Determining a virtual representation of at least part of an environment

A system for determining a virtual representation of at least part of an environment that is navigable by a ship, the system having:

• one or more beacons remote from the ship, each of the one or more beacons comprising:
• a sensor unit for sensing surroundings information representative of topography of at least part of the environment, the surroundings information comprising information representative of a further ship on a surface of a waterway,
• a transmitter, and
• a controller connected to the at least one sensor and configured to cause the surroundings information to be transmitted via the transmitter;
• and
• a control centre remote from the ship, the control centre comprising:
• a receiver configured to receive the surroundings information and a current position of the ship, and
• a control unit connected to the receiver and configured to determine a dynamic virtual representation of at least part of the environment based on the surroundings information, wherein the dynamic virtual representation comprises a dynamic topographical map and includes a representation of the further ship on the waterway, the control unit configured to determine, based at least in part on the virtual representation and on the current position of the ship, navigation information to direct navigation of the ship in the waterway, the navigation information comprising course heading information for the ship to follow when navigating in the waterway, the control unit configured to cause the navigation information to be transmitted to the ship via a control centre transmitter.