AIS Factsheet - Fishing Vessels
Notes on the provided data:
- Sources of AIS data: Satellite and Terrestrial data has been extracted from Spire Global’s data archives
- The data time range is between the first day of the selected month at 00:00:00 UTC and the first day of the following month at 00:00:00 UTC (for example January 2020's time range is between 2020-01-01 at 00:00:00 UTC and 2020-02-01 at 00:00:00 UTC)
- Data has been extracted for global region
- Vessels Include: All Fishing Vessels
Different AIS Messages:
Spire AIS data sample files contain records representing different types of AIS messages.
Message Types 1, 2, 3, 18, 19, 27 are position messages and contain values in the position related fields.
Message Types 5 & 24 are static voyage messages and contain values in the static details and voyage related fields.
To identify the Name, IMO number or type of ships related to the AIS Position reports, the MMSI number must be used to join together the 2 different sets of AIS data.
IE if position reports are recorded against MMSI 636018333 in AIS message type 1 then the IMO and name of that vessel is discovered by looking for AIS message type 5 reported using the same MMSI number as shown below.
Table showing the distribution of values in key fields from different AIS messages
AIS Data Sample File Column Descriptions:
| Column | Data Type | Descriptions |
| created_at | date | ISO 8601 formatted timestamp in UTC of the time the vessel record was created |
| timestamp | string | ISO 8601 formatted timestamp in UTC of the time the AIS message was transmitted |
| msg_type | integer | AIS message type
Common values: 1, 2, 3, 5, 18, 19, 24, 27 AIS message types are explained in more details here |
| mmsi | integer | The Maritime Mobile Service Identity of the vessel transmitting the AIS message
Possible values: 000000000 – 999999999 |
| latitude | float | Vessel latitude in degrees
(North = positive, South = negative) range -90 to +90 |
| longitude | float | Vessel longitude in degrees
(East = positive, West = negative) range = -180 to +180 |
| speed | number | Vessel speed over ground represented in knots
Possible values: 0 – 102.2 knots, 102.3 (not available) |
| course | number | Vessel course over ground in degrees
Possible values: 0 – 359.9 degrees, 360.0 (not available) |
| heading | number | Vessel true heading in degrees
Possible values: 0 – 359 degrees, 511 (not available) |
| rot | integer | Vessel rate of turn
Possible values: -127 – 127; -128 (not available) |
| imo | integer | IMO number of the ship
Unique International Maritime Organization number for the vessel that stays with the ship for it’s life valid values 7 digit number |
| name | string | Vessel name |
| call_sign | string | Vessel call sign |
| draught | float | Vessel draught represented in 1/10 meters
Possible values: 0.1 – 255, 0 (not available; default) |
| ship_and_cargo_type | integer | Vessel ship and cargo type code
Some common values: 30 (fishing vessel), 52 (tug boat), 70 (cargo/fishing ship) more information on determining the ship type is detailed here |
| length | number | Vessel length extracted from ship dimensions to_bow and to_stern in meters |
| width | number | Vessel width extracted from ship dimensions to_port and to_starboard in meters |
| eta | string | Vessel estimated time of arrival as entered by the captain, represented in ISO 8601 format
Possible values: Month: 1 – 12, 0 (not available; default); Day: 1 – 31, 0 (not available; default); Hour: 0 – 23, 24 (not available; default); Minute: 0 – 59, 60 (not available; default) |
| destination | string | Vessel destination as entered by the vessel captain |
| status | integer | Vessel navigation status
Some common values: 0 (under way using engine), 1 (at anchor), 3 (restricted maneuverability), 7 (engaged in fishing), 15 |
| maneuver | integer | Vessel maneuver code
Valid values: 0 (not available; default), 1 (not engaged in special maneuver), 2 (engaged in special maneuver) |
| accuracy | integer | Vessel GPS geo location accuracy in meters
Possible values: 1 (high, <=10 meters); 0 (low, >10 meters, default) |
| collection_type | string | How the message was captured
Possible values: satellite or terrestrial or dynamic |
| to_bow | integer | Distance from AIS transponder to the bow side edge in meters (Hull dimension A) |
| to_stern | integer | Distance from AIS transponder to the stern side edge in meters (Hull dimension B) |
| to_port | integer | Distance from AIS transponder to the port side edge in meters (Hull dimension C) |
| to_starboard | integer | Distance from AIS transponder to the starbord side edge in meters (Hull dimension D) |
Spire Customer Support
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Spire Documentation
- Full documentation (as well as Code Samples for getting started quickly) can be found in the Developer Portal.
- We answer many common questions from customers in Spire Answers (our knowledge base).
- If you're looking for a starting point with our APIs, I highly recommend our API Calls: Getting Started article. I would also recommend referencing our Using API Query Parameters article to learn more about all available filtering options.
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Spire Sales Engineering Team
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