Step 0: Obtain data

The data that we will be using in this tutorial is AIS data from the US Coast Guard. AIS stands for Automatic Identification System and the records correspond to messages being transmitted by transponders on vessels containing information on the location, velocity, status, etc. of a ship.

A collection of zip files with that data can be found at the website of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For this tutorial, it is sufficient if you download a single zip file.

For convenience, you can simply click here to start the download.

While the AIS data is being downloaded, you can already continue with the next part where you will create the new data set.

Next part

Go to the next part: Step 1: Create data set