Nationwide Vessel Tracking Data from AIS, 2017

2017 data from the U.S. Coast Guard's national network of Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers, filtered to a one-minute frequency. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management jointly provide these records, which depict vessel location and characteristics within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. The data supports navigation safety and coastal management.

Use Cases

• Modeling maritime traffic patterns based on real-time vessel location broadcasts.
• Assessing environmental risk for coastal management based on vessel density and movement.
• Supporting navigation safety analysis based on the monitoring of vessel characteristics and positions.

Strengths

• Data is sourced from the authoritative U.S. Coast Guard national AIS receiver network.
• Records are processed to a standardized one-minute frequency rate.
• Spatial coverage is explicitly 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.
• Available file formats (PDF, HTML) suggest the primary data may not be directly machine-readable.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Transmitted and monitored by AIS devices on vessels, collected by the U.S. Coast Guard and industry, and jointly processed by NOAA and BOEM.

Time Range

2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:48:22.884273; freshness should be verified.

Geography

U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and international waters.