Method of providing a cellular phone/pda communication system

The method of claim 22, further comprising:

• receiving from a first user device information indicating user selection of one or more of the displayed symbols corresponding to second user devices and, based thereon:
• obtaining respective contact information for each of the second user devices;
• and
• facilitating a respective communication between the first user device and each of the second user devices using the contact information of the second user device.

A system comprising:

• one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising:
• receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising identities of one or more ships and their respective locations;
• sending through the Internet the identities and respective locations of the one or more ships to a plurality of user devices wherein each of the user devices is configured to display, for each of the ships, respective data representing the location of the ship;
• and
• receiving through the Internet at various times from one or more of the user devices respective first information comprising an identity and location of the user device and sending the identity and location to one or more of the other user devices,
• wherein each of the other user devices is configured to display respective data representing the location of the user device.

The system of claim 24, wherein the operations further comprise:

• receiving from a first user device information indicating user selection of one or more of the displayed symbols corresponding to second user devices and, based thereon:
• obtaining respective contact information for each of the second user devices;
• and
• facilitating a respective communication between the first user device and each of the second user devices using the contact information of the second user device.

A method comprising:

• performing by one or more computers:
• receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising an identity and a location of a ship;
• selecting one or more user devices to receive the identity and the location of the ship based, at least in part, on the location of the ship, wherein each of the one or more user devices is configured to display data representing the location of the ship;
• and
• sending the identity and the location of the ship through the Internet to the one or more selected user devices.

A system comprising:

• one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising:
• receiving through the Internet Automatic Identification System (AIS) information comprising an identity and a location of a ship;
• selecting one or more user devices to receive the identity and the location of the ship based, at least in part, on the location of the ship, wherein each of the one or more user devices is configured to display data representing the location of the ship;
• and
• sending the identity and the location of the ship through the Internet to the one or more selected user devices.