This section demonstrates integrating AIS data with external bathymetric data to enrich our analysis. In the following example, we identified all vessels within a 500-kilometer radius around the central area of Halifax, Canada, on January 1, 2018.
First, we imported the necessary packages and prepared the bathymetry data. It’s important to note that the downloaded bathymetric data is divided into eight segments, organized by latitude and longitude. In a later step, you will need to select the appropriate bathymetric raster file based on the geographical region covered by your vessel track data.
We defined a coloring criterion to classify tracks based on their average depths relative to the bathymetry. Tracks that traverse shallow waters with an average depth of less than 100 meters are colored in yellow. Those spanning depths between 100 and 1,000 meters are represented in orange, indicating a transition to deeper waters. As the depth increases, tracks reaching up to 20 kilometers are marked pink. The deepest tracks, descending beyond 20 kilometers, are distinctly colored in red.
Next, we query the AIS data to be integrated with the bathymetric raster file and apply the coloring function to mark the tracks based on their average depths relative to the bathymetry.
The integrated results are color-coded and can be visualized as shown below: