[munk-a]

This is one particular outlet[1] for that data but, AFAIK, all modern commercial vessels continuously report their location via satellite or, preferably, coastal AIS. That data is collected by something then APIs happen along with aggregation and probably more APIs and... after all that, the data is pretty widely available.

Ship location isn't considered privileged security information which was a bit surprising to me since pirates are still a thing, but yea - that's the state of the world.

Edit: Apparently I forgot to include the link, here it is:

1. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:32.5/cente...

[cricalix]

As a small vessel (10 metres) owner and operator, it's quite nice that AIS operates over VHF. I can install an AIS receiver and see precisely what's coming my way, and the instrumentation available to me can predict whether I might collide with the ship, or if I'll pass ahead/behind (I prefer behind). Useful in the dark when distance is hard to gauge.

Saw on twitter the other day that one vessel going past the east coast of Africa had changed their info field (destination I think) to "ARMED GUARD ONBOARD"..

[bmurray7jhu]

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/lemonodor/status/1374803809696817154

[WJW]

It's super useful to know the location, speed and course of other vessels nearby for navigational purposes. For those few regions where piracy is a serious issue, vessels are either escorted by navy ships in convoys, arrange private security contractors or turn off AIS. The benefits of hiding yourself don't outweigh the downsides though, especially not in "civilized" oceans.

[laurent92]

> isn’t considered privileged information

Not only that, but Bloomberg terminals have the ship locations in real time because it impacts trading a lot: Petrol, ore, cereals, etc.