Vessel Position

Our system provides the last known position of a vessel, based on AIS (Automatic Identification System) data.

How We Get Vessel Positions

We collect AIS data from two complementary sources:

Terrestrial AIS — coastal and port-based receivers.
Satellite AIS — for global coverage, especially in open seas.

This combination ensures the most up-to-date position data available.

Data Structure

The vessel position is provided in the lastPosition field:

"lastPosition": [
  {
    "timestamp": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "longitude": 0.17408832907676697,
    "latitude": 49.456398010253906,
    "plusCode": "7GXHQ89X+2G"
  }
]

Field descriptions:

timestamp — The UTC date/time of the last AIS position received.
Note: Some vessels may stop transmitting AIS temporarily; updates are typically more frequent than every 10 minutes.
longitude/latitude — Coordinates (in decimal degrees) of the vessel’s last known position.
plusCode — A Google Plus Code corresponding to the vessel’s last known position.
Plus Codes are a type of address for places without traditional street addresses, generated from latitude and longitude. They divide the world into small areas, each identified by a unique code. The latitude/longitude provided corresponds to the center of the Plus Code area.

AIS Limitations

AIS positions depend on the vessel actively transmitting.

In rare cases, AIS signals may be delayed or absent due to transmission gaps, equipment issues, or regulations.
When this occurs, the lastPosition data will reflect the most recent available AIS position.

How We Get Vessel Positions

Data Structure

AIS Limitations

References