Data cables run across oceans worldwide, providing internet and telephone connectivity between different continents and countries. But, if these cables break, it can be difficult to track where the breakage is, making it challenging and time-consuming to repair.

A Canadian client sought a proof-of-concept web app that could precisely overlay global ship movements with damage to the underwater data cables. They also needed the ability to correlate any underwater cable breakages with ships anchored in the vicinity.

The challenging aspect was capturing the exact moment the cable experienced a fault and then replaying the movement of ships in close proximity to the fault location.

To overcome this, we created a timeline scroller, allowing users to scroll backward and forward over the past 24 hours to visualise the path of ships in the vicinity of the cable break at that specific time.

The proof-of-concept was a huge success, and the subsequent stage of development was promptly approved by the board. Fixing those deep sea cables became a lot easier.