U.S. Vessel Locations from Automatic Identification System, 2023

Automatic Identification System (AIS) data records the location and characteristics of vessels in U.S. and international waters in real-time. The dataset is a filtered subset from the U.S. Coast Guard's national network, processed to a one-minute frequency and covering the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. It is made available by NOAA and BOEM for coastal management purposes.

Use Cases

• Model vessel traffic patterns based on real-time location broadcasts.
• Analyze maritime safety and navigation based on vessel characteristics.
• Support coastal management and spatial planning based on EEZ coverage.
• Conduct temporal analysis of port activity based on one-minute frequency data.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative U.S. Coast Guard national AIS receiver network.
• Records are filtered to a consistent one-minute frequency for temporal analysis.
• 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 and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Available file formats are PDF and HTML, which may not be optimal for direct computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce, in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Collection Method

Collected from the U.S. Coast Guard's national network of AIS receivers, then filtered and subset.

Time Range

2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:48:47.080155; freshness should be verified.

Geography

U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and surrounding international waters.