AIS Data Export – Protocols and Interfaces

If you are a contributor to MarineTraffic, we can share with you the data from some areas or vessels of your choice, for your personal use. We support several methods of data exporting, such as raw NMEA over TCP/IP and XML, CSV, JSON over HTTP. The specifications of the export protocols are described below.

NMEA data stream:

NMEA is the standard format of AIS data communicated between electronic devices through their serial ports. Specifically, AIS data comes as a stream of AIVDM messages, as described here: AIVDM.txt. We are able to ‘Push’ this data to a specified host as ASCII-encoded binary data over TCP/IP or UDP/IP. All we need is your IP address and Port number, ready to accept the incoming AIS data stream. If you do not have your own software to receive and process AIS data, there are several programs that could do the job for you, such as:
AIS Decoder,
AIS Parser,
Shipplotter.

AIS NMEA data stream will look like this:

!AIVDM,1,1,,B,19NWrrP02sbuuuuhM86hA0=n2<0:,0*12
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,1018lEPP00:tVVIhBeFh0?wj08Rp,0*5A
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,404k0uAu`T`G9bvnQqhCK4o0085o,0*26
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,19NWrrP02sbuv0KhM:Rh@@<F251L,0*2A
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,18M2Et0003:u9hEhETTaM10>051L,0*7C
!AIVDM,2,1,4,B,58M2Et02>2P<Q<;?C39QEA8608QDn22222222216Bpe@@6iF0KDnA3QF,0*74
!AIVDM,2,2,4,B,H88888888888880,2*53
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,17OfpH0P01:u5i7hDQUN2wvN0L0B,0*62
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,6=G<wGSEk?m@01Pf<u1mGij@onqH,0*14
!AIVDM,1,1,,B,17OpSQ0P1l:u8;KhEOj19wvT0@:p,0*4B

HTTP requests (XML, CSV, JSON):

AIS data can be provided through HTTP requests, in any of these formats: XML, CSV or JSON. The web service is prepared according to the requirements of each specific user. The returned data is filtered by one or more of the following criteria:

• A list of vessels (MMSI numbers)
• A fleet managed by a registered user
• The ID of a receiving station
• An area limited by geographical coordinates

The following HTTP request is an example that returns some data from the Aegean Sea:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/exportraw.aspx?id=1234567890&protocol=xml&msgtype=extended&timespan=10

The following parameters are used:

• id: A user ID provided by MarineTraffic
• protocol: Must be one of the following: xml, csv, json
• msgtype (optional): If used with the value ‘extended’ the returned records include the static data of the vessels. If omitted, the returned records include only position reports (AIS messages 1, 2, 3).
• timespan (optional): The maximum age, in minutes, of the returned positions. Maximum value is 60 minutes. If omitted, the default value is 2 minutes.

Restrictions and Comments:

• The minimum interval of subsequent requests is 2 minutes. If the HTTP request is called sooner, it will either return an empty response or cashed data.
• If the msgtype=extended parameter is used, the minimum interval of subsequent requests is 30 minutes
• The HTTP request is usually restricted to be called by a specific client’s IP address.
• Latitude and Longitude are in decimal degrees. Speed is on knots multiplied by 10. Timestamps are in UTC.

XML sample response:

<POS>
<row MMSI="237327000" LAT="37.433151" LON="24.947321" SPEED="0" COURSE="138" STATUS="15" 
TIMESTAMP="2012-04-18T21:03:00"/>
<row MMSI="240521000" LAT="37.462719" LON="25.32613" SPEED="0" COURSE="61" STATUS="0" 
TIMESTAMP="2012-04-18T21:03:00"/>
<row MMSI="240391000" LAT="37.463669" LON="25.32655" SPEED="0" COURSE="146" STATUS="0" 
TIMESTAMP="2012-04-18T21:02:00"/>
</POS>

XML-extended sample response:

