels on, you just scan, which makes it much easier to spot one specific ship in the crowd.
MarineRadar keeps labels off below zoom level 8, and even above that it shows only about one ship in a hundred by MMSI. That stops the map from turning into a wall of overlapping text when you’re zoomed out over a whole coastline. Zoom in on the cluster you care about and the labels fill back in.
Some ships won’t show up at all, though. Naval vessels often switch their transponders off, so a warship passing a labeled commercial fleet may be invisible. Coverage also thins out the farther a ship is from shore-based receivers, no matter how your labels are set. Our guide on how ship tracking apps receive vessel data explains why.
That’s not a flaw in the labels, just AIS being AIS. The map can only label what the network is actually hearing.
FAQs
What do the labels next to ships on the map show?
Whichever field you’ve selected in Vessel Label Display: the vessel’s name, its MMSI, its IMO number, its ship type, or its current speed in knots. You pick one field at a time and it applies to every ship on the map.
Can I see a ship's MMSI without opening its detail page?
Yes, switch the label field to MMSI in Map Options and it shows directly above every vessel icon.
Why don't I see a label on every ship, even with the toggle on?
Labels are hidden below zoom level 8 to keep the map readable, and even above that zoom the app only labels a sample of ships rather than all of them until you zoom in further on a specific cluster. A ship with no AIS name reported will also show a blank or missing label for that field even when the layer is on.
Does turning on vessel labels slow the map down?
It adds one extra layer on top of the ship icons you’re already seeing, and MarineRadar limits how many labels render at wide zoom levels specifically to avoid that cost, so most users won’t notice a difference.
Can I label ships by speed instead of name?
Yes, Speed is one of the five options in the label chip row, alongside Vessel Name, MMSI, IMO and Type, and switching to it updates every visible ship’s label to its current speed over ground.
Do vessel labels work on My Fleet ships too?
Yes, the label layer applies as long as either the Vessels or My Fleets display is turned on in Map Options, so ships you’re tracking under My Fleets get labeled the same way as the general vessel layer.
Track the ships behind the story
MarineRadar follows 112,000+ vessels with satellite positions every 5 minutes. Search by name, MMSI or IMO — free on iOS and Android.
