U.S. Vessel Locations from Automatic Identification System, 2015

Automatic Identification System (AIS) data records the location and characteristics of vessels in U.S. and international waters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management provide these records, filtered to a one-minute frequency and subset to the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone for 2015. The data originates from the U.S. Coast Guard's national network of AIS receivers.

Use Cases

• Modeling vessel traffic patterns based on real-time location broadcasts.
• Assessing navigation safety risks based on vessel proximity and movement data.
• Supporting coastal management decisions based on vessel activity within the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Strengths

• Data is derived from the U.S. Coast Guard's national AIS receiver network, an authoritative source.
• Records are processed to a standardized one-minute frequency for temporal consistency.
• Spatial coverage is defined as the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• File formats are listed as PDF and HTML, which may not be optimal for direct machine processing.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Transmitted and monitored vessel location data from the U.S. Coast Guard's national AIS receiver network, filtered and subset by NOAA and BOEM.

Time Range

2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:48:42.074405; freshness should be verified.

Geography

U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and international waters.