2019 AIS Vessel Density Maps for Northwest Atlantic

2019 AIS data from ships over 300 gross tonnage was analyzed to create vessel density maps for the Northwest Atlantic. Fisheries and Oceans Canada produced these maps to show pre-pandemic shipping patterns. The data supports marine spatial planning and maritime security applications.

Use Cases

• Analyze yearly and monthly vessel density maps of all vessel classes combined for spatial planning decisions.
• Compare yearly density maps of each vessel class to understand traffic composition in the Northwest Atlantic.
• Use the 2019 pre-pandemic depiction to establish a baseline for studying changes in maritime transport patterns.
• Apply the GEOTIF and ESRI REST formats for GIS-based spatial analysis of shipping densities.

Strengths

• Data represents a full year (2019) of AIS tracking for the Northwest Atlantic region.
• Includes separate analyses for combined vessel classes and individual vessel classes.
• Provided in multiple geospatial formats (GEOTIF, ESRI REST, FGDB/GDB, PDF) for different analytical needs.
• Explicitly captures pre-COVID-19 pandemic maritime conditions for baseline comparison.

Limitations

• Data is limited to a single year (2019) and cannot show trends over time.
• AIS coverage is mandatory only for larger vessels (e.g., over 300 gross tonnage), potentially missing smaller boat traffic.
• The analysis is aggregated into density maps; the underlying raw AIS positional data is not provided.

Provenance

Source

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Collection Method

Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of global, satellite and terrestrial-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) data.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Analysis is based on 2019 data, last updated in the catalog on 2026-03-24.

Geography

Northwest Atlantic