Dataset of ocean vessel traffic in the North Sea

Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a technology that allows ships to broadcast their position, course, speed, and other information to other vessels or shore-based stations. By collecting and analysing this data, it is possible to create a heatmap of ship activity in a particular region, such as the North Sea. This heatmap acts as a representation of vessel activity per class. A heatmap in a standard geoinformatics format may be preferable to scientific researchers as it would quickly allow users to overlay their own data onto the vessel density layer thus providing spatial context and an ability to compare their dataset to the distribution and intensity of ship activity in a particular region. This dataset represents ocean vessel activity in the North Sea for 2022 and was created using AIS data collected using multiple coastal receivers. The dataset was created from reported vessel positions aggregated both spatially and temporally. The end goal of this data processing is to provide a publicly available spatial layer that can be queried to provide monthly vessel traffic statistics for a region in the North Sea. The data was spatially filtered to only include AIS messages for Latitudes between 49.5 and 53.8 degrees North, and 0.2 and 7 degrees East. The bounding box was chosen as it includes Belgium canals and the Belgium part of the North Sea. The dataset has multiple uses as a collaboration dataset, some example of use-cases that this dataset has been used for include using it asa time-series of statistical priors for vessel classes in order to improve vessel classification algorithms and to visualise vessel behaviour in order to locate potential mooring sites where the risk of potential fishing net snags is low. It has also been used to locate areas of potential anchor scarring in anchorages near ports.