<POS>
<row MMSI="205623000" LAT="37.24538" LON="25.590981" SPEED="65" COURSE="288" 
TIMESTAMP="2012-04-18T19:21:00" SHIPNAME="MALACHITE" SHIPTYPE="70" IMO="9549645" 
CALLSIGN="ONHL"FLAG="BE" LAST_PORT="PORT SAID" LAST_PORT_TIME="2012-04-16T18:26:00" 
DESTINATION="DERINCE" ETA="2012-04-20T14:00:00" LENGTH="90" WIDTH="14" DRAUGHT="50" 
GRT="3517" DWT="5000"YEAR_BUILT="2012"/>
<row MMSI="241087000" LAT="37.442139" LON="24.94309" SPEED="0" COURSE="171" 
TIMESTAMP="2012-04-18T19:21:00" SHIPNAME="BLUE STAR DELOS" SHIPTYPE="69" IMO="9565039"
CALLSIGN="SVBF7" FLAG="GR" CURRENT_PORT="SYROS" LAST_PORT="SYROS" 
LAST_PORT_TIME="2012-04-18T17:12:00" DESTINATION="SYROS" ETA="2012-04-18T14:00:00" 
LENGTH="145" WIDTH="22"DRAUGHT="58" GRT="17000" DWT="4000" YEAR_BUILT="2011"/>
<row MMSI="237594800" LAT="37.44849" LON="25.326691" SPEED="1" COURSE="175" 
TIMESTAMP="2012-04-18T19:21:00" SHIPNAME="ORCA" SHIPTYPE="65" IMO="0" CALLSIGN="SY2714" 
FLAG="GR"CURRENT_PORT="MYKONOS" LAST_PORT="MYKONOS" LAST_PORT_TIME="2012-04-18T17:12:00" 
DESTINATION="DELOS MYKONOS" ETA="1900-01-01T00:00:00" LENGTH="43" WIDTH="10" DRAUGHT="25"/>
</POS>

CSV (Comma Separated Values) sample response:

MMSI, LAT, LON, SPEED, COURSE, STATUS, TIMESTAMP
311029000,37.48617,24.37233,132,40,0,2012-04-18T21:09:00
240521000,37.46272,25.32613,0,71,0,2012-04-18T21:09:00
237485000,37.50118,25.23968,177,73,0,2012-04-18T21:08:00

CSV-extended sample response:

MMSI, LAT, LON, SPEED, COURSE, TIMESTAMP, SHIPNAME, SHIPTYPE, IMO, CALLSIGN, FLAG, CURRENT_PORT, 
LAST_PORT, LAST_PORT_TIME, DESTINATION, ETA, LENGTH, WIDTH, DRAUGHT, GRT, DWT, YEAR_BUILT
237594800,37.44848,25.32671,0,177,2012-04-18T21:10:00,ORCA,65,0,SY2714,GR,MYKONOS,
MYKONOS,2012-04-18T17:12:00,DELOS MYKONOS,1900-01-01T00:00:00,43,10,25,,,
240521000,37.46272,25.32613,0,71,2012-04-18T21:09:00,THEOLOGOS P.,60,9223150,SZNB,GR,MYKONOS,
RAFINA,2012-04-18T15:09:00,AND-THN-MYK,2012-04-18T22:30:00,118,22,48,4935,3227,2000
237106400,37.46368,25.32642,0,0,2012-04-18T21:10:00,AGIA ELENI,31,0,SV4137,GR,MYKONOS,
MYKONOS,2012-04-18T17:12:00,MYKONOS,2012-04-30T11:00:00,30,7,0,,,

Simplified JSON sample response:

[[237485000,37.50998,25.2748,176,71,0,"2012-04-18T21:15:00"],
[237106400,37.46369,25.32643,2,9,0,"2012-04-18T21:15:00"],
[353718000,37.43699,24.94052,0,93,5,"2012-04-18T21:15:00"]]

Simplified JSON-extended sample response:

[[240391000,37.46368,25.32655,1,50,"2012-04-18T21:10:00","MEGALOCHARI VII",52,9039949,"SY 6064",
"GR","MYKONOS","MYKONOS","2012-04-18T17:13:00","MIKONOS","1900-01-01T00:00:00",27,9,48,265,183,1991],
[237106400,37.46368,25.32642,0,0,"2012-04-18T21:10:00","AGIA ELENI",31,0,"SV4137",
"GR","MYKONOS","MYKONOS","2012-04-18T17:12:00","MYKONOS","2012-04-30T11:00:00",30,7,0,,,],
[311029000,37.48617,24.37233,132,40,"2012-04-18T21:09:00","GREEN MAGNIFIC",79,9011492,"C6VY3",
"BS","","SKAGEN","2012-02-21T18:34:00","ODESA","2012-04-21T20:00:00",136,16,75,5103,6116,1992]]

Please use the form below to enquire about a data feed or a set of historical data: