MARITIME DATA

TRENDS
2017

PUBLISHED SUMMER 2017

FOREWORD
It has been 15 years since AIS (Automat-
ic Identification System) became man-
datory for Class A vessels. Over that
time, ship tracking data hasnt changed
drastically. Those in need of ship track-
ing data typically process a stream of
raw data into their own database of
ships, the last location of all contain-
er vessels, or whatever they happen to
need to keep their business competitive.

In 2017, that is beginning to change. More

eyes than ever on are global trade, securi-
ty, our fish stocks, and other maritime is-
sues. Demand for understanding the mar-
itime system is growing and alongside it
is the use of complex algorithms, analysis,
and tracking technologies. These drivers
are bringing comparatively rapid chang-
es to the industry. This report serves as
a starting place for what the industry can
expect throughout 2017 and into 2018.
MAJOR CHANGES FOR DATA SETS
The Last Few Voyages for Raw Data?
The ingestion of AIS data, which includes
very fragmented messages, could be near-
ing the end of its voyage for many end us-
ers. Businesses buying maritime data have
long had to either build expensive custom
software or work with an integrator to
take millions of data points each day and
turn it into something coherent or visual.
Duplication of this complex work is ex-
pensive and affects the bottom line.
Many companies who are peripherally
interested in ship tracking but dont have
the means to sift through millions of AIS
messages simply dont buy the raw data.
While the days of raw data are far from
over, they will likely soon be overtaken
by a much easier to use (and less over-
head-laden) API-based approach. The
trend away from NMEA streams and to-
wards APIs (Application Programming In-
terfaces) offloads much of the work onto
the data provider rather than the end user.
The Era of the API
On the surface, finding the three last
known locations of a ship sounds sim-
ple. However, with a raw data feed, the
end user must search through millions
Raw NMEA data feeds
contain millions of mes-
sages like the three here.
of messages, find all messages from
that particular ship (not all of which con-
tain the location), and pull out the last
three. When working from a data set of
25 million messages per day, piecing to-
gether a few data points is non-trivial.
In this example and many others, the trend
towards easy-to-use, RESTful APIs makes
sense. Rather than run through that com-
plex operation, the end user simply queries
the data provider for the last three posi-
tions of the specific ship, and that is what is
returned by the data provider in a matter of
milliseconds. All of the heavy lifting takes
place on the servers of the data provider.
These APIs open new prospects for both
new entrants to ship data and incumbents
alike. Data hosts will provide users with
coherent data about ships which is ex-
actly what most consumers of AIS data are
looking for in the first place. Many poten-
tial end users, especially small and medi-
um sized businesses, who previously had
no means for sifting through data, are free
to collect what they need through an API.
THE RIPPLE EFFECT
Customer Service Coming into Focus

Maritime data providers have taken much

deserved derision about their customer
service. Raw data feeds inherently have
a take it or leave it nature. The intro-
duction of robust APIs, new end users
entering the market, and the need for
training on these new technologies will
bring major changes to customer service.
With the proliferation of API-based data
services, you can expect a very new cus-
tomer service experience. Many of the
features already being added to these
services are in direct response to custom-
er feedback. Expect to see more features
in response to the needs of end-users.

CONCLUSIONS
The transition away from raw data stands
to save end users a healthy amount of
money in eliminating the need to host
their own large databases of ships and
historical data. This change also creates
new possibilities for system integrators
and analytics companies to add addition-
al value-add services. Companies in need
of ship tracking information and the in-
sights from that data will find that it is be-
coming significantly easier to access and
easier to use over the course of this year.

Contact Author:
Nick Allain Nick@spire.com