The Vessel Density maps in the EU were created in 2019 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). The dataset is updated every year and is available for viewing and download on EMODnet Human Activities web portal (www.emodnet-humanactivities.eu). The maps are based on AIS data yearly purchased from Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS) and ORBCOMM. The maps, GeoTIFF format, show shipping density in 1x1km cells of a grid covering all EU waters and some neighbouring areas. Density is expressed as hours per square kilometre per month. The following ship types are available:0 Other, 1 Fishing, 2 Service, 3 Dredging or underwater ops, 4 Sailing, 5 Pleasure Craft, 6 High speed craft, 7 Tug and towing, 8 Passenger, 9 Cargo, 10 Tanker, 11 Military and Law Enforcement, 12 Unknown and All ship types. Data are available by month of year. Yearly averages are also available.

The grid is based on proposal at the 1st European Workshop on Reference Grids in 2003 and later INSPIRE geographical grid systems. The sample grid available here is part of a set of three polygon grids in 1, 10 and 100 kilometres. The grids cover at least country borders and, where applicable, marine Exclusive Economic Zones v7.0, http://www.marineregions.org. Note that the extent of the grid into the marine area does not reflect the extent of the territorial waters.

The grid is based on proposal at the 1st European Workshop on Reference Grids in 2003 and later INSPIRE geographical grid systems. The sample grid available here is part of a set of three polygon grids in 1, 10 and 100 kilometres. The grids cover at least country borders and, where applicable, marine Exclusive Economic Zones v7.0, http://www.marineregions.org. Note that the extent of the grid into the marine area does not reflect the extent of the territorial waters.

This metadata refers to the EEA marine assessment grid, to which all data and assessment results have been spatially mapped in order to ensure that data can be compared in a uniform way across the European regional seas. The marine assessment grid is based on the EEA reference grid system. The EEA reference grid is based on ERTS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection with parameters: latitude of origin 52° N, longitude of origin 10° E, false northing 3 210 000.0 m, false easting 4 321 000.0 m. All grid cells are named with a unique identifier containing information on grid cell size and the distance from origin in meters (easting and northing). An important attribute of the EEA reference grid system is that by using an equal area projection all grid cells are having the same area for the same grid size. In this marine assessment grid, two grid sizes are used: * 100 x 100 km in offshore areas (> 20 km from the coastline) * 20 x 20 km in coastal areas (<= 20 km from the coastline) The grid sizes were choosen after an evaluation of data availability versus the need for sufficient detail in the resulting assessment. The resulting assessment grid is a combination of two grid sizes using the EEA reference grid system. The overall area of interest used in the grid is based on the marine regions and subregions under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Additionally, Norwegian (Barent Sea and Norwegian Sea) and Icelandic waters (’Iceland Sea’) have been added (see Surrounding seas of Europe). Note that, within the North East Atlantic region, only the subregions within EEZ boundaries (~200 nm) have been included.