Dataset

Historical AIS vessel positions (US waters)

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Free annual archives of terrestrial AIS vessel-position messages covering all US coastal waters, from 2009 onward, ship tracks, speeds and port calls that serve as ground truth for trade-flow and commodity-shipping research.

Dataset card

Historical AIS vessel positions (US waters) is a public-domain dataset published by MarineCadastre (NOAA AIS) containing archived automatic identification system (AIS) transmissions for vessels operating in US waters. It is distributed as open data under MarineCadastre's standard terms.

What this dataset contains

The dataset comprises historical AIS position reports broadcast by vessels transiting US waters, captured by NOAA's AIS receivers and archived by MarineCadastre. Coverage focuses on the US exclusive economic zone and adjacent navigable waters, supporting analyses of vessel movements, port approaches, and domestic maritime activity. It is released without usage fees under public-domain or open licensing terms.

Structure and fields

The publisher's published schema for this dataset is not documented in the source material, so specific column names cannot be confirmed. Typical AIS archives of this kind expose vessel identifiers (MMSI, IMO), position (latitude, longitude, sog, cog), heading, navigational status, vessel type, and a UTC timestamp per broadcast. Analysts should consult the MarineCadastre data dictionary or file headers to confirm the exact fields present in any downloaded extract.

How analysts use it

Investment analysts use historical US-waters AIS data to reconstruct vessel routes, measure port-call frequencies, and estimate shipping volumes for commodities, containers, or crude across US ports and coastal regions. The series can also support back-tests of trade-flow indicators or serve as a baseline against higher-frequency commercial AIS feeds. Given the public-domain license, it is commonly used for research prototypes before purchasing denser commercial coverage.

Documentation & references 2
  1. MarineCadastre (NOAA AIS)/Historical AIS vessel positions (US waters): listing on the provider website
  2. MarineCadastre (NOAA AIS): official website

Further reading

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  • Alternative data for hedge fundsA practical guide to alternative data for hedge funds: team design, budget sequencing, infrastructure, vendor portfolio construction and the metrics that show whether the program creates investment value.
  • Free alternative data sourcesThe practical list of free alternative-data sources for investors: public filings, official statistics, satellite and earth observation, on-chain data, web archives and open registries, what each covers, what it costs in engineering effort, and where free data falls short.

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