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Datasets / European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet)

EMODnet Human Activities, Vessel Density Map

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The Vessel Density maps in the EU are created since the 2019 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). The dataset is updated every year and is available for viewing and download on EMODnet web portal (Human Activities, https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/human-activities). The maps are based on AIS data yearly purchased from Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), ORBCOMM and vesseltracker.com. The maps, GeoTIFF format, show shipping density in 1x1km cells of a grid covering all EU waters and some neighbouring areas. Density is expressed as hours per square kilometre per month. The following ship types are available:0 Other, 1 Fishing, 2 Service, 3 Dredging or underwater ops, 4 Sailing, 5 Pleasure Craft, 6 High speed craft, 7 Tug and towing, 8 Passenger, 9 Cargo, 10 Tanker, 11 Military and Law Enforcement, 12 Unknown and All ship types. Data are available by month of year and yearly averages are also available; to date, the data cover the period 2017–2024. For the 2024 the AIS data provider experienced a loss of satellite data starting from the month of June and despite the fact that the provider tried to mitigate this important decrease of data, the average amount of data for 2024 is not dense as the previous years.

Data and resources

Additional information

Temporal extent2017-01-01 – 2024-12-31
Date (creation)2019-03-11
Date (publication)2019-03-21
Date (revision)2025-12-06
StatusonGoing
Update frequencyasNeeded
Metadata languageen
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution 4.0
Source metadataISO 19115 XML
Last updated2026-11-04
Created2026-11-04
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