AIS Data Overview

The most common vessel tracking dataset is Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, largely due to transponders being mandated under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). This system requires ships of certain sizes and types to broadcast information such as identity, position, course, and speed, using VHF radio frequencies.

These frequencies are then picked up in one of three ways:

1.     Terrestrial (Land based) receivers

2.     Satellite receivers

3.     Vessel-based (Dynamic) receivers

This data can be provided at various intervals including Real-Time, every 15 minutes, every hour, every 6 hours, every day.

Benefits

As all vessels over 300GT travelling internationally are required to transmit their AIS position, this means that the dataset has huge coverage.

As the maritime ecosystem is built around the utilisation of vessels to move cargo, understanding where these vessels are or have been a fundamental component for almost all companies operating within the space. This level of transparency has led to enormous improvements in efficiency, compliance, risk management, business development and many other use cases.

Drawbacks

As the technology has developed, so have those which look to manipulate it. Spoofing, turning off AIS, and a variety of other tricks are deployed by bad actors. While a number of suppliers have solutions which can highlight these problems, it still remains a key issue when utilising vessel tracking data.

As a significant percentage of companies working within the maritime ecosystem are using this dataset, it’s difficult to ascertain any novel patterns or concepts without pairing it with a other datasets to derive new outputs.