Journal of Information Technology and its Utilization
Vol 9 No 1 (2026): May 2026

Lightweight Retrieval-Augmented Generation Based on Google Sheets as a Dynamic Knowledge Base for the Maritime BMKG Teluk Bayur Shipping Safety Chatbot

Andini Nareswari Rifaat (Sekolah Vokasi UGM)
Budi Iman Samiaji (Teluk Bayur Maritime Meteorology Station, Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika, Padang, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 May 2026

Abstract

Maritime weather information is critical for shipping safety in archipelagic countries such as Indonesia. However, current dissemination methods at the Teluk Bayur Maritime Meteorological Station rely on one-way infographic distribution through social media, lacking interactive communication capabilities. This study presents a lightweight Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based chatbot that integrates Google Sheets as a dynamic knowledge base for real-time maritime weather dissemination through a conversational interface. The system was implemented using Python and Streamlit within a four-layer monolithic architecture and covers six information categories, including early warnings, three-day weather summaries, and vessel safety recommendations across nine maritime regions in West Sumatra for four vessel types. A rule-based decision support module classifies sailing conditions as safe (aman) or cautionary (waspada) based on wind speed and wave height thresholds defined by Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency of Indonesian (BMKG). Functional testing confirmed accurate responses across all menu features and free-form queries. Quantitative evaluation using 50 queries, scored on a 0–1 scale using ROUGE-L and TF-IDF cosine similarity, showed that the RAG-enabled model achieved an overall mean score of 0.2285, compared to 0.1425 for the non-RAG baseline (+0.0860) demonstrating that structured context grounding effectively reduces hallucination and enhances information reliability for maritime safety applications.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jitu

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT Engineering

Description

To explore scientific developments in the field of information technology and its utilization, including data mining, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Processing, and Information ...