Is there an API or Web Service that can be used to read AIS data? Most links I read starting at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System) say that AIS data is freely available but I'm having a hard time finding a provider of the data. A C# example or language agnostic web service would be helpful.
Ship maritime AIS information API
14.2k Views Asked by James Cadd At
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Building a project map for a clients website. Basically a world map based on the google maps api with pin's where they did their projects and if you click on a pin you get additional information about the project.
Most were just static addresses which was ok, but they did 6 project's on luxury yachts. So had the idea to base this marker on the current position of the yacht. Came across this service, they have a nice API for it.
The down side to this, it's a bit pricey. Cheapest option, checking daily position of 1 ship -> € 5,- a month. So this would be € 30,- a month for a relative useless but awesome feature.
Cheaper alternative's are welcome.
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AIS data is freely available in the sense that you can freely receive it with the proper equipment, just by holding up an antenna in an area with shipping traffic.
Samples of received AIS data popped up quite a bit in my brief Google search, so I assume that your question is about where to get a real-time feed of AIS messages (that someone else is receiving). Whether you'd be able to get this at no cost is questionable; most organizations that would offer this seem to want you to either pay for the service or to share in kind.
There are a few places that offer a free stream, but none of them seem to offer any guarantees on availability in the short or long term.
So the answer to your question is "yes, and you should expect to pay something for it".
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There is a feed from the San Fransisco Bay available for non-commercial use at hd-sf.com:9009.
I have used it to test my Java-based AIS decoder https://github.com/tbsalling/aismessages/wiki.
I ended up using vesseltracker.com for this project. Unfortunately it's a "call us for a price" service so I'll continue looking for a provider with a flat/reasonable/free rate.