European Commission logo
Energy, Climate change, Environment

Traffic Density Maps for a better understanding of maritime traffic

News article |
©EMODnet

We’re delighted to announce the release of a new data product available on EMODnet Human Activities: traffic density maps. Based on AIS data from ships, these maps were prepared by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in response to a series of ad-hoc requests to complement specific studies or projects.

By reconstructing ship movement patterns, EMSA’s maps will contribute to a better understanding of maritime traffic in the EU. This set of maps complements the vessel density maps released by EMODnet Human Activities earlier on this year, which have just been updated with 2018 data.

The two data products share many a similarity. They cover the same area, they’re based on AIS data, and they offer a visual representation of maritime traffic. However, while EMODnet’s maps calculate the time spent by certain ship types in 1 square km grid cells over a month, EMSA’s maps count the number of routes that cross each cell of the same grid.

The method used by EMSA to process AIS data and create the maps is available here. EMODnet’s method is available here.

To find out more read the full press release and visit the EMODnet Human Activities portal.