Collisions or grounding of ships can often be traced back to "human errors", i.e., misunderstandings, fatigue, stress or simply inattentiveness. This project implements the zone concept from aviation industry to the maritime sector.

In the aviation industry a no-go zone is established around air crafts. A similar zone can be defined around maritime objects such as ships or reefs. The (3 dimensional) zone size depends on static as well as dynamic parameters like vessel speed, wind and wave. Ships that represent a higher risk for the environment like oil tankers can get assigned a larger zone.
The various zones can be communicated between vessels, as well as to land based coastal authorities, such as a VTSs in order to focus the navigators’ or controllers’ attention to potential critical situations – before they even emerge.
The 3dAZ project was started in 2006 and will last into 2007.